New Challenge: Can You Spoof-Reject Romeo & Juliet in One Sentence?

In one of our newest (and most staff-beloved) features of WD magazine, Reject a Hit, we’ve called on you to conjure up clueless editors of yesteryear and write humorous rejections of successful books. (Check out an example here.)

As the recurring intro to the page goes, “Let’s step once again into the role of the unconvinced, perhaps even curmudgeonly or fool-hearted editor: What harsh rejection letters might the authors of some or our favorite hit books have had to endure?” Your submissions have been flooding in, and it’s become one of the most fun sections of the magazine to edit—often all it takes is one perfectly crafted line to send the office into writing geek hysterics.

Which makes us wonder: Can you Reject a Hit in just one sentence?

Just this once, we thought we might try a spin-off of the feature for possible publication in the magazine. Your assignment: Channel a short-sighted editor who’s missed the point, or poke fun at the absurdity of the publishing world, and craft a succinct spoof rejection of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in just ONE sentence.

To give it a go, post your rejection in the Comments section below, or e-mail it, plus your name and city and state, to wdsubmissions@fwmedia.com by April 15 with “Reject a Hit: One Sentence” in the subject line.

Step into the velvet shoes of your worst Elizabethan editor, and put the bard in his place! It just might land you in WD.