Read our guide to coping with the rejection that's an inevitable part of life as a writer.
Anyone that has ever written a piece — be it an article, a report, or a novel — knows the kind of hard work, research, and thought goes into it. They know the upsides; of the exhilarating feeling of a completed work, of the loving acceptance of a work — and the downsides; of the writers’ block, the “what’s next?”, and worst of all, the rejection.
When you write for a living, you’re bound to face rejection, be it vague, harsh, direct, or a simple act of ‘ghosting’. The following are some steps to cope with rejection and ensure your next work is better than the last:
Engage with constructive criticism
One must remember to not take things personally, and always ask for feedback. Constructive criticism is the best way to understand what your reader is looking for, and what they want to hear. It is also the best way to improve your writing style and tone.
As Alexander Chee (author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays) says, “There are some things you can listen for in the way that people reject you that tell you that maybe the work does need something — maybe there is something you need to attend to in the story”.
Connect with other writers
By meeting other writers, you can get insights from others as to how to manage your time, enhance your writing, and many more things. As a fellow writer can understand what you are going through and what you are looking for, it is important to connect with them and thus also stay updated about the industry.
Some places to connect with other people from your industry are online, at workshops, or even when taking an online course!
Remind yourself why you love writing
When writing for a living, it is often easy to lose sight of what you loved about it enough to take it as a full-time career. However, it’s important to keep that passion ignited as you navigate through your writing process.
Apart from reading new works to inspire yourself and meeting other writers to get motivated, surrounding yourself with people pursuing the same goal is a constant reminder as to why you started in the first place!
Keep going!
It’s like the old saying, “try and try until you succeed”. As you meet more people, embrace different worldviews, and write more, you will find that your love for writing can never truly be diminished — it just needs coaxing to create something wonderful. And as you keep going, you will find a whole new world of opportunities!
How an MA in Creative Writing can help you achieve your goals
One of the best ways to improve upon your writing is to learn it from professionals. An MA in Creative Writing is all about cultivating your talent, picking new skills and techniques, and creating you own tone, which can further be used to create published works.
The University of Hull offers a part-time online MA in Creative Writing, wherein students:
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Discover how to create a unique tone
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Push their creative boundaries
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Learn about literary canon
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Understand how to read as a writer
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Explore how to create the right structure for your work
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Learn about the different textual elements that can be used to support the plot
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Master the various techniques applicable to the preferred writing genre
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Connect with other writers and learn from their experience as well
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Understand how to write, edit, draft, and re-draft to create work that can be published
However, you won’t just be limited to writing novels; students can enter different industries such as journalism, PR and marketing, banking, tech, education, and museum curation, among others.
The University of Hull’s part-time online MA in Creative Writing is a two-year course that you can do at your convenience. The course is held online, with an option to attend certain face-to-face events as well. Learn what inspired the best minds to pick up their pen and write unforgettable stories and set out on a path to write your own masterpieces:
