Deanna Kizis

Journalist, author, mom, probably looking for her keys.

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

The note behind the note.

[Orson Scott Card @orsonscottcard]

You don't need advice from editors on rejected manuscripts. 

My short story “Ender's Game” was rejected by Ben Bova at Analog back when that was the top market for a sci-fi story. Ben gave me feedback. He thought the title should be “Professional Soldier” and he said to “cut it in half.”

But I knew he was wrong on both points and submitted it to Jim Baen at Galaxy. He sat on it for a year, and responded to my query with a rejection. There was some kind of explanation, but I don't remember what it was. I concluded at the time that Baen's comments showed that he had barely glanced at the story.

So … I got feedback both times, but it was not helpful. I looked at Ben's rejection again. What was it about the story that made him think it should, let alone COULD, be cut in half?

Apparently it FELT long. What made it feel long? Now, post-Harry Potter, I would call it the quidditch problem. I had too many battles in which the details became tedious. So I cut two battles entirely, merely reporting the outcomes, and shortened another. In retyping the whole manuscript (pre-word-processor, that was the only way to get a clean manuscript), I added new point-of-view material to the point that I had cut only one page in length. So much for “in half.”
But I already knew that my manuscripts did not need cutting — if it wasn't needed, it wouldn't be there in the first place. Even the battles were still there, but instead of showing them, I merely told what happened (so much for the usually asinine advice “show don't tell”), which kept the pace going.

Those changes made, I sent it to Ben again. I did not remind him of what he had advised me to do. I merely told him I liked my title, and said, “I have addressed your other concerns,” which was true. I figured he wouldn't remember what his exact words had been. My answer was a check. That revised story was the basis for my winning the Campbell Award for best new writer.

Did Ben's feedback help? Yes — but his specific advice was not right, and I knew it. On my next two submissions, Ben hated my endings, and I revised as suggested. The fourth submission he rejected outright, and the fifth, and I thought, Am I a one-story writer? I went back to Ender's Game and tried to analyze why it worked. Then, deliberately imitating myself, I wrote “Mikal's Songbird.” Ben bought it, and it received favorable mentions. I was afraid then that I had consigned myself to writing stories about children in jeopardy. But in fact I was writing character stories rather than idea stories. And THAT was how I built a career, not by self-imitation, and not by following editorial suggestions.

I did get wise counsel from David Hartwell on my novel Wyrms, but that was on a book that was already under contract, and it was story feedback, not style. I got wise counsel from Beth Meacham, too, on various books over the years — but again, only on books that were under contract. I also received appallingly stupid advice from the editor of my novel Saints, which temporarily destroyed the book's marketability; after that, I was allowed to go back to my original structure and save the book — now it's one of my best.

Editors don't know more than you about your story. They especially don't know why they decide to accept or reject stories. YOU have to know what your story needs to be, and take only advice that you believe in.

Your best counselor on a story nobody bought is TIME. Let some time pass and then reread the story. Don't even think about why it Didn't Work. Instead, think about what DOES work, and then write it again, a complete rewrite, keeping nothing from the previous draft. Find the right protagonist and begin at the beginning — the point where the protagonist first gets involved with the events of the story. Be inventive — the failed first draft no longer exists, so you're not bound by any of your earlier decisions. THAT is how you resurrect a good idea you did not succeed with on your first try.

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@TheStingisBack @nlyonne I love this movie so much.

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@mann_sallyGenX According to Niche, HW demographics are as follows:

White - 41 %
Asian - 22.6
Multiracial - 13
Black - 11.3
Hispanic - 10
Unknown 1.4
Native American - .8
Pacific Islander - 0

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

Check out my exclusive story about how an elite Los Angeles private school allegedly treated a Black and a Latino player who say they were sexually abused and called racial slurs on Harvard-Westlake’s water polo team here. #harvardwestlakela #waterpolo #breakingnews #vanityfair

[VANITY FAIR @VanityFair]

The Water Polo Scandal That Rocked L.A.’s Most Elite Private School https://t.co/1iScYZZOuc

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@mann_sallyGenX According to Niche, the student population diversity percentages are:
White - 41 %
Asian - 22.6
Multiracial - 13
Black - 11.3
Hispanic - 10
Unknown - 1.4
Native American - .8
Pacific Islander - 0

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@NAISabuse dm?

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

https://t.co/dLPmVntTHG

#vanityfair

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

In 2024 a water polo player was arrested at Harvard-Westlake, allegedly under suspicion of sexual assault. Now a civil suit accuses HW of risking the safety of two students of color—while allegedly protecting a white teammate. Link in comments #waterpolo #NewsUpdate

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@BarbaraAnnStein Good point, Barbara

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@Ibhita72 That’s absolutely terrible.

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@drdavidpark Interesting …

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@drdavidpark Thank you. I’m so sorry to hear that your son suffered.

[Tanya Rivero @TanyaRivero]

@VanityFair What a devastating story. Well done @VanityFair

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@idsnews As a journalist AND a former tv writer, a screenwriter thinking he can act like a second rate Hollywood producer has no business overseeing journalists. This dean clearly doesn’t care about journalism much less the first amendment. This is shameful. He needs to go. @IndianaUniv

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

Don’t put a screenwriter—or a producer, for heaven’s sake—in charge of journalists.

I mean no disrespect to screenwriters. In fact, I think my friends in the WGA should retweet because censorship is bs in any medium, amiright? @WGAWest @ScreenwritingU @Chrisweitz_ @THR

[Indiana Daily Student @idsnews]

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU fully cut our print with no student input. What more is there to say?https://t.co/MaZ0T83DET

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

The Menendez brothers won a huge victory in court yesterday. Michael Romano, one of their lawyers, breaks down what could happen next in a daunting parole process. #MenendezBrothers #VanityFair
https://t.co/r24rXZJllw

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@angxlmartinez @NatGeo @star_lightw Love this story!

[Deanna Kizis @dkizis]

@AnnOlivarius Hi Dr. Olivaris I’m with Vanity Fair but I don’t think I can DM you. Could you DM me a way to get in touch?

[Philomel @PhilomelBooks]

Can’t think of a better way to spend April Fools’ Day than by reading these books that definitely do *not* want readers to enjoy them! #aprilfools