I have this story that has evolved quite a bit from a woman's exacting revenge on a man by tying him up in a chair and throwing him down the stairs to a minor obsession and luring him to her place for a night of pizza and sex. In other words, I TONED IT DOWN.
Today I received a rejection letter for this story, and admittedly, it's one of the best rejections I've received especially since it included some feedback and here I quote:
Margaret,
Thank you again for submitting to V___. "Of Pizza..." is tightly written and humorous. I like the rhythm of the piece very much. However, I had a hard time believing in Lisa's obsession, I think because she was so monomaniacal. I'm passing on this, but I'd be pleased to read more of your writing in the future. Submissions to our Winter Issue have closed but we'll be accepting manuscripts again in March.
Ms. Editor, litmag.com
Well, I don't know exactly what monomanical means so I looked it up:
1. (no longer in technical use) a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas.
2. an inordinate or obsessive zeal for or interest in a single thing, idea, subject, or the like.
And I toned it down for Chrissakes!
Doesn't "monomaniacal" exist in the dictionary because people HAVE BEEN monomanical? Are they less believable because they are SO monomaniacal? That's like Picasso's critic saying "His period was SO blue, I just just don't buy it."
So now the question is, how do I make this character more credible? Anyone? Anyone?
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