Rejection. Maybe. Sorta. Yes? No.

So, I recieved a rejection for a partial I had on for In The Eye of Death. Every author on submission knows that rejections should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, most agents don't give us good reasons for rejecting, even if they read a partial or full. Agents are too busy to give heavy critiques. I'm personally fine with that. As long as I don't get a form rejection on my full.

Well, I recieved my rejection today. Here it is:


Dear Katie,

I finished reading your chapters for IN THE EYES OF DEATH over the weekend. While I still really love your idea for this story, I was not able to connect with the writing. I do think you've created a likable and interesting character in Jonah, however, without a strong connection to the story, I would not be the best agent for this project.

Thank you again for the opportunity to read your work, and I wish you the best of luck in finding an agent who is right for you.

Best,

Super Star Agent


I can see some of you looking this over and saying to yourselves, "But this looks like a standard rejection letter. Great, but not for me."

And I'm not denying it's a pretty standard format. But the fact that this agent mentioned that she liked my MC made me exceedingly happy. Why? Because I suck at writing characters.

A great deal of my free time is spent trying to figure out how to write a goddamn character. I'm a plot writer, through and through. Betas are impressed with my ideas and my plots, but not so much my characters. Most of my partial/full rejects state that the agent couldn't connect with my MC.

"But Katie," I can hear you say, "It's still a rejection. Shouldn't you be a little bummed?"

Yeah. Rejection bites the big one, I'm not denying that. Once the high of realizing someone actually likes my MC wears off, I'll hit the chocolates. And even if it's small, and probably just a generic comment, I feel really good about this rejection. I'm allowed to be happy, even if I acknowledge that the agent just said that to make me feel better about the reject.

If there are any agents out there who happen to be passing through: I really appreciate the way you word your rejections. This one in particular made me really happy. Keep up the good work, guys!

Peace,

-Katie