Unearthing the Value Hidden in Letters of Rejection
Most writers file their rejection letters somewhere they never have to look at them again. T.D. Severin did the opposite, mining his for three throwaway lines that sent him back into Deadly Vision for a full rewrite. That rewrite went on to win the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, the American Fiction Award, and the Grand Prize at BookFest.
I’d been working on Deadly Vision for more years than I care to count and received more rejection letters than you’d care to count or would reasonably subject yourself to. But I believed in the story and knew that others would too, if I could only write it in a way that would capture their imagination and attention.
So, as part of my process, I went to countless writing conferences, took classes, read many books, and constantly worked to improve my writing craft and my storytelling skills.
But one surprising place that provided an immeasurable amount of guidance and information was rejection letters.
In general, I never accepted rejection letters as a rejection of the story — just where I was with it at that moment in time, with that particular agent or editor. I even went so far as to file my rejection letters, not in a file named “Rejections,” but in one I named “Try Again.” Once the story was better, they’d hear from me again, whether they wanted to or not.
But before I filed those letters away, I’d scour the rejection letter for any possible feedback that could help me. Now, usually, there was none to be found. Just a form rejection letter or a stout, “didn’t connect with me” or “too busy to take on new projects” response. But every once in a while, there was a gem to be found amongst the rejection dust.
To that regard, here are the three main tidbits of feedback I received from three different agents or editors, lost in the midst of their rejection letters, that helped me transform my manuscript into the final draft that has now won several major writing awards like the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Competition, the American Fiction Award, and the Grand Prize at BookFest.
1) “Despite the gripping opener, I wasn’t drawn into the narrative.” While this might seem like a horrible bit of feedback to receive, it was great. Taking it purely at face value, it meant that my opener was good, or rather, “gripping.” Believe it or not, to me that was validation that I actually could write something interesting and tell it in a compelling way, something every writer doubts about themselves at one point. So, it was inspirational, really, not a downer. Further, it meant that what I had as my beginning, the shooting of someone who would turn out to be a lynchpin character, was riveting, and I needed to move the rest of the story along more quickly to maintain that gripping intensity. This was huge and led to a major rewrite. I chopped out scenes that proved to be unnecessary, shortened others, sped up the pace, and moved forward the Point of No Return, the moment our hero, Taylor, gets launched upon his ultimate journey. This is the moment the reader wanted to get to, so why have it so far back into the book? Let’s get the story moving.
2). “Until ‘so-and-so character’ was killed, I didn’t get a sense that our hero was in danger.” This refers to the murder of one of our main characters at the Hospital where our hero works. Now, I’d started the book off with a home invasion/shooting, but “so-and-so” doesn’t get killed until about 1/2-way in. So, it meant to me that between the gripping opener and “so-and-so’s” death, I need to up the intensity. Up the threat. Up the danger. This led me to create several scenes that focused on the mindset of the hired killer, Edgar Ross. Getting into his head, his past, his motivations, his obsessions; crafting these scenes became some of my favorite, if not most disturbing, parts of the book. Definitely, embodied the threat of danger.
3) “I liked the premise, but your antagonist is cliched.” This was huge and well-deserved. My antagonist in the early drafts of the novel was cliched, nearly a mustache-twisting Boris who wanted world domination. This happened because I was so focused on the protagonist’s story that, to me, the antagonist was merely a place keeper to throw obstacles onto our heroic journey. How bad is that? With this bit of feedback, I rethought the entire book. I needed a villain who was likeable in his own way, if not likeable, then at least realistic and internally consistent. His reasons for opposing our hero had to be legitimate and founded in his own sense of morality and his ultimate goal. He had to believe in what he was doing and believe he was in the right. That led to the creation of Randolph McIntyre, the Senator from Georgia who was the republican nominee for the upcoming Presidential election. To heighten the stakes, I made him the father of our hero’s wife, Sherilyn. This created a multi-layered story with political intrigue and family dynamics that really helped to enliven the story, add verisimilitude, and launch Sherilyn from being a minor supporting character to a major aspect of the book with her own story arc.
Never accept rejection. Dig deep for any small kernels of advice, even if they aren’t really presented as such. And never stop believing in your story. Just keep working to make your story better. And search for the gems amongst the dust.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T.D. SEVERIN is an internationally renowned professor, physician, surgeon, and award-winning author of medical suspense, who has been publishing both fiction and non-fiction since 1994. “Deadly Vision” T.D.’s debut novel has won the American Fiction Award and name a finalist for the Clive Cussler Adventure Writers Award. Dr. Severin’s wellness book on the fusion of eastern and western medicine, TriEnergetics, has been published in multiple languages, and now enters its 4th edition.
T.D. Severin, has been named one of the Nation’s Best Ophthalmologists by Newsweek Magazine, and has been honored to receive the prestigious Telly Award, the Oscars of public access television, for his work on medical television programming.
T.D.’s adventurous life has led him to trek across Tibet, scale to Basecamp 1 of Mt Everest, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, white-water raft through the Australian rainforest, and get blown out of a jeep while being an extra in a war movie filmed in the jungles of Thailand. T.D. lives with his wife, and two pups in the San Francisco Bay Area and Florida, where he is currently at work on his next medical thriller. A former radio disc jockey at KSPC FM in Los Angeles, he also runs the heavy rock record label Ripple Music: www.ripple-music.com.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
Stay in touch with all things T.D. Severin at his website www.tdseverin.com and www.tdseverin.blogspot.com. Also join the conversation on Facebook at T.D. Severin – Author and TDSeverin.substack.com.
DEADLY VISION
A revolutionary medical breakthrough. A technology, so advanced, people will kill to prevent its discovery. Dr. Taylor Abrahms, rising above his troubled past, is an expert in the burgeoning field of Medical Virtual Reality.
But in the political war zone of San Francisco University Medical Center, not everyone is thrilled. With a health care crisis threatening to bankrupt the nation, advanced biotechnology is a flashpoint in health care reform. Taylor’s research is scapegoated and he finds himself caught between warring factions in medicine and politics that will do anything to shut his project down, a battle that rages all the way to an upcoming Presidential election. Soon, Taylor finds himself the target of nonstop attacks: the destruction of his career, scientific sabotage, and murder, as those associated with the Virtual Heart Project are killed, one by one.
Fighting for his medical career and eventually his life, Deadly Vision tells the tale of Taylor’s battle against overwhelming odds, political machinations, sabotage and murder, to bring this modern technology to reality and save the life of someone he loves.
