Blurred Line

My latest submission (this time I was sending out "Between Eternities" as reprint material) just came back for a rewrite request. The editor wasn't happy with the ending, for good reason -- I've never been happy about the ending myself. In fact, at one point I was submitting the story minus the final scene. I'm not going to write a new ending, largely because it's already been published elsewhere, but I thought I'd take a few minutes here to write about rewrite requests.

Mostly, if an editor requests a rewrite, do it. Believe you me, if "Between Eternities" was an unpublished piece, I'd be working on a new ending right now -- even if I was in love with it. If an editor requests a rewrite, they're already hooked, and that's most of the battle right there. I understand that some people get very attached to their stories, but the fact of the matter is, given insight from another perspective, almost everyone's writing can be improved.

As an editor, I've only requested a handful of rewrites, and I was kind of surprised when none of the authors resubmitted. And it's important to keep in mind that I never tell someone what I think they should have written. Instead, I focus on what I felt didn't quite work. Apparently, none of the writers felt it was worth their time re-work anything. What's up with that?

A rewrite request, in my opinion, is an opportunity, not a dismissal. I'm curious, though...maybe it's not looked upon kindly by most people. Opinions?

Also: Two new blogs worth a read -- Perhaps We Learned Something... and Words, etc.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - Rewrite requests My latest submission (this time I was sending out "Between Eternities" as reprint material) just came back for a rewrite request. The editor wasn't happy with the ending, for good reason -- I've never been happy about the ending myself. In fact, at one point I was submitting the story minus the final scene. I'm not going to write a new ending, largely because it's already been published elsewhere, but I thought I'd take a few minutes here to write about rewrite requests. Mostly, if an editor requests a rewrite, do it. Believe you me, if "Between Eternities" was an unpublished piece, I'd be working on a new ending right now -- even if I was in love with it. If an editor requests a rewrite, they're already hooked, and that's most of the battle right there. I understand that some people get very attached to their stories, but the fact of the matter is, given insight from another perspective, almost everyone's writing can be improved. As an editor, I've only requested a handful of rewrites, and I was kind of surprised when none of the authors resubmitted. And it's important to keep in mind that I never tell someone what I think they should have written. Instead, I focus on what I felt didn't quite work. Apparently, none of the writers felt it was worth their time re-work anything. What's up with that? A rewrite request, in my opinion, is an opportunity, not a dismissal. I'm curious, though...maybe it's not looked upon kindly by most people. Opinions? Also: Two new blogs worth a read -- Perhaps We Learned Something... and Words, etc. Cavan blogged at 6:05 PM \| 0 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart