I received this weekend the nicest rejection letter from the UK.
At Shore Leave, I told several people that I took a chance on submitting an outline to a UK publisher for an original novel based on Merlin, the BBC series currently showing on NBC here. Yes, it was unsolicited. Yes, I wasn’t sure what their publishing plans were. But I liked the series, I had a really good idea, and it was worth the shot.
To quote the entire letter:
Thank you for sending your work in to us at Random House. I’m afraid that, as far as I’m aware, there are no plans to launch any original Merlin books to accompany the series.
Nonetheless, your manuscript displayed an impressive craft for storytelling and created a richly imaginative Arthurian realm.
I knew they were doing a series of novelizations, like an adaptation of The Dragon’s Call, the series’ pilot episode. Original novels? That I didn’t know. Sometimes, you just have to take the chance.
So what am I going to do with the outline? I know all the changes I would make, save one, to turn this into an original Arthurian fantasy. I’m not exactly sure how to replace the talking dragon, but I’ll come up with something.
They use really nice paper in the UK, by the way.
This rejection actually feels good. And to quote a friend, onward and upward. :cheers: