Author: Viari Skywalker  (signed)
Date posted: 6/18/2002 11:27:34 AM
Viari Skywalker's Comments:

Wow! That really hits home. I've been rejected, and at first I thought that I was the problem. I've since learned otherwise, and I'm glad to see someone writing about how to deal with and understand rejection. Thanks!

Author: AnnonJedi
Date posted: 6/18/2002 12:41:00 PM
AnnonJedi's Comments:

I've never tried to get any of my stories archived because I've been afraid to get rejected. I can't say that this article makes me feel better, but I would love to read those good stories that just got rejected for some reason or another. It would be nice if there was a site dedicated to ONLY GOOD SW FANFIC.

Author: Quiller  (signed)
Date posted: 6/18/2002 2:35:01 PM
Quiller's Comments:

A very good article. Not only did it give insight into the behind-the-scenes action here at tf.n, but it is applicable to most any publishing operation. I've heard rejection explained in terms of whether or not a story is a 'good fit'. As a writer, I am searching for a home for my story. If an editor says no, it simply means it didn't fit his/her vision and I have to keep searching -- and it is *my* job to do find the right home, after all, no one asked me to write the story. (It can be a tedious process. Only the persistent survive.) Believing in your story is paramount to this process. As LLL said: we have to keep at it.

Author: Nikkos Tyris  (signed)
Date posted: 6/19/2002 10:49:12 AM
Nikkos Tyris's Comments:

Yes indeed. Max Allen Collins (a professional writer you lives in Muscatine, IA a few blocks away from me) once said to me, "Kids who want to be writers should write what they want to read, and as much as they can. Then, maybe when thy're forty years old, they can get a book published." No, he was not kidding and no, he was not being unoptomistic toward kids. That's the way it is, and you have to learn to deal with it. I recently got my third submiited story to TFN rejected. That makes three out of three. Did I get mad? Did I get sad? Nope. Because I know I'm getting better. My first story had narrative problems, pacing problems, spelling and grammar problems. My second had only narrative and spelling problems. Now my third had only narrative problems. Progress. Don't lose hope! ;) And thanks to LLL, my good friend, for writing this encouraging piece.

Author: Siren_Song
Date posted: 6/20/2002 9:53:53 AM
Siren_Song's Comments:

Very nice article LLL! It's great to finally see someone write an article on this topic. I think that at first everyone thinks that the reason their story was rejected was because it wasn't "good enough", but then sooner or later we realize that it just depends on what the personal tastes of the Reviewer are :).

Author: Nikkos Tyris  (signed)
Date posted: 6/20/2002 7:16:55 PM
Nikkos Tyris's Comments:

Again, correct. I still at times despair over my writing styles. I think it is because I'm best at writing Episode I and II pieces. (Episode I REALLY got me into Star Wars, back in '99. Before then I couldn't figure out what the big deal about it was. It shot my head from my shoulders and up to the stas). And because I absorbed all that info on Episode I (especially on Qui-Gon Jinn) I got an award in my county for having the most knowledge on the subject :) We should all brag just a bit, it takes down the tension.

Author: Jane Jinn
Date posted: 6/20/2002 11:24:39 PM
Jane Jinn's Comments:

Excellent article! I never really thought about that question before, but it makes sense to ask if your story is the kind of story the editors are looking for. Good insight into this archive, too, by the way!

Author: Kenya Starflight
Date posted: 6/21/2002 8:01:05 AM
Kenya Starflight's Comments:

After having two of the three fics I've sent here rejected I was about ready to throw away my pen and give up fanfic -- if the people here didn't like it, I must not be a good fanfic writer. This article not only helps me feel better about my writing, it lets me know that there may still be a place here for my work.

Author: Savy
Date posted: 6/21/2002 1:53:35 PM
Savy's Comments:

Thank you! I'd just like to say I honestly enjoy reading the fanfictions that you do post on your site. There are many sites out there that have stories that have hideous grammar, impossible to read formatting, zero plot-lines and nearly all the same scenes! I know *anything* I read on this site WILL be good; no matter if I personally like the story or not, the writing quality will be amazing.
Rejection is tough to handle, but it's the price that you pay for quality work. Besides, like you said, it's based upon personal opinions. If you like your fic, then by God, you like it. Who cares if anyone else does!!

