gridlore | Oh, fuck.

Current Mood: crushed
Current Music: Sting - All This Time

Oh, fuck.

Steve Jackson Games has rejected Outrim Void. They're buying out my contract. This I didn't need this week.

I'm getting about $160 in the buyout, but the payments were supposed to be my Oregon money! Damnit, I need that vacation! At this point I'm wondering if Ground Forces was a bloody fluke, that the only reason it was any good was the fact it was a subject that I knew intimately.

At this point I'm not sure if I can write anything else, and I like writing! What the hell do I do now?

Threaded | Flat

You keep writing and you don't give up, mate. Maybe you should talk with the editor and ask why it was rejected... would that help your writing?

Keep writing.

You'll get another contract, Doug. Trust me.
It's not a fluke if it gets printed.
It was a fluke for me to get my work accepted and paid for so readily when I did it. It might even be a fluke that it hasn't been printed and put on shelves yet.
But your work was printed and put on the shelves and THAT, my friend, is proof enough that you've got what it takes.
SJG has a trend of being well funded for some time, then in dire need of more funding for reasons that escape me. They're probably going through the second part of that trend right now, just like every other industry in this wonderful new economy of ours.
Take some time, put some ideas together, and go pitch 'em at DOJ or someone else. The very fact that you've got a book on the shelves will provide you with "foot in the door" syndrome, if nothing else.

-JEM

actually, Doug, if you're familiar at all with the Champions system, Jemstone has an excellent idea: submit to DOJ for the 5th Edition HERO line. They're looking for writing talent, have been for over a year now. They've got a good production schedule but it could stand to be beefed up a bit.

Knowing a subject intimately doesn't mean you know how to write about it, let alone write it well. I hate to go GI Joe on you, but knowing is only half the battle. The rest is skill. You obviously have the skill, so either take what you wrote for SJG and find a way to shop it elsewhere or start new.

But not right away. Give yourself a little mourning time first.

Want to cry in you beer fine, but don't' make a habit of it.

You have the strength to survive challenges, you know it, we know. The rest of the world will learn it too.

At Worldcon go up to your favorite authors and ask them how many rejection slips they collected when they were starting out (somebody used to show off his stack of them at panels). How many lovingly written manuscripts were shredded at workshops. How much blood sweat and tears goes into each and every book and story they write.

Take it on the chin and come back swinging.

In the research that I did before deciding to try writing is that you will get rejected 25 gazillion times, it is no need to stop. You like writing, you enjoy it. Then write. One author, I forget who, has his study wallpapered in his rejection notices. If you've done it once, you can do it again.

First: I am so fucking sorry. I know you had your heart in this, and it must hurt like hell to have it tossed out.

Second: A number of other people have already said this, but every author collects rejections. You have one sole-author, one collaboration, and several contributor credits on published books. Do you know how many people would give their right arm for that? (Hint: I live with one of them.)

Third: What's the rights situation on the material you produced? If this is a permanent rejection rather than a "can't use it right now", see about placing this stuff (or useful parts of it) elsewhere. A lot of it is sure to transcend Traveller specifics.

Fourth: Talk with your editor about why this was rejected. Listen and learn. Good generals study their failures far more carefully than their successes.

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