Rate your rejection slips vl.2

I know that I told people I was going to blog about Japan, but this came in yesterday and I made an earlier promise to tell you people how it would turn out.

For the ones who haven't read the first entry on 'rate your rejection slips'. Here it is.

Now as I told you, I was going to post how it went.

The bad news:

-My story didn't get accepted and I didn't get an invite to rewrite it so it can be accepted in the future.

The good news is:

My story has been graded and they gave me the impression that if I keep hammering the same nail; one time, I'll hit it right.

Here is what I got:

your story rating was: 3

Of a 100-point maximum, your story scored: 81 points

A story rating of 5, which represents a minimum score of 95 points is required for acceptance.

Unfortunately, your story does not meet our requirements.

Please see how your story scored on each of the ten subjective categories.

Category

1. Originality 8

2. Length and Fit 9

3. Twists 8

4. Characters 8

5. Commerciality 8

6. Writing 8

7. Guidelines 8

8. Educational merit  8

9. Readability 8

10. Editing 8

 

  TOTAL SCORE 81

Your story demonstrates skill and imagination.

We hope to hear from you again soon.

Even though I'm 14 points short of instant publication, I'm actually quite happy. It gives me a boost to keep going. I had expected about ten fewer points. (on the downside, I don't seem to excel in certain areas) If I can come up with some more interesting ideas and improve my skills a little bit, I might actually have a chance here. On the other hand it would be a bummer if my second story scores lower.

Anyway I'll stop here. Even though I now have the whole package I really have no idea on how to approach it. I guess it always comes down to: "keep writing, you'll get better"