The Rejection Letter & Call for Pre-Readers · 7:37am Nov 19th, 2012
After roughly two weeks I finally got the awaited response from EqD... and it came in the form of a three-page essay about everything that's wrong with A Very Minty Summer Sun Celebration.
Of course I first went through shock and denial. This is my favorite story, the one I'm most proud of. It's way better than a lot of stuff I see getting accepted on EqD. This is the best I know how to do, and my (admittedly spartan) writing style is what it is, and is not going to change. If this doesn't satisfy them, then nothing else I produce is likely to ever make them any happier. And so forth.
However, one interesting thing about the pre-reader's comments is that he thought my writing was boring, dry, and "extremely simplistic" in chapter one, but had improved dramatically by chapter three. I'm not quite sure how that happened, since I've been writing for a long time, and I doubt that I suddenly matured into a competent writer between chapters one and three of this particular story... But yes, I had earlier noticed that chapter one was pretty rough and sketchy, and I had made a halfhearted attempt to revise it.
It's not easy for me to revise my own writing. I can polish it, change a word or phrase her and there. When it comes to whole sentences and paragraphs, I end up rereading them and returning to exactly the same thought processes that created them, and it just doesn't seem possible to change anything without wrecking the carefully constructed edifice. The flaws that I thought I was going to correct slip away from me, and I can't see them anymore.
So, I'm going to try an experiment, and I'm going to try rewriting chapter one without referring at all to the existing drafts. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of that. Maybe it'll be better, maybe it won't, or maybe I'll end up going with a fusion of the two versions.
The other thing I realized is that I need my own pre-readers. EqD should not be writing me three-page essays about the shortcomings of my story. I need somebody who can do this for me. I think I've got a pretty good handle on spelling and grammar (though another set of eyes on that never hurts), but what I really need is somebody who can help with writing style: someone who can look at my stuff and tell me when my writing needs to be more descriptive, or when I need to establish a better sense of place, or when my character's emotions aren't coming across, and so forth.
Any volunteers?
I gave up sending anything to EQD a long time ago. Their pre-readers are highly picky... and not always for the right reason. Beside the grammars and stuff, it really depends on which pre-readers you get, which in my opinion is not acceptable for this kind of website. It often boils down to "Does he like it?". That's why you said you saw worse stuff on EQD, and it's true, because it depends if the pre-reader knows you, like your style, knows previous story by you, and so on. Lot of things that should not be taken into account.
My 2 cents
Yeah, I've never had any experience with submitting to EQD (or here, for that matter
), but I have heard things. You always run into problems when you set up a system that tries to select good stories over bad, and this even happens in the real world. I know one book particular, now famous and beloved (Watership Down, if you've ever heard of it), that got rejected by THIRTEEN publishers before someone accepted it. "Editors" or "proofreaders" may reject a story for all kinds of reasons--but that does not necessarily mean they're right.
Anyhoo, I'm interested in prereading for you. But I am pretty busy right now, so I wouldn't be able to do it very quickly. I also can't promise that anything I'll have to say will be true/good for your fic--basically, I'm not infallible. But I would like to help.
Also, if you'd prefer, there is a prereaders group here. I would suggest also going there, as the more people and greater number of perspectives and opinions you have, the better off you'll be.
As evil EqD pre-reader guy, my advice would be to get someone completely fresh to the story to talk a look, or sit on it for two weeks then read it from scratch. Often when you're really close to a tale you end up reading what's in your head, not what's on the page. In the case of this story, your writing really does shift dramatically from chapter 1 to chapter 3. I don't think it needs a complete revision without reference to what has come before, just... not a chapter full of "she said... she said... she said"
I find that I'm very good at locating issues with other people's stories, but not at doing the same to my own, precisely for the reasons above. It's a common issue. Do stick at it though, and don't take the rejection as a negative thing, at the end of the day a rejection is there to help flag up issues with the story and offer suggestions and solutions, and the more detailed, the better.
Also, Minty is best pony.
Yeah, EqD rejected my story, too. They gave me only a six-word explanation, though: "We don't publish Past Sins stories." I asked why, since they publish FoE stories. I was banned for asking.
Don't feel too bad. I've come to regard EqD as an irrational, elitist club with well-established favourites when it comes to fan fiction.
526111
OK, that reminds me of the rejection I got from my first story that I submitted... and it ticks me off!
That just makes me think again that maybe I shouldn't even mess with EqD. Although, I wonder what would happen if I submit Black Angel? It would be funny if they didn't realize until later that it was connected with Past Sins.
EDIT: What does being "banned" mean, exactly?
526222
In some ways I love EqD, because it has done a fantastic job of bringing the fandom together from all over the Internet. Unfortunately, Seth, Cereal, and others in the upper echelons of the administration have let the distinction go to their heads.
"... maybe I shouldn't even mess with EqD."
The thing is, EqD has kind of positioned itself as a necessary evil in the MLPFiM fandom. If you want your story to get any notoriety at all, you need to get at least part of a post on EqD. Without that, no one apart from the users of FIMFiction will ever see your story.
"What does being 'banned' mean, exactly?"
They blocked my username from posting comments or replies to the site. So, I made a second username. When they realized I was the same guy, they blocked that one, too. Now, on the rare instance that I actually visit EqD, I use an OpenID. I'm very careful to not say anything that could be identifiable as my old usernames anymore.
Edit: And, for the record, I'm enjoying A Very Minty Summer Sun Celebration so far.
530767
>They blocked my username from posting comments or replies to the site. So, I made a second username. When they realized I was the same guy, they blocked that one, too.
I find that very hard to believe, if only because blocking someone because they sent one email and then keeping tabs on them is WAY too much effort given how many people send emails and go to the site. Unless you send Seth death-threats or something! There's certainly no secret blacklists or monitoring going on!
Honestly, far more likely is that you made blog comments and they got reported and you were banned for them.
as probably one of A Very Minty Summer Sun Celebration's biggest fans i say screw eqd, obviosly they dont know what there talking about, and secondly they are big dummies for refusing to post this story, it is epic. anyway in my opinion i say just forget about eqd and just write for yourself and fimfiction.
I know this is kinda an old post, but I just wanted to say that this fic inspired me to write one about Minty (I'm working on the first chapters so I haven't published yet) Soooooo who cares what they say.
