Had to pick between a dark fantasy novel or a sci-fi short story for my submission this week - chose the fantasy one and the editor said it felt too 'safe'.

What do you do when your gut says one genre but the market's clearly begging for another?

2 comments

2 Comments

Safe is a cop-out word editors use when they wanted something else all along. If your gut grabbed dark fantasy, that's your voice fighting to get out. Ignoring your gut to chase market trends is how you end up writing soulless copy that nobody remembers anyway. Sounds like the editor wanted a specific tone and your piece just wasn't it. Write what sets you on fire, the market can't stay hungry for the same thing forever.

william_taylor19d ago

Yeah been there. The editor's "safe" note usually means they just didn't connect with your vision and didn't want to say it directly.