Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Dear Jane

This is my 100 word (exactly!) contribution to the GBE 2 weekly topic.  It's a parody, using some of the phrases I got in one rejection, and applying them to a rather famous writer!

Dear Jane
Thank you for submitting your novel. I enjoyed your depiction of manners, morality and marriage among the landed gentry. Your writing is assured and capable, and your character development is strong. However the romance between the hero and heroine was slow to develop. Other issues, subplots and secondary characters received more attention than the romance, and this is not what we are looking for right now.
If you submit this elsewhere, may I suggest that ‘First Impressions’ is not the best title, and that you might consider the hero’s pride and the heroine’s prejudice instead?
Yours faithfully (etc)

Posted by at

37 comments:

  1. Jenn5 July 2011 at 01:12

    That was awesome!! AND one of my favorite books!! Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 01:16

    LOL Jenn, I enjoyed inventing this one! And it gave me an excuse to post a picture of Colin Firth too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. JENNIFER WILCK5 July 2011 at 01:40

    Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 01:45

    Thanks, Jen!
    Now guess which phrases I got in my rejection letter!
    The rejected novel has now been accepted elsewhere, I'm pleased to say!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ana Morgan5 July 2011 at 01:48

    This is too funny, Paula. I'm convinced now Jane would have received a rejection letter just like this and would have had to shop P&P around to innumerable publishers until she finally found one. Strike that. She would have self-published.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 01:58

    LOL, Ana - at thought of Jane shopping around! But in today's climate, she might just have had to do that. I read somewhere she had a friend who knew the publisher. See, it's not what you know, it's who you know!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brenda Stevens5 July 2011 at 02:19

    wow..so glad you did this...dang.. what #$%^&*)$# crap...great way to deal with rejection

    ReplyDelete
  8. Debra St. John5 July 2011 at 02:41

    Paula,

    Nicely done! This is soooooo clever.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Donna K. Weaver5 July 2011 at 03:35

    Awesome! And when Fred Astaire first tried out for film, they said he was balding but could dance a little. O_o

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous5 July 2011 at 03:36

    I got a kick out of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. This is a great post! =D

    --Diana Jillian

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jenni5 July 2011 at 04:24

    That was outstanding! I really enjoyed reading this! Reminds me that you cant always listen to criticism!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Maggie5 July 2011 at 04:53

    That is so cool! Hahaha...it took me a minute to figure out where it was going but once I got it - brilliant! :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rosemary Gemmell5 July 2011 at 08:41

    Brilliant summing up of the story too, Paula!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 10:45

    Thank you all, I enjoyed inventing this little piece!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ann5 July 2011 at 12:17

    Priceless Paula! Still smiling.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5 July 2011 at 13:49

    LOL! Excellent :O)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 15:52

    Thanks, Ann and Madeleine! Glad it made you smile!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5 July 2011 at 18:18

    That was fun. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Cathy5 July 2011 at 18:37

    What a great rejection letter, Paula. I really enjoyed that. What a fun idea! I'm even sure Jane would have enjoyed it as long as she knew it was made up of course. Who likes rejection letters after all? Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Paula Martin5 July 2011 at 19:10

    Thanks, Adrienne.

    Cathy, I wonder if Jane ever DID get any rejections?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Claudia Moser5 July 2011 at 20:45

    WOW, simply WOW! Love the book and as Paula wonders, good food for thought - did Jane ever get a rejection? Worth some research!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Marian6 July 2011 at 00:56

    Wow! I loved this book and related to it!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous6 July 2011 at 04:10

    Well done! Reminds me of the ones they sometimes do in Writer's Digest!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Paula Martin6 July 2011 at 10:37

    Claudia - Wikipedia indicates that Jane did have some rejections, and also had to buy back the copyright of one novel from a publisher who did nothing with it!

    Thanks, Marian and Word Nerd!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Mojo Writin6 July 2011 at 11:05

    *chuckle* I wonder how she would have reacted had she received such a letter back then. Maybe she did! A very inventive take on the prompt :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Jo6 July 2011 at 16:51

    And haven't I been there and read that! lol I still write and I still believe I can. For me, writing is about writing and publishing is about someone else seeing your value. I would LOVE that, but I am not NEEDING that.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Langley Cornwell6 July 2011 at 19:03

    Yes! Great take on this week's challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Paula Martin6 July 2011 at 20:22

    Mojo - I believe she had to buy her copyright back from one publisher who did nothing with her book.

    Jo - absolutely right, you write for yourself, being published is an extra bonus.

    Langley - thanks! Had no idea what to write so invented this!

    ReplyDelete
  29. JULIE HOYLE6 July 2011 at 21:02

    I loved this post! What a great idea, very well done!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Paula Martin6 July 2011 at 21:18

    Thanks, Julie!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Francine Howarth7 July 2011 at 22:45

    Hi,

    LOL: fab post, brilliant prose! ;)

    best
    F

    ReplyDelete
  32. Paula Martin7 July 2011 at 22:49

    Thanks, Francine. A lot of the phrases were culled from a genuine rejection letter that I received!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Unknown7 July 2011 at 23:13

    That was so cool! Loved the book, and the movie! Kathy
    http://www.thetruckerswife.com/

    ReplyDelete
  34. Paula Martin7 July 2011 at 23:46

    Thanks, Kathy. The 1996 BBC series with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle was SO much better than the movie with Keira Knightley and ?? (can't even remember his name, so that's how much he didn't impress me!)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous8 July 2011 at 19:49

    Another very creative 100 word story! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Paula Martin8 July 2011 at 23:10

    Thank you, beachlover :-)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Eccentricity10 July 2011 at 10:29

    Good for you! :-) You didn't take it personal and found humor.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)