Is new story too political?

[BorderKalley]

Hi all,
I've begun writing a new story about two friends who start a modeling Instagram account for some side money.
it's a slow-burning, character-driven story.

What the characters came up with for getting fast exposure is mixing sex with politics, figuring this would generate the most traffic and please the algorithm.

However, I had a story before dealing with politics and current-day news, and it got rejected.

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

So, what do you think? Can I write such a story and get it published here, or will it break the guidelines?

 

[Actingup]

Hi all,
I've begun writing a new story about two friends who start a modeling Instagram account for some side money.
it's a slow-burning, character-driven story.

What the characters came up with for getting fast exposure is mixing sex with politics, figuring this would generate the most traffic and please the algorithm.

However, I had a story before dealing with politics and current-day news, and it got rejected.

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

So, what do you think? Can I write such a story and get it published here, or will it break the guidelines?

Set the story outside the USA and you’ll improve your chances IMHO. I did a story last year that had China, NZ, Australia, Japan and the USA all competing for influence in an unnamed Pacific Island (which was closely based on Samoa), and nobody complained.

 

[crookedletter]

I would guess it might depend on how on the nose your "timeline" deviations are. If it includes commentary on a purely fictional President Tronald Dump then you might still draw some scrutiny.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Fill it with incest and I'm sure it'll do well.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

I think as long as the politics takes a very clear backseat to everything else in the story it should be fine. Like no big long discussions of issues, but maybe just mentioning the kind of thing they discuss to generate traffic.

 

[WittyUserName]

Hi all,
I've begun writing a new story about two friends who start a modeling Instagram account for some side money.
it's a slow-burning, character-driven story.

What the characters came up with for getting fast exposure is mixing sex with politics, figuring this would generate the most traffic and please the algorithm.

However, I had a story before dealing with politics and current-day news, and it got rejected.

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

So, what do you think? Can I write such a story and get it published here, or will it break the guidelines?

I read the guideline again:
"

• Works that promote or focus heavily on politics or religion, or political or religious figures. Lit readers are bombarded with political disputes on other platforms and they prefer to avoid these types of divisive issues in their erotica."

I think the big thing is to not make it the focus. Also, be prepared for hate mail. I got some on a recent story. In mine, a guy is falling for an heiress. He is passionate about social justice, which creates some fun dialogue. I got hate just for a character saying there's wealth inequality.

The matter sounds essential to your story, so you have to leave it in. I'd just keep it in the background as much as possible.

 

[iwatchus]

In my novel from last month, FMC gave a speech that some would definitely consider political, although no politicians were mentioned. That speech was an important plot point and really drove the secondary or tertiary plot arc. I got a few very positive comments about the content of the speech (one reader said they had to stop and read the speech to their wife.) Nothing that criticized it. No push back from Laurel. It was an important incident in a 120K novel, but not the theme of it.

 

[PennyThompson]

I published a story a couple of months ago that had a subplot about public library funding and library board elections and "drag queen story time" protesters, and it got through just fine

I think the prohibition seems to mostly be about real political figures or obvious parodies of real political figures... But clearly it's a fuzzy rule without a lot of clear guidelines.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

Most of my stories feature a rich MMC and much less rich FMCs so there's often some talk about something like wealth inequality and occasionally a commenter objects to something about that but as comments go who cares? Does anyone really think rich men don't occasionally get a little extra feminine attention? Or that stories should only be set in a socialist utopia? Whatevs bro lol

 

[PennyThompson]

stories should only be set in a socialist utopia?

I'm listening...

 

[TheLobster]

One of these days I need to perhaps try and finish the story which I originally planned for last year's Pink Orchid event but ultimately abandoned precisely because I thought it'd fly too close to the 'no politics' rule.

Honestly, it was kind of unavoidable. The plot focused on a young female campaign volunteer for the DNC, going door-to-door in rural Pennsylvania and trying to convince the few undecided voters, ahead of a presidential election, to cast their vote for the blue candidate. Coming back home one night, she encounters an awful storm which washes away a good chunk of the road and causes her car to swerve and land in the ditch. She's rescued by a thirty-something farm owner, who's also a single father, and she finds himself attracted to his rugged looks and personality. Problems arise when she sees a photo on his mantelpiece where he and his daughter are having a great time among a crowd waving American flags and wearing the telltale red caps.

...No, it wasn't that obvious. I was definitely being cheeky there.

It's not like anyone has heard about Makani Daniels, the first female VP of Polynesian descent, who picks up the Democratic campaign after president Cooper collapses during a debate and is rushed to the hospital only to die of stroke a few hours later.
Or about Randall Slink, a Silicon Valley billionaire who went into politics and used his charisma to basically take over GOP and win the nomination, and who is now running on a populist, anti-bureaucratic program of radical deregulation under the slogan of Let America Breathe. (And who also happen to soar in the polls, following an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a rally in Carnegie Hall, when a would-be assassin smuggled parts of a makeshift crossbow, assembled it on site, and almost managed to pierce Slink's throat with a poisoned dart).

