HOORAY! I’VE BEEN REJECTED! And rejected, and rejected, and…

Current Project: Proposals
Status: Getting there

The Master of Rejection

A long time ago, in another life, I worked (briefly) in telephone sales. If anyone had asked me what the worst job I could imagine was after slaughterhouse worker, I would have said phone sales. Ironically, there I was, learning how to handle rejection in spades.

You know what? It really wasn’t that bad. 

Before each call, I smiled to make myself feel more positive. I didn’t want my negativity to taint the calls. Most people politely declined if they were not interested. A few kept me on the line because they were lonely, but had no intention of taking the bait. And some were interested in what the company had to offer. I think that smile carried into my voice, because I had really good sales numbers, in spite of my inner doubts.

I firmly believe that projecting a positive and confident attitude is key when pitching face-to-face. Like the smile on the phone, confident body language is contagious. It inspires confidence in the person listening to your pitch. 

Even if you’ve connected with an industry professional on a personal level, be aware that the decision they made to reject your submission was not personal. 

Once in a while, someone would hang up on me mid-sentence or yell at me for interrupting their favorite TV show. Having always hated being on the receiving end of telephone solicitors, I understood the hang-ups were not personal and the yellers had issues I didn’t want to deal with (so I hung up on them.)

My 1st Rejection Letter!!!

Agent or editor rejections are not personal, just as hang-ups weren’t personal.

Any agent or editor who treats you unprofessionally isn’t one you want to work with, believe me. Ignore everything they said/wrote and give thanks they are not involved in your professional life!

My supervisor gave me a perspective on sales pitches that translates nicely into pitching or submitting a book. “Every no is one step closer to yes.” 

Memorize this truth, post it over your desk, tattoo it on your forearm, scrawl it across your rejection letters in permanent ink—do whatever it takes to internalize this gem of wisdom.

You’ll be glad you did.

Sarah's Plot Puzzle: Roots of Genre romance Plots?

Current Project: Blindsight
Status: Discovery Wordbuilding for Revisions

I was skimming through Ronald B. Tobias’s famous book, 20 Master Plots, the other day when I had an idea. Just for fun, I decided to try matching ‘Classic’ romance plots with Tobias’s non-romance ‘Masters’ from which they may have evolved.

Check out changingminds.org for a summary list of Tobias’s Master Plots. Here are the match-ups I made.

Romance Plot--------------------Master Plot

Secret_Baby----------------------Discovery Plot

Woman-in-Jeopardy------------Pursuit/Rescue/Escape Plots

Mystery-----------------------------Riddle Plot

Vampire/Shape-Shifter---------Metamorphosis Plot

Romantic_Triangle--------------Rivalry/Underdog Plot

Runaway_Bride------------------Pursuit/Maturity/Transformation

Reunion/Second Chance--------Discovery Plot

Treasure_Hunt--------------------Quest/Adventure Plot

Do my match-ups make sense to you? Try it; it’s a fun and enlightening way to learn more about plot. Can you come up with more matches?

Storyboard: Chart Your Story to Find Plot Holes

Current Project: Blindsight (working title), PN
Status: Characters stuck in limbo in middle of climax due to Other Obligations

My process includes writing a full-on, NaNoRiMo-style First Draft in order to avoid waking my Internal Editor. After doing a lot of brainstorming about characters, GMC, settings, and Major Turning Points, I am ready to roll. When I reach The End, I put the First Draft away for a couple weeks, take a break, and work on something else.

Then I chart my manuscript, chapter by chapter, scene by scene, on a Storyboard. I use this tool to create a visual representation of my book on a big piece of oak tag board.  Some authors use a white board and erasable markers. The Storyboard allows me to examine the story’s structure and find plot holes; out-of-place, missing, or unnecessary scenes; places where my pacing drags; threads that haven’t been neatly tied up – and anything else I want to track.

A storyboard can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. There are no rules, only guidelines.

I mark out a grid with a pencil or permanent marker: four rows (each representing about one-quarter of the story –Acts 1 thru 4) of five boxes ( for a twenty-chapter book; you can adjust for your own work.)

BASIC STORYBOARD GRID

Ch. 1 Inciting Incident ACT 1	Ch. 2	Ch. 3	Ch. 4	Ch. 5 1ST TP
Ch. 6 ACT 2	Ch. 7	Ch. 8	Ch. 9	Ch. 10 2ND TP
Ch. 11 ACT 3	Ch. 12	Ch. 13	Ch. 14	Ch. 15 3RD TP
Ch. 16 ACT 4	Ch. 17	Ch. 18	Ch. 19	Ch. 20 The End

For one story, I began with a very simple Storyboard to examine suspense and romance plots in order to balance them in a romantic suspense. I also tracked POV character for each scene.

Make up your own color scheme. Just be sure to post a list of what your sticky colors mean somewhere on the blank area of the board for easy reference. The blank areas also give you a place to track deleted scenes, write notes to yourself, etc.

Square orange sticky notes told me what happened in the suspense plot in each chapter.
Pink listed the romantic developments.
Green were the subplot
Yellow tracked the H/H’s Story Arcs

I used sticky tabs for each scene in the chapter. These included chapter/scene numbers (1-1, 1-2, etc.) and a description (Body find, First Meet, etc.)
Heroine’s POV scenes=pink tabs
Hero’s POV scenes=green tabs
Villain’s POV scenes=purple tabs

SAMPLE CHAPTER BLOCK

Suspense Plot Kickoff (Meg, Alex, dogs=Beauty and the Beast) Dogs find body – someone’s framing Meg for murder Sisters toss body in the river [ORANGE]	Romance Plot First Meet (Meg, Lance=police chief/ hunky neighbor, Beast) Lance shows up looking for uncle’s lost dog (Dingbat) [PINK]
Subplot Kickoff Tish=Meg’s sister and Jamie=Tish’s Bosnian friend/ co-worker CONTRASTS w/ Meg’s foreshadowing [GREEN]	Meg’s Character Arc Sisters State Meg’s Goal Lance’s Character Arc Shows he needs to prove himself as the new Chief [YELLOW]
1-1 Body Find M=POV [PINK]	1-4 Meg waits during search M=POV [PINK]
1-2 First Meet L=POV [GREEN]	No scene
1-3 Body-in-woods Call L=POV [GREEN]	No scene

I could see at a glance whether or not a chapter included movement in both plots. I could follow plot threads easily. If someone other than the protagonist had too many POV scenes, or I forgot to let the reader know what the villain was up to for too long, the color patterns made these things obvious.

Here’s a photo of the one I did for a single-title Romantic Suspense with multiple subplots:

The vertical row of stickies down the left side is my reference guide. The stickies below the line are deleted scenes and notes to myself.

Whether you're a plotter or a pantser, the Storyboard may be just the tool you need to find and fix your story's hidden flaws. Try it! 

If making a Storyboard stresses you out, maybe this tool's not for you - and that's okay. But if  you have fun with this plotting tool, fantastic! Add it to your writing toolkit.