Dominic Leung’s Reviews > The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write > Status Update
Dominic Leung
is on page 186 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Preconceptions about style
Early-stage writers often seem to mistrust their own voice, perhaps imagining that there must be a voice more appropriate to literature: when they think of what they want to say they try and find some more elaborate way of saying it. But there's no reason to make something more complicated than it needs to be.
— Dec 28, 2025 06:27AM
Early-stage writers often seem to mistrust their own voice, perhaps imagining that there must be a voice more appropriate to literature: when they think of what they want to say they try and find some more elaborate way of saying it. But there's no reason to make something more complicated than it needs to be.
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Dominic’s Previous Updates
Dominic Leung
is on page 250 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life - It's just an opinion
The speed with which the wheel turns is unpredictable, so there may be no point in trying to write the thing that seems to be selling at the moment, especially if it's not what you want to write. Just keep on doing your best work and at some point it may cross the path of someone who believes in it as much as you do.
— 7 hours, 58 min ago
The speed with which the wheel turns is unpredictable, so there may be no point in trying to write the thing that seems to be selling at the moment, especially if it's not what you want to write. Just keep on doing your best work and at some point it may cross the path of someone who believes in it as much as you do.
Dominic Leung
is on page 250 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life - It's just an opinion
No one can predict what people will want to read. Agents and editors are fallible. They may put loads of money and effort behind books that don't sell and pass up on books that turn out to be best-sellers or award-winners. Yet pretty much evey standout work has been a game-changer, significantly different from anything that preceded it.
— 8 hours, 1 min ago
No one can predict what people will want to read. Agents and editors are fallible. They may put loads of money and effort behind books that don't sell and pass up on books that turn out to be best-sellers or award-winners. Yet pretty much evey standout work has been a game-changer, significantly different from anything that preceded it.
Dominic Leung
is on page 248 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Interpreting rejection
If you get serious feedback of this kind, you'll almost certainly find corresponding notes in the checklist of questions and suggestions provided in the previous chapter. This would be a good time to return to those notes with a shapened sense of what's needed.
— 8 hours, 16 min ago
Interpreting rejection
If you get serious feedback of this kind, you'll almost certainly find corresponding notes in the checklist of questions and suggestions provided in the previous chapter. This would be a good time to return to those notes with a shapened sense of what's needed.
Dominic Leung
is on page 248 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Interpreting rejection
If you get two or three agents or editors saying broadly the same thing, if positive, is a strong indication that you should persist and, if negative, may provide you with the means of improving your work.
— 8 hours, 17 min ago
Interpreting rejection
If you get two or three agents or editors saying broadly the same thing, if positive, is a strong indication that you should persist and, if negative, may provide you with the means of improving your work.
Dominic Leung
is on page 248 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Interpreting rejection
The easiest thing in the wrorld for an agent or an editor is to write a 'thanks, but no thanks' rejection. So if they've taken the time and trouble to write anything else it is an implicit acknowledgement that it is at least worth their time. And what they have to say - however negative - is valuable to you.
— 8 hours, 20 min ago
Interpreting rejection
The easiest thing in the wrorld for an agent or an editor is to write a 'thanks, but no thanks' rejection. So if they've taken the time and trouble to write anything else it is an implicit acknowledgement that it is at least worth their time. And what they have to say - however negative - is valuable to you.
Dominic Leung
is on page 246 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Understanding Rejection
It is unlikely that we'll find securing an agent or an editor easy, however good our writing is. They are much more likely not to bite than to bite, and their response will have much more to do with what they are looking for than what you have written. You will save yourself a lot of heartache if you resolve not to take it personally.
— 8 hours, 29 min ago
Understanding Rejection
It is unlikely that we'll find securing an agent or an editor easy, however good our writing is. They are much more likely not to bite than to bite, and their response will have much more to do with what they are looking for than what you have written. You will save yourself a lot of heartache if you resolve not to take it personally.
Dominic Leung
is on page 246 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Understanding Rejection
An editor accepting your manuscript is in a position similar to that of a man buying a new car. The car he chooses to buy doesn't represent an indictment of all the cars he didn't buy. The cars he didn't buy were not all bad cars. And there's a limit to how many cars he can have and how often he can buy one.
— 8 hours, 32 min ago
Understanding Rejection
An editor accepting your manuscript is in a position similar to that of a man buying a new car. The car he chooses to buy doesn't represent an indictment of all the cars he didn't buy. The cars he didn't buy were not all bad cars. And there's a limit to how many cars he can have and how often he can buy one.
Dominic Leung
is on page 246 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Understanding Rejection
You're going to have to come to an understanding with rejection as it's likely to happen a lot. Rejection - in one form or another - is a normal part of being a writer and there is no moment in even the most successful writer's career when he can be sure he has had his final rejection. You need to accept it, and also to expect it.
— 8 hours, 34 min ago
Understanding Rejection
You're going to have to come to an understanding with rejection as it's likely to happen a lot. Rejection - in one form or another - is a normal part of being a writer and there is no moment in even the most successful writer's career when he can be sure he has had his final rejection. You need to accept it, and also to expect it.
Dominic Leung
is on page 244 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Targeting and pitching
So you're looking for an agent whoo will be sympathetic to your work but will not see it as problematically similar to that of any of his authors.
— 8 hours, 54 min ago
Targeting and pitching
So you're looking for an agent whoo will be sympathetic to your work but will not see it as problematically similar to that of any of his authors.
Dominic Leung
is on page 244 of 283
Finished chapter 13 - Publication and the writing life -
Targeting and pitching
The agents of those writers are similarly likely to be a good fit for you, as they will already have a network of contacts and other specialist knowledge in that field. That said, an agent is unlikely to offer to represent someone whose work is in clear and direct competition with a writer they already represent.
— 8 hours, 55 min ago
Targeting and pitching
The agents of those writers are similarly likely to be a good fit for you, as they will already have a network of contacts and other specialist knowledge in that field. That said, an agent is unlikely to offer to represent someone whose work is in clear and direct competition with a writer they already represent.
