Good morning and Happy month of June to all of you,
I am bummed out this morning. In my email box this morning, I received a rejection letter for BLUE LAKE, my first novel. And although I promise myself I wouldn't let it get me down, these four paragraph blurbs on one's 100,000 word novels are difficult to swallow.
She was very sweet. She said she enjoyed reading it and was immediately pulled into the story. She said my distinctive writing style effectively captures the sights and the sounds of the environment. She said 'the romance between Nicole and Richard is very moving and something your readers will latch on to."
BUT, and here is where my big BUT comes in, she doesn't feel it will fit into today's marketplace. My writing is not sexually explicit, and when people see "romance", they think boy + girl = sex. Is there no room out there for a touching story about the power of mutual love and commitment to each other? Must it all be about lithe bodies quivering under his masterful touch? Or succumbing to submission? Fifty shades of something?
My characters have sex. But there are no physical play-by-play descriptions. It's not the driving force of the novel. The emotional side of love is what is laid bare here. Just look around. There is plenty of evidence out there that you all know how to do it. But the intense, life changing power of loving someone unconditionally and the all-encompassing desire to be together and stay together, coupled with the ultimate heartbreaking choice of having to step away from the love of your life for his own good, is there no room for this kind of story in our society today?
No, it wasn't my first rejection letter. It was my second. The other agent said BLUE LAKE was something you'd expect to find on Mary Poppin's bedside table.
So, at least the quality of my rejection letters is improving.
Thank you for allowing me to publicly rant and wallow and cry. I'm all better now.
Hugs,
Carol
Unfortunately, novels have gone the way of movies and reality TV....it's fast, furious, violent, and heavily laden with explicit sex. Sadly, it is what society demands due to the lack of direction and fulfullment in our personal lives. There is little appreciation for what is REALLY tue life, because fabricated and force fed "reality" deludes us into thinking we're alive. Now that this has become status quo, it snowballs, and the need increases just like the drug for the junkie. But, and I believe this to be a bigger BUT than the one you recieved, there is a dmeand for your writing, your kind of story telling. There is an audience that clamors for your books. They're just hard to hear above the cacaphony of the trendy. Persevere dear writer, you ARE being read.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Preston, I truly appreciate your kind support and your wise insight. You reminded me that I don't write to please the big publishing companies, I don't even write to sell books! I write because I have stories inside that need to be told. Again, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Carol
I sending you my best hugs.
ReplyDeleteAhh, I appreciate your best hugs. But don't worry, I'm all better now. Thank you, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWhat they think is not important. Just keep on doing what you're doing. There's a place for the explicit stuff, but it's not EVERY place. I get bored with the way it's written much of the time. Explicit doesn't automatically mean interesting.
ReplyDeleteWith Nicole and Richard, the destination is more important...how they will end up, whether they will stay together. Anyone can have sex, but not all of us find our true love. Hope springs eternal.
Thank you, Rocket. I will keep on doing what I'm doing. Your support is very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Carol