In my case, the second and third are also shit. By the fourth, I had a story. After the fifth, I began sending off query letters. After 47 query letters, I looked back at my novel. And now I hate the first chapter. Time for another rewrite? Is it just self-doubt?
Nic Schuck 
It shows the never ending process of writing and revising.
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I understand the urge to go back and revise after rejections, but if you’re getting form rejections, and they aren’t giving you any specific feedback, you might be jumping the gun. My advice is to wait until you’re further into this round of queries or you start getting feedback from agents before revising. I’ve had as many as thirteen rejections on a short story before I sold it (a friend of mine had one rejected over thirty times before publishing), and the literary world abounds with tales of famous works rejected dozens of time before finding a home. I’m not saying wait for thirteen or “dozens” or ejections, but at this point, I vote for hanging with it.
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Thanks for the words of encouragement
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No problem. Hang in there. 😉
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Unfortunately, even the query letter. 😦
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Nic, Thanks for liking my comment on Ana Spoke’s post. A comment for your post, above: reacting to a rejection with a revision is a natural instinct, but not necessarily the best one. I’m not saying you’re doing that, but my experience with agents, though at this point still limited as I myself am a first-timer, is that they reject because one’s submission just does not happen to match a very specific profile of what they want to represent at that moment, not because the submission is somehow lacking in quality or interest. Their feedback if any, may be superficial and just a way to get them off your hook. The real reason may be that its just not a match for their vision of what they want to deal with.
Also, continued revision may be self-defeating, actually degrading the quality of your 1st or 2nd drafts. Sometimes one’s first effort is the best prior to any self-doubt introduced by a self-interested agent.
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Thank you. I’ve decided not to look at it any more and continue submitting.
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That question is always at the back of my mind. I’m still not sure of the answer, but I think there could be self-doubt in there, somewhere. I’ve revised my first chapter a number of times after periods of rejection. Was it necessary? Maybe. Maybe not. But, I agree, the best thing for now is to leave it be. If you get no positive or constructive responses from agents then let the manuscript sit for a while. When next you read it, you can always tweak the first chapter if you find you’re not totally satisfied with it.
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