rejections of a story i wrote, ranked from most personal to most impersonal, with commentary

i am interested in reading other people's rejection letters

i sometimes google 'rejection' and 'mid-american review' or whatever

i will post some of my rejections here

here are selected rejections (e-mailed ones) of one of my more controversial stories

the band leftover crack is featured in the story

and their lyrics are quoted a little

their lyrics that are quoted are

mcdonald's will bloom as the major competition
between jesus and the devil for this government's religion
people so caught up in the freedom that they see
while america's fucking over every single country

Fuck America
Fuck America
Fuck America
Fuck America

the story has 9/11 in it

another thing the story has is the idea that people don't have free will

it also has kids who talk shit about that band good charlotte

here are the rejection letters and what i sincerely liked about each

Dear Tao:

Thanks for sending us “Cull the Steel Heart, Melt the Ice one, Love the Weak Thing; Say Nothing of Consolation, but Irrelevance, Disaster, and Nonexistence; Have no Hope or Hate—Nothing; Ruin Yourself Exclusively, Completely, and Whenever Possible.” I’m sorry for the long delay in getting back to you. As you know, One Story is run entirely by volunteers, and as a result it takes a long time for anything to get done.

There was a lot to like in this story, especially the title! The writing had a great deal of energy and some really sharp moments to it, but in the end we decided it was a bit too hard to follow for our readers. I’m afraid we’ll have to pass.

Sorry to send bad news after all this time, but we were impressed with your writing, both here and in our short story contest, and hope you’ll try us again soon!

Best wishes,

Hannah Tinti

i like this letter from one story because of its honesty

that they decided to pass because the story would be too hard to follow for their readers

i would be too afraid to admit something like that

people would accuse me of 'selling-out' somehow, i would fear

but really it's a legitimate problem

for example, if i had a literary magazine, i wouldn't publish thomas pynchon

i also like that the entire title of the story was written there, and that something was said about it, the title

i also like the two exclaimation marks

i really like it when there's an exclaimation mark at the end of a long sentence

it gives it a sudden speed and makes me feel like a kid again, for a moment, before i realize how i've been manipulated

Dear Tao,

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read your stories. I am afraid they do not quite work for us at this moment. However, please keep us in mind and if you have any new work, feel free to email me.
Thank you and have a great weekend.

Best,
Yiyun

this was from the forthcoming A Public Space

i like that she told me to have a great weekend

it was the fourth of july weekend, then, i think

and i like the conversational "feel free to email me"

Dear Tao,

Thank you for your submission to Night Train. "Cull the Steel Heart" is exquisitely written and a fine portrayal of post-9/11 angst. Though I enjoyed it very much, I'm afraid it's not quite right for Night Train. I didn't feel the many strands you had going here--9/11, the relationship with Dana, music, homelessness, Colin's emotional ennui-- were successfully brought together at the end. I also felt some of the energy was lost during the extensive narration of the concert.

This is a purely subjective opinion, however. This is excellent work, and I'm sure other editors will feel differently. Good luck placing this, and please try us again in the future.

Cami Park
Associate Editor

i like the specificity of this one

Dear Tao Lin,

Thank you for participating in the SLS/St. Petersburg-05 annual literary contest. We at SLS were impressed by the strength and overall quality of your work -- and would like to offer you a fellowship in the amount of 20% off the two-week program tuition cost (or 25% off for four weeks).
Please let us know if that is something you might be interested in.

We look forward to hearing from you.

All Best,

SUMMER LITERARY SEMINARS
St. Petersburg, Russia/Nairobi, Kenya
www.sumlitsem.org

i like the parenthetical note, the 25% off thing

Dear Tao,

Thank you for submitting your work to the Missouri Review. Thought it doesn't meet our current needs we appreciate the opportunity to consider it for publication. We wish you the best of luck placing this elsewhere.

Sincerely,
The Editors

this one seems like a form letter

but look

"though," is misspelled as "thought"

do they type all their rejections?

or do their form-letters strategically have typos in them, so as to give them a personal, all-humans-make-mistakes feel?

We're sorry to say that this manuscript is not right for us. Unfortunately, we are receiving so many submissions that it is impossible for us to reply more specifically. We thank you for the chance to consider your work.

The Editors

this one was from the new yorker

i think i lied to the new yorker

i think i put that i had an MFA and that my stories were forthcoming in the paris review

i think it's okay to lie to the new yorker

anyway, i've found out that they have three levels of form-letters, i think

because other rejections i've gotten from them are

We regret that we are unable to use the enclosed material. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider it.

The Editors

and

We're sorry to say that this manuscript is not right for us, in spite of its evident merit. Unfortunately, we are receiving so many submissions that it is impossible for us to reply more specifically. We thank you for the chance to consider your work.

The Editors

the third form-letter is the same as the first, only they take out "...in spite of its evident merit..."

but the second form-letter is completely different than the other two