Most writers dread the arrival of the envelope or email bearing bad news about their manuscript. "It's just not right for our current publication needs" is often the nicest phrase, taking the lead over stinging remarks and harsh realities in story criticism.
Those harsh realities, however, may be the writer's best friend when it comes to editing a manuscript for submission. Before writers send that final draft to an editor or agent, their best editing technique lies ahead: the rejection letter. No publisher or agent is required to create one; simply a writer's gut honesty and intuition when it comes to their manuscript.
Writer's Critique List
Most writers know their stories have flaws; in fact, most would probably admit to recognizing a few in the form of scenes, characters, and even chapters that they won't let go of because of partiality. Others seem to integral to the text to remove, or fill a gap which the writer failed to resolve in any other way. Still more take the form of controversial or daring plot decisions that may give the novel "edge" -- or may turn off an editor's interest entirely.
The first step in drafting a manuscript's potential rejection letter is documenting the "gut feeling" flaws every writer knows are within the story. When the manuscript's final page is edited for submission, it's time to pull out a sheet of paper (or pull up a blank document page) and list all the potential problems in the story, in the form of questions or criticisms.
Why so soon? Because when the writer is still close to the manuscript, but has achieved some distance and time to reflect during the editing process. Why a list? Because the writer this list to be an instinctive or intuitive reaction before there's time to mentally justify or explain away those nagging errors.
Writing the Rejection Letter
Once the writer has a list of problems or questions which still linger in the text, it's time to think of those problems the way a book editor or agent will, once he or she reads the manuscript. This is the hardest and harshest phase of the exercise, forcing the writer to set aside all the excuses or arguments they would make to justify those parts if they were sitting across from their manuscript's critic.
Remember, the agent or editor has no interest in making excuses for the text, nor giving it the benefit of the doubt, so any flaw that receives an instinctive reaction deserves to be drafted in the form of a rejection sentence. From weak character motivations to questionable plot devices or unconvincing scenes, word those doubts the way a professional editor would in a business letter.
Type all the rejection sentences up in the form of a letter, complete with a formal address and the typical opening and closing lines of a rejection sheet, then set it aside for a few days. Writers should allow themselves time between writing the letter and re-reading its contents and the text, to prevent hasty editing mistakes from damaging the overall story.
Applying the Rejection Letter's Words
The final decision for writers, once they've acknowledged the potential rejection errors in their story, is how best to address those errors. Many writers will use the rejection letter's suggestions to take the edited manuscript back to draft, committed to changing elements of the story most at risk for criticism.
Others may prefer to stick with their current draft for submission, setting aside the rejection letter as an editing to-do list if their manuscript is rejected. The letter can be used as a "report card" for comparison with the real thing (which seems destined in most cases) to see how intuitive they were with regards to the editor's preferences or tastes.
A "rejection letter" on file for each manuscript can be a powerful tool for writers when it comes to re-writing or editing any manuscript -- so why wait for the real one to arrive in the mail? A writer brave enough to document their deepest fears about their story takes a big step in the direction of a mature draft and future published success.
Sarah Briggs - For the last two years, I have designed primitive dolls and folk art sculptures (such as Edwin Drood and the Ghost of Marley) for Cordwood ...
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