buyjupiter
Maester
I have a short story that I've submitted that's been rejected a few times. I've received no feedback from any place I've submitted it to. It's within my understanding of their markets, but short story markets are notoriously vague about what they want (however, they're very clear about what they don't want).
I'm wondering if "odd" stories just won't do well, no matter which avenue I try? Are publishers only buying tried and true genre works, i.e. sword and sorcery that features your normal character types, with normal character names, with expected story lines?
Also, at what point do you let something go and start doing the rounds with the next piece? Or do you just try each magazine until you've gone through them all?
I don't want to be annoying. God knows I don't want to be that writer. But I think it's a really good story. And it's hard not to get discouraged when you're getting nothing back about why it didn't work.
I will most likely do a bit more reworking with it and try one last time, but I don't know how successful that will be. And I suppose if all else fails, I can keep it and sell it as part of the collection of shorts that I'm accumulating while I world build for the novels.
I'm wondering if "odd" stories just won't do well, no matter which avenue I try? Are publishers only buying tried and true genre works, i.e. sword and sorcery that features your normal character types, with normal character names, with expected story lines?
Also, at what point do you let something go and start doing the rounds with the next piece? Or do you just try each magazine until you've gone through them all?
I don't want to be annoying. God knows I don't want to be that writer. But I think it's a really good story. And it's hard not to get discouraged when you're getting nothing back about why it didn't work.
I will most likely do a bit more reworking with it and try one last time, but I don't know how successful that will be. And I suppose if all else fails, I can keep it and sell it as part of the collection of shorts that I'm accumulating while I world build for the novels.