Hi, I'm a depressed writer who is NOT publishing a book

The BBQ Pit
#1

I’m depressed. Today rejection letters started going out for the Wizards of the Coast open call for their Maiden of Pain novel. Since it’s unlikely they started sending rejection letters before they confirmed with the author that he or she was going to do the book, and I’m not seeing any voice mail messages on my machine, I expect my own rejection letter within a day or two. This sucks.

I’ve also been trying to get more reviewing work, and one of the magazines has already said they didn’t have any more freelancer budget available. (One said they haven’t yet looked at my links but will soon).

I’m not giving up, of course. I want this too bad to do that. But I sure want to crawl in a corner and cry.

#2

Maybe because I have had books published that I know how you feel. For every book I got published, there’s one that no one wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole. And I got scores of rejection letters before I got my first book off the ground. I still have them somewhere, I don’t know why–letters from publishers and agents telling me, yeah, honey, keep yer day job.

It does suck. I can tell you as much about the books I didn’t get published as the ones I did. Just keep selling and selling and selling yourself.

#3

Or, you could publish through a vanity house. Not that I have mind you, but still.

#4

I’m going to start the fun cycle of rejection and pain next week.

I can’t wait.

#5

I’m feeling better now that I’ve exercised. I went ahead and sent a query to another magazine for reviewing work. Worse that happens is that they say no thanks. This gives me time to work up a query for a roleplaying publisher. If they decide they like it, it’d probably take me six months to complete the project.

Eternal optimist.

Eve, knowing what a great writer you are, it just goes to show you that editors can sometimes be blind.

buttonjockey308, repeat after me: The money flows to the writer, not the other way around. :slight_smile:

pepperlandgirl, I wish you the best of luck. At least your successes are that much sweeter for all the rejections you get.

#6

I mean, “you” the collective, not you personally. I hope you get accepted on your very first query and go on to be famous. Then we can all say we know you when.

#7

Well, at least you guys write books.

I have about ten partially written books on my hard drive, ranging from 7 pages to about 60.

Once I know how something I’m writing is going to end, I lose interest and am unable to finish it.
I can’t even get rejection letters and have the pride in self of being a failed novelist.

#8

Wait. This is about a Dungeons & Dragons book? If so, there was an awful lot of competition.

#9

Yeah, what Scylla said. I’ve got bits of drafts and almost-but-not-quite completed stuff and essays and short stories all sitting in some forgotten files that will ne’er see the light of the publisher’s lamp.

At least you’ve given it a shot. Good on you, keep plugging and ONE day maybe the letter will be an Acceptance one.

#10

Approximately 500 people. A lot, of course, but that doesn’t make losing out any easier.

#11

DA, DA he’s the man! If he can’t make your clunky game story outlines sing with a sense of ascendent wonder all the while hewing tightly to the story continuity that your anal retentive, hygiene challenged, living in their mother’s basement customers demand, no one can! Go DA!

Better times are just around the corner!

#12

Write the novel anyway, but call it Lady of Pain instead.

#13

Thanks, astro. I think. :wink:

GuanoLad, nah, I don’t think I will. The story should really be set in the Forgotten Realms, and WotC owns the rights to that setting. I’ll work on my own novel series instead.

#14

Oh, for the the love of God don’t do that!!!

[getting my geek on]
Deadly Accurate may know about this, but there is an older game called Planescape. Its been mentioned in the context of the computer game “Torment” in cafe society quite a bit. Planescape has a character called the Lady of Pain. Now, that may be too basic to copyright, but they’ll surely watch him closely. Additionally, the Forgotten Realms setting, where the “Maiden of Pain” novel takes place, has a goddess (Loviatar), who is the goddess of pain and agony. [and, strangely, one of the least objectionable gods of evil, because she tends to appeal to decadent socialites and has no large overarching goals for world domination]

In other words, Wizards of the Coast would go voer DA’s book with a fine-tooth comb. He’d have to be very careful about avoiding even the most oblique appearance of copyright infringement.
[/getting my geek on]

But cheer up, DA. Not too long ago, I tried to apply for a freelance writing job for a new magazine here in Knoxville. I didn’t get it. But they did decide I had enough potential that I could work there for free as an intern. :wink: So cheer up, you never know what pay-less jobs you might get.

#15

Hmm… I resemble that remark.

My latest effort is going better, but its a roleplaying manual. I’ve sucked several of my friends into the project for the express purpose of forcing myself to work on it. I know me. I can let myself down, but I hate letting my team down.

Hang in there Deadly Accurate.

#16

Or, that editors will say, “A biography of Peg Entwistle?! Who the hell is going to buy a biography of Peg Entwistle?!”

#17

Actually, Maiden of Pain is going to be about a priest or priestess of Loviatar (either as protagonist or antagonist, depending on the author they chose).

BlackClaw, is it a d20 manual? What’s the setting?

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, everyone. [sub]And for the record, I’m a “she.” The name comes from my love of and skill with sniper rifles in FPS games.[/sub]

#18

Deadly is a “she?” What the fuck. My mind will be a bit off-kilter for the remainder of the day.

And I thought Lissener was a woman, too. My radar is failing…

#19

Does a writer ever resubmit a previously rejected book once she has attained the status of an accomplished and published author? If so, is the previously rejected book typically accepted gladly by the unsuspecting publisher?

#20

I sometimes get Lissener and lezler mixed up. The first is male; the second is female.

And I want to apologize to the world for my smugness. “…skill with sniper rifles…” Gah! I don’t know what I was thinking. I swear; shoot a few people in the head and you start thinking you’re some sort of god(dess). Truth be told, I’m a mediocre and distinctly amateur FPS player.