Monday, April 25, 2011

Response from Harlequin

I received a response from Harlequin Desire on my partial for "After Hours with the CEO" ( I love that title and I swear even if I have to ditch the book, I'm using that title again)

It's a rejection telling me that they found aspects of my story compelling ( yeah!) especially my writing (double yeah!!) but found the set-up problematic and the hero not alpha enough. If I wished to rewrite and resubmit the partial they would be pleased to look at it again. And if I had another project suitable for Desire they would be pleased to look at it.



Although I wished they'd been more specific about the parts of the story they liked so I didn't change those, they were very specific about what they didn't like. I know what to get rid of - almost everything to do with the hero. I plan to put my head down and get this proposal back out within the next two or three weeks - soon as I figure out how to give my hero a personality transplant.

I am sensing a theme to my rejections - they like the writing and heroine, don't like hero and external plot.

8 comments:

Janet said...

As someone who gets the simple "No, thanks!", I'm impressed with your rejections. And with that info, you can really see where you need to focus on in your story. I think it's brilliant that they love your writing and your heroine - and that they'd love to see a rewrite - all positives, Anne.

Good luck over the next two weeks. May I suggest gorging on some serious Alpha Male movies (can't think of any off the top of my head) to set the mood?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the re-submission :)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Janet. I need to watch Christian Bale movies!

Rachael Johns said...

That's NOT a rejection - it's a REWRITE AND RESUBMIT. Congrats - but pity they didn't give you more specifics. I hate airy-fairy revisions :)

Unknown said...

Thanks Rachael, I'm just going to rewrite it so it works for me, keeping their suggestions in mind. It's all I can do.

Lacey Devlin said...

Congrats Anne! That's really fantastic news =)

Lots of luck with the rewrites and keep us posted for when that full request arrives!

Unknown said...

Thanks Lacy. Indecisive about how to tackle changes at the moment. Must stop waffling.

Unknown said...

Hi Anne - I think if they are bothering to give you that kind of feedback, then there is something there worth their time to read and comment on. Good luck with the revisions - I agree with Janet - gorge on serious Alpha male stuff and channel him:)

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Anne - I had a problem with my male characters suffering from Hamletitis. Too much thinking, not enough doing. So I now run my characters through the What Would Dean Winchester Do? standard, and that's made all the difference for me.