Author: LLL
Date posted: 6/21/2002 8:43:31 PM
LLL's Comments:

*looks at the typos and sighs*

Although sometimes, typos will slip in no matter WHAT you do ...

AnnonJedi: The only trouble with that, as I've pointed out, is that there will never be a definition of "good" that everyone can agree on. But I follow your drift.

And Kenya, don't give up. One thing that REALLY helps is a good beta. If you find that you are using the same betas and getting rejected over and over, try different betas. One thing we reviewers find frustrating is betas who aren't catching all these grammatical and writing errors ...

Actually it's doubtful that much is getting rejected here due to personal leanings in the genres people like. I've often wished that writers could submit directly to certain reviewers -- that way your type of story could go directly to its connoissuer, LOL! As it is, though, we try to stay away from a genre we know we don't like and leave it for someone who does like that genre.

Author: Viari Skywalker  (signed)
Date posted: 6/22/2002 6:59:12 PM
Viari Skywalker's Comments:

I just wanted to say something to all those writers who are discouraged by rejection. Like I said in my first comment for this article, I submitted a story here that was rejected. I was a little - okay, maybe more than a little - upset. I felt like I wasn't good enough for TF.N, but I decided to try again. I had my betas tear my fic apart. hey both went line by line, telling me what they thought should be changed. I asked my two reviewers to tell me the problems they saw with my fic. I worked on it, heeding the advice of my betas and reviewers. Then I submitted it again. The day after my first comment on this article, my fic was accepted! I didn't know if it would happen, but it did! So don't be discouraged by rejection! Just get back up and try again!

Author: LLL  (signed)
Date posted: 6/24/2002 4:15:26 AM
LLL's Comments:

Cool beans!! Welcome, welcome!!

As I said, the number one reason for rejection is writing mechanics.

Author: Mcily Nochi  (signed)
Date posted: 6/24/2002 3:25:33 PM
Mcily Nochi's Comments:

Everybody should read this article. When people get rejected, so many become bitter or discouraged. They don't realize the politics and motives behind the acceptance process.

People may scoff when I try to help them deal with rejection because I have several fics on the Archive, but I've had as many rejected. I've found that you just have to decide what your feelings are going to be. With one fic I just shurgged because it didn't really matter; with another, I'm now revising it again because I would really like to see it Archived.

So don't get discouraged-- just switch tracks and try again.

Author: Raven Nyquist
Date posted: 8/26/2002 1:56:03 PM
Raven Nyquist's Comments:

This article actually brought a question to light.

When a fresh-sounding idea turned into story "_______" is rejected for grammar/plot/pacing problems:

If the author were to correct the errors with the story, but keep the exact same idea within the story, can the author resubmit the fanfic?

Author: LLL  (signed)
Date posted: 9/12/2002 10:46:47 PM
LLL's Comments:

Any author may resubmit at any time.

Doesn't mean you will automatically get accepted, however. I just saw two stories get resubmitted TWICE before making it on the third try.

Author: Bimo  (signed)
Date posted: 11/30/2002 3:13:06 PM
Bimo's Comments:

I believe, it is not the actual rejection itself that causes people to get angry and disappointed, but the fact that TheForce.Net's Fanfiction Archive feels the need to use rather anonymous, pre-formulated standard expressions.

Maybe this is just the private opinion of an easily offended author with a bruised ego, but if a submitted work has been carefully beta-read by several competent persons, vague statements like

"Unfortunately, we feel we needed to reject this particular submission for the reasons stated :
-- grammar and/or spelling errors
-- narrative and/or pacing problems
-- characterization problems"

strike me as arrogant and rude. Even more so, because I had to learn that a story's approval doesn't only depend on its actual quality but also on such arbitrary factors as "archive policy" and the personal tastes of the involved reviewers.

