To be honest the search is very discouraging as any writer, published or not, will admit. A very nice rejection can be almost more disappointing than even the most impersonal form notecard. When they tell you why they didn’t want to keep reading, it’s all you can do not to rip your hair out in frustration. One such example: I didn’t connect with the characters.

I wonder when readers don’t connect with characters, is that a personality thing or is that you have to be a mom to connect with the plight of mothers, a single woman to connect with the plight of unnattached girls who bemoan the pitfalls of dating, a celebrity to connect with the lifestyles of the rich and famous–and so on?

And if that’s true–then how does one explain the ongoing flood of vampire fiction that gets published? Does a reader have to be a vampire to connect with a vampire character, or are they simply able to romanticize the dark gift to connect with a vampire character?

I have long considered writing a book about an overweight mortal girl who finds true love with a hot guy of the walking dead variety, who’s so taken by her brilliant mind he doesn’t even notice her figure issues.

I’ll bet my soul** that one would get published.

**My soul’s not actually on the table, because I would never write the above novel no matter how compelling it sounds. Sorry.