Chelsea Pitcher On Letting The Rejection Hurt... Then Moving On

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to
answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today's guest for the SHIT is Chelsea Pitcher. Chelsea is a karaoke-singing, ocean-worshipping Oregonian with a penchant for wicked faerie tales. She began gobbling up stories as soon as she could read, and especially enjoys delving into the darker places to see if she can draw out some light. She is the author of THE S-WORD (Simon and Schuster), THE LAST CHANGELING (Flux), and THE LAST FAERIE QUEEN (Flux 2015).

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

Almost nothing! I knew publishing houses would be considering my work, but I was fairly clueless about imprints, second reads, acquisitions, etc. Luckily for me, I enjoy a good investigation, so I learned a lot while I was on sub. (And it never hurts to have author friends who’ve been through the process!)

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Oh, definitely. The timeframe can be hard to handle at first. Especially when some people get deals within three days, and others, three years! That’s why it’s so important to be doing other things while you’re on sub. If you put all your focus into one project, it will drive you up the walls.

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

I’ve peeked a little bit. I mean, what’s the harm in a simple Google search? A couple of minutes reading interviews? Checking a Twitter feed? Hopping over to Absolute Write . . . Yeah, it’s really easy to fall down that rabbit hole. And the farther you fall, chasing one particular editor, the more a rejection will feel like a piano falling on your head.

So search cautiously, my friends! I’m definitely a fan of being informed, but once you get that fluttery “OMG, WE WILL WORK PERFECTLY TOGETHER” feeling, run away. Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if their Twitter feed is hilarious, you love the same band, and can both quote The Little Mermaid in its entirety. What matters is that they fall head-over-heels in love with your manuscript.

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

It really varies. The average would be maybe two months. But I’ve received responses within two weeks, or after six months. It all depends on the editor’s workload, their level of interest in your premise, and a myriad of other factors (is it conference season? Are they finishing a deadline of their own? Did they just request eight manuscripts?) Still, when you’re on sub, it’s hard not to check your email every few hours!

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

First and foremost: start working on your next book! Falling in love with a new project can so lessen the anxiety. But there are lots of ways to cope with the stress of submission (chocolate and margaritas are two suggestions I’ve heard, and I’ve certainly tried both!) But the truth is, what works for one person won’t always work for everyone.

For me, I’ve found that working out a lot helps lessen the stress of submission. I’m not exactly a person who works out regularly, but the first time I went on sub, it helped me a lot. So now it’s a part of my process (and that’s probably a good thing, considering how much time I spend sitting in a chair, typing away!)

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

Best advice for dealing with rejection? Don’t try to use logic to talk yourself out of an emotional reaction. Sure, you know it’s just one person’s opinion. Sure, you know reading is subjective. Still, rejection hurts. So allow yourself to grieve, cry if you want, feel angry if it helps you. And then, once you’ve let out all those negative emotions, you really will feel better. And all that logical “it’s just business” stuff will sink in.

As for querying vs. submission, it felt different at first. When you’re on sub, you feel so close to everything happening, and all you need is one yes. So each rejection felt like a door closing. Now, though, I’ve realized that “yes” is only about halfway up the mountain (because next you need good marketing, good reviews, good bookstore placement…) so agent and editor rejections feel much more similar. In both cases, it’s all about finding the person who can’t stop thinking about your work, who reads passages of your book out loud to their colleagues, who can’t stop taking about your writing. And if you found an agent who feels this way, that editor “yes” could be right around the corner!

If you got feedback on a rejection, how did you process it? How do you compare processing an editor’s feedback as compared to a beta reader’s?

When a beta reader says something that really resonates, you can dive into edits right away. With an editor, it’s trickier, because you’re already out on sub, and what one editor dislikes, another might love. It’s really best to wait for three (or more) editors to say the same thing, and then think about revisions.

Another thing to consider is, while beta readers will tell you what isn’t working in a story, editors might reject a story that is working for personal reasons. Maybe the book just didn’t resonate with them, or maybe they just bought something with a similar premise. And because they’re so busy, they can’t necessarily list all the reasons they have for rejecting a project. That’s why it’s so important to give your projects to betas before you go on submission. They’ll help you hammer out all the plot issues, the pacing, the characterization, so once your book lands on an editor’s desk, they’re less likely to reject your book because there’s something wrong with it.

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

It was surreal, shocking, startling, amazing! Both times, I got the news over the phone. And the first time, it just felt like a whirlwind, because we’d gone through second reads and acquisitions over the winter holiday, and I didn’t know about it. So when my agent called to give me the news, she didn’t just say they were passing the book up the chain; she said the book had reached the TOP!

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

Yes! We had to wait about two months (between verbal offer and written contract). Most authors I know have experienced the same thing. Even though a verbal offer is taken very seriously, there’s so much more to consider (advances, world rights, film rights, option clauses) and publishers often want all of this hammered out before anything is announced. And yes, it can definitely be hard to wait, but most people tell their close family members before they tell the world. So really, you get to reveal your news two times: once to the people closest to you, and once to everyone in the book world. Which makes for two celebrations instead of one!

