Toni Morrison's Rejection Letters

[grepLeigh]

"On the other is a rejection from Morrison, sometimes brusque yet typically offering something more than an expression of disinterest—notes on craft, character development, the need for more (or less) drama. But also: Autopsies of a changing, and in many ways diminishing, publishing industry; frustrations with the tastes of a reading public; and sympathies for poets, short story writers, and other authors drawn to commercially hopeless genres."

This is a beautiful way to soften the blow of rejection and turn it into an opportunity for growth. I wish the modern tech equivalent of a rejection letter could include the same kindness ("Thank you for your interest ... We regret to inform you ... After careful consideration, we are not moving forward"). I've managed/founded, so I fully understand how much liability this opens the company up to, but I still mourn the loss of this small kindness.

[rtpg]

I've been on the receiving end of "thoughtful" rejection letters. Some have been helpful, but some really served to cement the subjectivity of the whole thing.

The "funniest" one is one where I in fact knew the person who got the job. I received a nice and long rejection letter explaining all the points they found off for me. I was too aloof during the interview process itself (thinking I was a good fit), and many of the points mentioned were not wrong. But I knew for a fact that I was better than the person who got the job on all the mentioned points[0]! There was one thing not mentioned, a pure "culture fit" component[1]. Pretty sure that was a decisive factor, but not mentioned.

It just felt like something where, if I didn't have the full context, I would have really bogged myself down from "wrong" feedback. And when feedback can involve innate parts of one's personality, from people who have already decided to not work with you, it can be painful.

[0]: I worked closely with this person for many years. I do not have ill will towards them, the skill gap I'm mentioning was purely a "years of experience" thing IMO

[1]: for the curious: the place hired loads of people in a certain community, of which ~all of them were from the British Isles. I am not.

[maroonblazer]

I was hoping for a link to all of her rejection letters but alas, none is provided. I guess we have to visit the Random House archives at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

[soneca]

The same. Not necessarily a link, but more and longer quotes, rather than short quotes and interpretation of them.

[hyperthesis]

> show don’t tell [...] she informed one writer that their “story is certainly worth telling,” but they “describe people and events from a distance instead of dramatizing them, developing scenes in which the reader discovers what kind of people they are instead of being told.”

The second part of the quote (from "developing...") seems to be saying tell don't show. Is the quote mangled or I am misparsing?

[LeonB]

I think I see how you’re interpreting the sentence.

Imagine instead the word “and” in place of the comma before “developing”.

The letter writers wants the author to be “dramatising (their events) AND developing scenes in which the reader…”

[hyperthesis]

Maybe I'm unneccesarily inferring parentheses from the quotation marks, like:

  but they (tell don't show, show don't tell).

It reads differently without them.

[qyph]

You have it precisely backwards. "Developing scenes in which the reader discovers what kind of people they are" is synonymous with "show" and "being told" is literally a form of "tell."

[ngcc_hk]

Is the gatekeeper function is diminished a bit by electronic publishing ?

[ghaff]

Yes and No.

Yes, insofar as you can trivially publish and be on Amazon or your website. Doesn't mean anyone will find you of course.

No, as in historically at least, getting published through a major publisher opened up the possibility of book tours, reviews in major publications, bookshelf space in stores, and various types of editorial assistance. That's all generally less the case than it used to be though.

[EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK]

What's the most famous book that she rejected?

[ByQuyzzy]

I was forced to read her book in school, I didn't care for it. One wonders what percentage of her readers read her willingly.

[presbyterian]

She’s a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, National Book Critics Circle Award, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Foundation’s Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters; one of the most celebrated writers in American literature. I understand that you may not personally like the book of hers you read, but to suggest that people read her just because they’re required to is absurd.

[indy]

I was biased to have negative opinions of many books simply because I was 'forced to read them in school'.

It was only many years later when I chose to read them that I could appreciate their quality.

[aprilthird2021]

Since no one else has asked, what did you not like about it? I found the magic realism look towards, specifically, racially segregated chattel slavery and the generations who lived in the shadow of it was a very interesting mix of ideas. I remember her stories being beautiful and horrifying, her prose being precise while being fantastical, and her style and story material being quite unique.

Would love to know what you didn't like. Perhaps I have a rose-tinted view of reading those books long ago

[emseetech]

When people say this, I wonder what kind of books they appreciate.

[dragonwriter]

I was assigned to read many books in schools, but I was never forced to read any of them.

[jjgreen]

"Forced to read" is itself a swine. I can't abide Shakespeare for the same reason, and I understand that he's rather well thought of as a writer.

[RajT88]

Me too. "The Bluest Eye" - in college.

It was devastating. I'm glad I read it, even though parts of it were really uncomfortable.

[forgotmyinfo]

Oh, come on now. You don't have to enjoy Toni Morrison, but to discount her absolute success because she isn't your preference is more than a little ridiculous.