“Shake It Off”: A Snarky Writer’s Guide to Rejections, Bad Reviews, and Agent Preferences for Dragons
Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” is more than just a pop anthem for the terminally perky. It’s a roadmap for writers dealing with rejection, harsh reviews, and baffling feedback from agents who inexplicably wanted “more dragon stuff.” If you’re a writer who’s been told your work “just didn’t resonate” by someone who then signed a novel about sentient doughnuts, this one’s for you.
“Players Gonna Play, Haters Gonna Hate” (But What’s Their Word Count?)
The publishing world is full of players and haters. The players are the ones chasing trends, writing books about wizard love triangles because wizards are in this year. The haters? Oh, they’re the reviewers who call your heartfelt novel “derivative” because it didn’t have enough wizard love triangles.
Swift’s wisdom here is gold: let them hate. They probably haven’t written a paragraph since that Twilight fanfic in 2007. Meanwhile, you’re grinding out 80,000 words and managing to avoid the phrase “iridescent orbs.” The lesson? Keep writing. Let the players and haters do their thing while you shake it off.
“I Go On Too Many Dates” (Or: The Querying Grind)
Agents are like bad dates—they ghost you, they lead you on, or they leave you wondering why they’re still swiping when you’re clearly the one. You pour your soul into a query, perfect the pitch, and send off your manuscript. Then comes the form rejection: I’m afraid I wasn’t connecting with this project.
Connecting? Are they dating your book? Were they hoping it had dragons because their last love affair was with Fourth Wing? Taylor gets it: sometimes you just have to dance past the absurdity of querying and remember that one “no” is just a step closer to that glorious “yes.”
“I Keep Cruising, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Moving” (Even When They Trash Your Prose)
Critics are a fact of life, and writers are uniquely cursed to hear from the most pedantic of them. You’ll get the review that says, “The dialogue felt stilted,” or worse, “It’s like the author has never met a dragon before.” Excuse you, but dragons are fictional. You’re the expert here.
The genius of Swift’s strategy is to cruise right past the nonsense. Keep writing. Keep improving. Sure, maybe your dialogue did read like a bot generated it after a bad breakup, but guess what? You’ll fix it. The critic? They’re still angrily typing in their mom’s basement about how *“Game of Thrones ruined fantasy forever.”
“You Could’ve Been Getting Down to This Sick Beat” (Or: Why Your Book Club is Full of Jerks)
Rejection stings, especially when it’s clear the person rejecting you didn’t get your work. But sometimes it’s not about the writing—it’s about the wrong audience. Imagine handing “Shake It Off” to a committee of Gregorian-chant enthusiasts and asking for notes. That’s the publishing equivalent of submitting your heartfelt family drama to an agent who was “really vibing with post-apocalyptic pirate stories this month.”
The lesson here? Not every reader will love your work. Some just don’t have the range. Instead of wallowing, find your audience. They’re out there, probably in a bookstore clutching a dragon-free novel wondering why everyone else is so obsessed with scales.
“Shake It Off” (But Also Maybe Spite-Write Something Brilliant)
The real triumph isn’t ignoring the rejections or bad reviews—it’s channeling them into something better. Write the book they said you couldn’t. Turn their criticism into fuel. Let the dragons inspire your next villain, a fire-breathing metaphor for the publishing world.
Taylor Swift didn’t write “Shake It Off” because people were nice to her. She wrote it because people wouldn’t stop talking smack about her dance moves. Did she cry about it? Maybe. But then she laughed all the way to the bank with a song so catchy it’s basically a cultural phenomenon.
As a writer, you have the same power. Your words can outlast the rejection emails, the snarky reviews, and even the agent who was clearly hoping for Eragon 2.0. Take a page from Taylor. When they knock you down, shake it off—and write something so good it makes them regret everything.
Final Thought: Writing Isn’t a Dance Floor, But You Can Still Own It
In the end, being a writer is about persistence. Whether it’s rejection from agents, criticism from readers, or your own inner monologue telling you to give up, the best response is always the same: shake it off. Keep writing. Keep improving. Keep moving forward.
Because someday, when your book is on the bestseller list, you’ll be the one laughing—probably while dancing to Taylor Swift. Just don’t forget to dedicate a chapter to the dragons. You know, for the fans.
The Snark
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