I have permission to repost here a wonderful article I read–you may want to check out hte newsletter writingworld and the author’s blog (listed at end of article0 for more tips on writing.
Reprinted with permission of Moira Allen and Isabella Akinseye from
W R I T I N G W O R L D A World of Writing Information - For Writers Around the World http://www.writing-world.com Issue 12:22 13,350 subscribers November 15, 2012
FEATURE: How to Repurpose Your Rejection
=================================================================
By Isabella E.C. Akinseye
‘Quitters never win and winners never quit.’ This rings true for
every writer who has ever faced a rejection letter. Even after
numerous publishing credits, one might still have that stubborn
piece that refuses to find a home after several rewrites and edits.
Rather than give up, sometimes a rejected piece just needs to be
repurposed to find its perfect fit.
Finding the Root Cause
———————-
While some articles only need to be tweaked and adjusted to make
the mark, others need to be given a totally new direction. But
before you go tearing your precious piece into shreds, take a
moment and reread the rejection letters. What are the editors
saying and, more importantly, not saying? An article may have the
perfect fit, but there might not be any room for it to be
published. Other times, the language and style used might not be
suitable for the intended audience. Has something similar been
published before or recently somewhere else? When no feedback is
provided, why not give the piece to members of your writers’ circle
to read and critique? This could be done anonymously, so they
remain as objective as possible. You should also allow some time to
pass so you can reread your work with fresh eyes. For a fee, you
can have your work professionally assessed by a number of reputable
literary agencies that charge reading fees or offer editing
packages. All these tips can help you get to the possible root of
the rejection. With new insight, you can then adapt your article
and resubmit. If all that still fails, then you should consider
doing the following:
Change Media
————
Words are not just meant to be read, they are also meant to be
heard. There is a huge market for audio material ranging from audio
books to spoken word poetry. Perhaps that poem of yours is better
performed as a rap. You could explore your new made-up words that
are hard to express in written form but are easily spoken.
I remember an exercise I once did on a writing course. It involved
descriptive writing: creating a setting and appealing to all five
senses. It did not have a real narrative. I forgot about it until I
was approached by a lady who worked with children who have had
problematic childhoods. She wanted to record some mental exercises
that would help them to relax, stir up their imagination and still
have fun. She already had material for us to record but I suggested
that we used my descriptive piece and infuse it with the exercises.
It worked and she loved it.
Change Genre
————
When it comes to stories, you can be flexible in the way you tell
them. The important thing is how you adapt them in order to attract
new markets. Your true-life story could be embellished and expanded
into a fictional story. You can even change the ending and let your
imagination run wild. Another example is to consider dramatising
the story. Perhaps your memorable Christmas experience would make a
punchy one act play. A self-help article could become animated
through the introduction of music, dance, costumes and special
effects through a short video. Always bear in mind that each new
genre poses its own pros and cons and this could affect the message
you are trying to pass across. Before you begin to consider
rewriting to fit a new genre, first nail down the essence or gist
of your piece and decide what you are willing to compromise on and
what you are not.
If your true life story includes other people playing major parts,
you have to be careful when fictionalising it, as merely changing
names and the setting might not be enough. In some instances, it is
advisable to get the permission of people who might or might not be
comfortable with the way you portray them. For the writer, this
presents a creative challenge to retain the essence of the
characters while finding a way to make the story more generic
without losing your unique treatment.
Change Audience
—————
Sometimes, the barrier between you and a successful submission is
the wrong target audience. New and experienced writers must always
do their research, and this goes beyond reading submission
guidelines and sample material. It is also about following some
unwritten rules. Different markets in different countries have
their own stance on what is acceptable and appropriate for a
specific age range. It might be okay to talk about sex in Young
Adult novel for a more general market, while religious markets
might be totally against it.
Correctly Gauge the Readers’ Ability
————————————-
When it comes to writing for children, the content is just as
important as the style and vocabulary used. A difference of one or
two years could mean the difference between preschool reading and
early years ‘school’ reading. Even if the story has the same appeal
to both groups, the comprehension levels are different and the
choice of words must match the reading level. In this case, it is
very helpful to go through similar books for a particular age range
and make notes on style, sentence construction, picture/text ratio
and subject matter.
Explore Multiple Audiences
————————–
It’s also possible that an article you wrote might have multiple
audiences, some less obvious than others. I wrote ‘How to Be a
Student Writer’ with a broad audience of writers in general in
mind. Yet after multiple submissions to more general markets, I
decided to adapt the piece as a literary workshop for students at
my alma mater. Here, I broadened my target audience to both
non-student and student writers. I realised that the article was
too basic and too specifically targeted to what might only be a
small minority of the readers of a general writing publication.
Another way to repurpose my rejected piece might be to submit to
student publications or rewrite it with a teacher audience in mind.
Prune the Extras
—————-
While I have discussed embellishing and expanding pieces in this
article, sometimes the opposite is required. Writers for younger
children have the hard job of making every word count. This
requires simplifying the story and sticking to only the parts that
actually drive the plot or concept further. For a nonfiction
self-help piece, you might be trying to advise on too many areas,
which could cause the reader to lose interest.
If narrowing your work down makes you struggle for words, it means
that you still need to do more research. Go beyond the traditional
media of books and consult audio-visual sources, websites,
magazines, films and newspapers, just to mention a few. But be
careful not to put too much emphasis on sources that have not
been/cannot be verified and those that have not stood the test of
time. It is better to use them for illustrative purposes or to show
another perspective. When it comes to the academia market,
Wikipedia does not cut it. You are better off scrolling down the
page and researching the sources cited in the article.
Innovate
——–
What happens when you have put all these tips into practice and
still have no success? You have to think out of the box and
innovate. This could mean identifying a gap in the market and
creating your own niche genre, or merely spinning the wheel in
another direction. A problematic submission that you are
passionate about and believe in could force you to exploit new
media. It might mean assembling your target audience physically or
in cyberspace and then finding a unique way of sharing your
material. If you are able to sustain the momentum and generate
enough demand, you will not only be grinning to the bank but more
importantly, you will become a specialist in the field.
Keep It for a Rainy Day
———————–
A writing sample is helpful to a jobseeker. It is always good to
have them, even better when they are published. However, some
writing samples can have become dated and no longer be as relevant
as they were when they were written. I was once commissioned to be
a guest Arts editor in Arik Wings, the in-flight magazine of Arik
Air. I interviewed a film director as well as five authors and did
a review of Sade’s new album ‘Soldier of Love’. Only the interviews
made it, even though I was still paid for all three. I was later
told that some advertising had come in and my review had to be
sacrificed. So when it comes to markets in need of music reviews, I
now have a solid one in the kitty. In the future, it could also
serve as a reference point for a more general piece on Sade as a
group and its music.
Self-Publish
————
If all else fails and you still want to get that rejected piece out
there, consider self-publishing. This can be done free on the
internet on a personal blog, Facebook or a website you run. You
could also invest your money and self-publish in print, audio,
audio-visual and e-book formats. You can go through reputable
self-publishing firms or do the work yourself or a hybrid of both.
This might be your best bet when it comes to personal stories such
as memoirs, biographies and family history, which are unlikely to
attract a publisher unless you are a celebrity or known public
figure or have done something extraordinary. The downside is that
it might cost you a lot of money and the only reward is the
satisfaction of sharing your story — but for some writers, this is
enough.
Never Give Up
————-
In a writing life, rejections are as common as a cold. In the
newbie days, a lot of your learning (even after doing courses) will
be on the job and the most valuable lessons you will learn are
about getting up, dusting yourself off and soldiering on. But even
for the experienced writer, new markets pose new challenges and no
matter how far you have gone, you never get ‘there.’
A rejected piece forces a paradigm shift. It is about seeing
solutions and new ways of pushing your creative boundaries where
others see problems. So before you start a new writing project, why
not revisit your old work and get inspired as you make repurposing
your rejections one of your writing resolutions for 2013?
>>————————————————–<<
Isabella E.C. Akinseye is the Creative Director at Quill and Scroll
Creatives (http://www.quillscroll.com/), a creative writing,
editing and publishing firm based in Nigeria. She recently
graduated with a BA Education with English and Drama from the
University of Cambridge, where she wrote for The Cambridge Student,
became the editor of Aspire magazine and had her opinion piece
published in the international digital edition of the Times Higher
Education. Her work has appeared in True Love West Africa, Rivulet,
TW magazine, Exceed, Beyond Weddings, NEXT newspapers, Style House
Files and TIEC Group, among others. She co-runs the Bookaholic Blog
bookaholicblog.blogspot.com. She is currently working on her first
book.
Copyright Isabella E.C. Akinseye 2012
This article may not be reprinted without the written permission of
the author. (Note from Joan–I obtained permission)
Find Isabella at www.quillscroll.com and bookaholicblog.blogspot.com