Apart from being extremely helpful when dealing with the "bruised ego problem", this article offers quite an amount of valuable insights and interesting truths. I therefore truly enjoyed reading it and seriously thought about its contents. But frankly spoken, the next time I wish to publish one of my SW stories, I will try to find a "friendlier", more personal archive ;-)

Author: Darth Breezy
Date posted: 4/9/2003 7:03:53 PM
Darth Breezy's Comments:

Intersting to note that at least in this article, personal preferance of the reviews is a factor that is not only addressed but admitted to. I find it highly depressing that many reveiwers say that this isn't a factor. The difficulty is in finding a reviewer who actaully likes your style of story that actually has time to pick up your piece.

Author: LLL  (signed)
Date posted: 9/4/2003 9:01:04 PM
LLL's Comments:

I haven't worked in here as a reviewer for a while, but as to the comment about the impersonal letters ...

I actually wrote those! I was going for something that sounded close to what you might get when sending your story out to a magazine, because many of you are going to do that someday. You might as well get used to an impersonal letter or postcard. The acceptance letters are form letters, too.

The real reason for it is the number of submissions. The reviewers who vote on your stories aren't the people who do the letter; the editors are, and there are only two or three of them at any one time. If you get a week where there is only one editor working and 30 stories that need acceptance/rejections letters, you can see why there isn't time for these people to do a personal response to everyone.

That way, if you want more details, you can email the reviewers who first voted on it, and they can respond, and that way the correspondence is broken up better among the staff. Easier on everyone, time-wise.

When EpII came out, you would not BELIEVE the number of stories this place got flooded with. Without the form letters, we never would have made it.

Hope this helps.

--LL.

Author: Hermione Organa  (signed)
Date posted: 4/23/2004 3:54:52 PM
Hermione Organa's Comments:

I just sumitted a fanfic a month ago and I got the email for rejection. At first, I was not very happy with myself, and then light dawned - why exactly did it matter? I can always fix up my fanfic, but I have decided that maybe I'll just let it go. It's Star Wars all over again from our nemesis' point of view, and people will be looking for something completely new. Look at "The Sands of Time" for instance (I love that one). I mean, really do you have to repeat everything? I like references to the films, but in Fan fiction, I personally think that events should be new, even if characters aren't. This article helps me deal with rejection. I'm very happy to have read it - thanks LLL!

Author: -AE-  (signed)
Date posted: 6/2/2004 7:34:53 PM
-AE-'s Comments:

I'm very nervous because I just submitted my first story in hopes of being archived on my first try, and I am less nerve wrecked now due to this article. I am still worried because no one has even reviewed my story yet, but I hope they do soon. I should think that a rejection would be more satisfying at this point then to see that no reviewer has even taken interest in my story. Again, thanks for the article! Laugh out loud (Why did I just spell that phrase out?).

-AE-

Author: pokey1984  (signed)
Date posted: 3/15/2005 10:06:02 PM
pokey1984's Comments:

I'm a Beta reader for several friends and I tell all of them that they should have mroe than one beta. I've frequently looked at the same story a second and third time and spotted errors I missed all the times before. I think that's the main problem sometimes, insufficient editing. we all are only human, after all.

I've submitted and been rejected here. I told a friend and the response was not kind toward the editors and reviewers here. The problem was, the friend I spoke to had no direct experience with the site. they only had the heresay of other rejectees. I discovered, through much discussion, that hte other rejectees had never even bothered to read through the articles on this site. I'm tempted to believe their work was not even beta read, though I do not know for sure.

But I'm straying from my intended topic. I read this article (Discussions like the one I mentioned above made me read all of them before I submitted) and remembering it as I ready my rejection letter helped tremendously. I don't handle rejection well, but keeping in mind the various reasons helped me from becoming too discouraged. After I mourned for a few hours, I read back through the rejection letter and my story, found many mistakes, and started working again. I intend to continue in this method until I either get archived, or I find a better methode.

Thanks for the tips!

Author: bxpvgjdf
Date posted: 4/18/2007 2:22:18 AM
bxpvgjdf's Comments:

Spam deleted.