There is a feature in a magazine called “Reject A Hit”. It is a parody of what an editor might have written when rejecting a book that turned out to be a huge success. While the magazine seems to like printing submissions that reject classics, such as anything written by Charles Dickens, the dictionary (several times), anything by Ernest Hemingway, (you get the idea) I submitted a phony rejection of Hunger Games.
Since the editors did not see fit to publish my submission, my writer friend Anna @AnnaCBowling suggested that I share it with you, my dear readers.
So here it is:
January 2, 2003
Dear Ms. Collins:
Amid much confusion, I must reject your manuscript The Hunger Games. When I first received your submission, I was expecting to find a story of young children playfully enjoying board games as they munched their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But that is not what I found.
I dare say that you yourself must have been quite hungry while writing this work. This becomes obvious as you introduce a character whose family owns a bakery. You even name him Pita, and although you misspelled it “Peeta”, you surely had food on your mind. He purposely burns a loaf of bread and throws it to your protagonist. Can’t you just smell the bread baking?
I then noticed that you brought in another character, an Effie Trinket, who is a celebrity merely because she is a celebrity. Just imagine if television programs were based on such people. What if magazines decided to print stories about such people?
Children are then “reaped” (more thoughts of food?) for war games to entertain the privileged elite, while the elite live in luxury. What kind of world would it be if this were so?
I have heard rumors that there will be two more books in this series. My advice is to have a sandwich before writing them.
Regards,
SueAnn Porter
#HungerGames
#rejection
#amwriting
SueAnn Porter 
Cute, very cute! 🙂
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Thank you Mary! I love the Hunger Games books…but it was fun to write this one.
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Very clever. But sadly, it sounds like the world we live in…..the elite vs the less fortunate…children being used for slave trafficking and hunger all over. … not to mention the “celebrities who are famous for being celebrities.” LOL
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Yes, I had someone in mind when I said that (initials KK, need I say more??!!!) 😉
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Very clever. The truth lies in there….the elite having no regard for the less fortunate, children being used for profit, celebrities who are famous because they have branded themselves as celebrities…..Good for you.
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Very clever. The elite with no regard for the less fortunate (government vs. the people?) children being sold for profit (Honey Boo Boo?) celebrities who are famous because they are celebrities (Paris Hilton and the Kardashians?)
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Hi 67. Exactly! And naming a character Peeta, aka Pita, the poor woman must have been hungry! 🙂
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