…..I’ll get me coat….

Thanks for replying. I suppose that does help a little – and I guess if writers were to get organised (HA!) they could post form letters for the various agents somewhere so they could decipher which “I just didn’t love it” it is….

…..Is that a typical agent procedure where (time permitting) should the work require immediate editorial evisceration, it’s a form letter, and a matter of taste/style gets something a little more bespoke?

You know it’d be a lot easier if you slipped in a keyword, like ‘badger’ or something, to let the author know “it’s not you, it’s me”. So to speak. Like…

…”It made me as rageful as a Dire Badger Barbarian that I couldn’t love this work, so I’ll regretably have to pass.”

…see. Simples…hehe

So here’s a question…..

Speaking for anyone who’s suffered similar hangups and worries: If a rejection does say “I didn’t fall in love with it”, can we take this as shorthand for “Hey, look, it’s OK, you know. I’m not picking out errors every third paragraph, and I ain’t strained an eyeball through exasperation, or tutted myself hoarse. Maybe hold off 6 month open-page surgery until you’ve got a coupla hundred rejections? Cos, you know, you’re likely to kill the patient…”?

And more importantly, is there shorthand for “Dude, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see this. Go. Clean. Now!”?

Reason being I think there’s a deep dark fear (Especially for people of a certain psychological make-up) that “I didn’t fall in love with it” can mean both “Almost” and “Thank, no thanks. And two of those words I didn’t really mean” – like a truthful filling in polite sandwich…..and holding that duality of meaning can be toxic.

So do you differentiate between the two, even subtly, in your replies depending on how far from “Oooo” your “Meh…” is??

And, yes, one of the best and worst things about our business is how subjective it is. Our arguments about books here are legendary and there’s a lot of shade throwing at our colleagues’ taste when it doesn’t mesh with our own.