Another rejection, and this one really hurt. Not because it was unfair - quite the contrary. Deborah Nemeth from Carina Press said no to my revised version of Hathe. But she did so in a very nice letter, with both the things she liked about Hathe and what didn't work for her, and why overall it didn't make it.
Solid gold info for a writer, and I am grateful. It's very kind of an editor to take so much trouble. After I've stopped sulking and got over the initial downer, I'll go back and do some re-writing in line with her comments. The most annoying part is that I can see her point. She thought my heroine fell into love too quickly with the hero, so that it wasn't credible, which I had sort of wondered about and should have done something to fix before I sent it in. And she didn't like the hero. Which as a writer is totally my fault as I didn't show the conflicts that drive him fully. It's what hurt the most. I love my hero.
Plus she thought it needed to be more subtle. This is the bit I can't seem to win with US readers of all kinds. I seem to be either too subtle or not subtle enough. I'm not sure how much this is a problem of my ability as a writer, or if it's due to my poor understanding of how Americans communicate with each other. NZers tend to use a lot of non-verbal communications, as well as relying on social mores. In many instances, what we don't say is far more important than what we do say. Which is true for lots of cultures - we just seem to take it to the extreme. So when writing for other cultures, I'm always having to make a kind of guess as to what you need to have a character say or do, to communicate a given feeling or response. But since other kiwis can figure it out, then I just have to as well.
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