Thread by @PulpLibrarian

For some writers a rejection letter from a publisher is crushing; for others it just spurs them on.

So if your first novel's been rejected don't worry, you're in good company - as I'll demonstrate with some famous literary rejection letter quotes! #amwriting

“This author is beyond psychiatric help. Do not publish.” 

Crash, by J.G. Ballard.

“An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.'”

War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells.

“I don’t dig this one at all.”

On The Road, by Jack Kerouac.

“Too radical of a departure from traditional juvenile literature.” 

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.

“We feel that we don’t know the central character well enough.”

The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger.

“Hopelessly bogged down and unreadable.”

The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K LeGuin.

“An absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.”

Lord Of The Flies, by William Golding.

“Apparently the author intends it to be funny - possibly even satire - but it is really not funny on any intellectual level.”

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller.

"Your pigs are far more intelligent than the other animals, and therefore the best qualified to run the farm.”

Animal Farm, by George Orwell.

"I rack my brains why a chap should need thirty pages to describe how he turns over in bed before going to sleep.”

In Search Of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust.

"First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale?"

Moby Dick, by Herman Melville.

Whatever you do as a writer, stick to it. Success involves knocking on many doors before you decide which one you're gonna kick down... #WednesdayWisdom