Rejection Sucks!

All forms of rejection suck except when corrective criticism is given. My latest endeavor to acquire Kristin Nelson as my literary agent was a failure. But, with failure also came criticism which is more than I could have asked for.

This is the rejection letter I received from my COFW submission:

Dear Stacey Hays:

Thank you so much for sending Nelson Literary Agency your sample pages of DEREK'S DEMISE. After a careful reading, we are sorry to say that we don't believe this project is right for our agency.

However, Kristin would like to add this note: "Thank you for letting me take a look at your work and it was lovely meeting you at the COFW conference. You have a nice YA voice here but I just didn't find myself sympathizing with your main character as much as I'd hoped. Best wishes for your agent search."

Because this business is so subjective and opinions vary widely, we recommend that you pursue other agents. After all, it just takes one "yes" to find the right match.

Good luck with all your publishing endeavors.

So, this tells me a few things. One, Derek’s voice is loud and clear. Two, he is a douche bag so she couldn’t sympathize with him when he is given his ultimatum to reap or die. With just one sentence, she gave me the extra boost I needed to make my novel better. I have to make Derek more sympathetic as a character. How do I plan on doing that? By starting at chapter one. I must create an inner struggle/outer confrontation from the beginning and weave it in and out of the existing plotline to create an organic theme.

Rejection sucks. I had to say it one more time, but, rejections like these don’t seem like real rejections at all and thank you Kristin Nelson for giving me feedback that will make my manuscript better.