{"id":1481,"date":"2014-07-15T16:31:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T23:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=1481"},"modified":"2023-12-18T16:49:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T00:49:45","slug":"devourer-of-words-018-they-just-said-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/devourer-of-words-018-they-just-said-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Devourer of Words 018: They Just Said No"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MARC BERNARDIN’S DEVOURER OF WORDS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devourer of Words 018: They Just Said No<\/h1>\n\n\n
Marc Bernardin<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Toucan<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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If you\u2019re a writer who doesn\u2019t publish her or his own work\u2014and your last name won\u2019t guarantee sales in the hundreds of thousands\u2014there is a very good chance that, at some point, your ideas will fall of deaf ears. Rejection is a part of the writers\u2019 life and the sooner you come to terms with it, the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone will hear the word no, but the thing to remember that, though it might sound bleak, no doesn\u2019t automatically mean the end of the line. It all depends on how you respond to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DON\u2019T: Get angry.<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

You are absolutely allowed to be angry, but keep it to yourself. Anger can be a good tool, can serve as nitrous to the writing process and motivate you to step up your game. But it has no place in any correspondence\u2014either in person or \u201con paper.\u201d Tantrums won\u2019t ever get you anywhere. Instead, be as pleasant as you possible can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DO: Ask why<\/em>.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

The best part about rejection is that it can help you get better. It\u2019s a tool, but only if you use it as such. Ask what about the pitch didn\u2019t work\u2014where it fell flat, what it was missing. You could also ask where in the approvals process did it get bounced\u2014information that could lead you towards diagnosing the tastes of the ultimate tastemaker. All information is good information, so long as you\u2019re levelheaded enough to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DON\u2019T: Retreat<\/em>.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

There is a tendency to recoil when you\u2019ve been rejected. Like a snail getting jabbed in its most tender part, we just want to curl up inside our shell and stay there. This would be the wrong time to do that. Instead, hit that editor back with something new\u2014making sure, of course that you\u2019ve taken to heart the reasons why they turned down the last thing. You want to prove that you have the capacity to learn and adjust, to take criticism and incorporate it, and\u2014even more importantly\u2014that a setback doesn\u2019t incapacitate you. Like Rocky, you will keep coming back for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DO: Look hard at the material<\/em>.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Was the problem your pitch or the material itself? Was it ready to be pitched, or did it need more time to bake? Is it something worth spending more time on, or should you move on to something else? If you ultimately come to the conclusion that there\u2019s still life in the idea, then hammer away at it. Don\u2019t be afraid to take it apart and see if you can re-engineer it. And, it\u2019s entirely possible that the place that said no wasn\u2019t the right place for the project. Conversely, if you decide to move on, do so\u2014and don\u2019t be afraid to strip-mine it of anything useful for something else. We use every part of the buffalo around here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the lesson to remember: far better writers than you have been rejected far more often. In success, you will be able to look back fondly at the people who\u2019ve said no. But to get to that success, you\u2019ve got to power through the failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marc Bernardin\u2019s Devourer of Words appears the third Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Marc Bernardin<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n