Shannon Grogan On Inspiration... From A Commercial

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest for the WHAT is Shannon Grogan, a second grade teacher who writes at night (and while her kids are at ballet and baseball) in a small logging town east of Seattle. She holds degrees in education, and graphic design/Illustration. When she isn’t writing, she's baking, reading, watching scary movies, and wishing she were at the beach.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

When I got the idea for FROM WHERE I WATCH YOU, I was revising another story. The only thing I had in place was a MC who wanted to be a baker. Then I was driving down the highway and a Campbells Soup commercial came on the radio. By the time it was done I was pulling over to jot down notes. By the time I pulled back onto the road I had my MC’s mother (a crazy lady who thinks her pea soup was blessed by Jesus and has healing powers) The rest of the story came from this point—my MC who wanted to become a baker and also wanted to escape her life and her crazy mom.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I figured my theme was leaning in the direction of escape, so I added in the baking contest, which if she won she’d get a scholarship to culinary school, and away from her mom. I also wanted something ghostly, so I decided to have her dead sister hang around so she’d want to escape this and the bad memories associated with her. I love contemporary and focused first on the betrayal, and ultimately, the forgiveness within her family, but I also love scary thrillers, and romance. So I added those elements in along the way: a stalker to escape, and a boy to love and push away/escape from (also betrayal and forgiveness).

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

I usually have the main plot really solid in my mind and it pretty much comes out on paper the same, mainly because I use a quick visual plotting method to help me. But the subplots change the most, and/or are added/deleted.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I seem to have times where story ideas come one after the other. I write them on index cards and file them away. Most of the ones that come that are total crap on their own. But one idea might combine with another idea or two to form a good story idea. When they do I give them their own page in my book idea journal.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

Ooh, this is happening to me now and I’m leaning towards the one I enjoy writing down notes on the most.

Given the choice of losing your feet or your hands, what goes?

Feet. I need my hands to type and write and draw. And eat. And hug my kids.

Randy Ribay On Rolling With The Plot Changes

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest for the WHAT is Randy Ribay, debut author of the contemporary YA novel AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES (Merit Press, October 2015). He's also a book reviewer & blogger for THE HORN BOOK and a high school English teacher. He can be found in Camden, NJ walking his dog-children, gaming, or making lightsaber sound effects with his mouth.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I began with some vague shape of the kind of story I knew I wanted to tell. When I started writing AN INFINITE NUMBER OF PARALLEL UNIVERSES, I was coming off of writing a post-apocalyptic zombie novel (that nobody will ever read!). I like mixing things up, so I knew I wanted to go in the opposite direction and try something realistic. From there, I knew I wanted to tell the story of a nerdy kid. And as I started writing his story and building his world, I became interested in his friends and their stories. That’s how I ended up deciding to ignore every piece of writing advice ever about how to structure a story.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I’m a diverse person who has lived a diverse life. Having been starved for literature that reflected my world as a child, I knew I wanted to my characters to convey a variety of experiences. So even though I was writing about a group of nerdy friends (who found each other by playing Dungeons & Dragons), I did not want them all to be the same type of nerd with the same background and the same struggles. So I began by creating my characters, and once I knew them, I gave them each a problem they needed overcome that would be true to their character. And once they each had a problem, I gave the group a problem that they would have to collectively resolve. I wrote to help them solve those problems.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

My plot(s) kept changing right up to the final draft. Given the unique structure of my story (four parallel storylines that eventually converge), I constantly struggled with making sure that the individual plots intertwined sufficiently to necessitate that they be told jointly. On top of that, I had to ensure that the larger arc would help resolves the individual arcs. This, or course, made revision a…challenge. Every time I altered a plot point in one section, I had to then go and change every other section. Good times.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

It took me a long time to start writing because I always felt like the first thing I wrote had to be a complete masterpiece. However, once I finally realized that that was bullshit (can I curse here?), I was actually able to write. Since then I’ve been able to find new ideas all around me. A lot of the times I’ll begin with an image—usually something I see in my daily life—and simply wonder about the story behind the image.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

In between novels, I’ll do a stint of short stories. And I’ll basically keep writing short stories until something sticks, until I get to that point where I can’t stop thinking about one of the stories and its characters. So even though I always have a few bouncing around my head, it’s the one I’m most curious about that I’ll expand simply because I feel like there’s more story that I want to uncover.

Given the choice of losing your feet or your hands, what goes?

Feet, hands down (see what I did there?). My hands help me write, type, make omelets, play video games, pet puppies, build sandcastles, etc. My feet get me from point A to point B. Sometimes they kick things. I feel like they could be replaced with wheels or robot spider legs or a jet pack, and things would work out. Maybe I could even get stilts and finally be taller than Mindy McGinnis.