Still, I figured it was a bit too on the nose Maybe in a few years, when the temperature of political emotions cools down a bit...

 

[crookedletter]

Honestly, it was kind of unavoidable. The plot focused on a young female campaign volunteer for the DNC, going door-to-door in rural Pennsylvania and trying to convince the few undecided voters, ahead of a presidential election, to cast their vote for the blue candidate. Coming back home one night, she encounters an awful storm which washes away a good chunk of the road and causes her car to swerve and land in the ditch. She's rescued by a thirty-something farm owner, who's also a single father, and she finds himself attracted to his rugged looks and personality. Problems arise when she sees a photo on his mantelpiece where he and his daughter are having a great time among a crowd waving American flags and wearing the telltale red caps.

I could see such a story reading as overtly political if the narrative seems to take a side, like if one character sees the error of their ways and comes over to the "right" side, or in the end the potential relationship falls through because one or the other side is too intolerant of the other. But if it's written with some nuance, about people managing to actually see each other as human despite their ideological differences, then I would really hope that would pass muster -- that's the kind of "political" story we could probably use a few more of these days.

 

[TheLobster]

But if it's written with some nuance, about people managing to actually see each other as human despite their ideological differences, then I would really hope that would pass muster -- that's the kind of "political" story we could probably use a few more of these days.

That was exactly the plan. I think part of the reason why I put it on hold was that I wasn't sure I would've been able to dance on that thin line. I probably need to level up my writing skills more

 

[iwatchus]

I guess I might have to think about this issue more sometime in a few months. One of my plan stories to extend my original series involves a political campaign. One of the secondary characters will be central for this one and she will leave to work for a political figure (loosely based on a lesser known semi-national figure). She is a lesbian and her father (in an earlier story) was VERY hardcore and LGBTQ. The politics of the issue will become central to the story, although the main thrust of the story will be the stress that the new job will put on her relationship with her SO.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

I'm listening...

Have you heard of a book titled something like Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism?

 

[TheLobster]

Have you heard of a book titled something like Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism?

You mean that socialism fucks them harder?

*runs*

 

[iwatchus]

Or that stories should only be set in a socialist utopia?

If you only like Star Trek fan fic...

 

[Actingup]

Most of my stories feature a rich MMC and much less rich FMCs so there's often some talk about something like wealth inequality and occasionally a commenter objects to something about that but as comments go who cares? Does anyone really think rich men don't occasionally get a little extra feminine attention? Or that stories should only be set in a socialist utopia? Whatevs bro lol

I'm listening...

That’s why I set most of my stories in Australia, where we have a health care system...

And serious comment - even that word 'socialism' is contested. As Heather Cox Richardson keeps pointing out, it's being used differently in the USA than the common definition of the means of production being owned by the people. So a word or a scene might be presented in a context that seems neutral for the author, but generate furious reaction from readers who have translated it to their own context. In that sense, anything can be intrepreted as political, but unless we're waving it in people's faces, I don't think that should stop us from telling stories.

 

[dirk2024]

Hi all,

What the characters came up with for getting fast exposure is mixing sex with politics, figuring this would generate the most traffic and please the algorithm.

However, I had a story before dealing with politics and current-day news, and it got rejected.

So, what do you think? Can I write such a story and get it published here, or will it break the guidelines?

Did you receive a reason for the rejection?

I have a similar concern. In one of my WIP's, I'm about 14k words in so far, perhaps half of the story once its done. For me, that's a long story. So far, I've been careful to keep current people/news stories out of it. It's mostly about the various relationships that can form in the political arena and will end up being a harem story. (A person can dream, right?) I have the start and ending done (and chunks of the middle), so it won't be a series, just a stand alone.

I sent a message to Laurel about my concerns several weeks ago. It's a lot of investment for it to be rejected. But she hasn't responded as of yet. So I'll forge ahead and hope for the best, keeping the site concerns in mind to the best of my ability.

 

[HordHolm]

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

I think this is the key. A different timeline should be enough, without any identifiable real world politicians (particularly US politicians).

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Hi all,
I've begun writing a new story about two friends who start a modeling Instagram account for some side money.
it's a slow-burning, character-driven story.

What the characters came up with for getting fast exposure is mixing sex with politics, figuring this would generate the most traffic and please the algorithm.

However, I had a story before dealing with politics and current-day news, and it got rejected.

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

So, what do you think? Can I write such a story and get it published here, or will it break the guidelines?

Context outweighs content.

I have had readers comment about the political leanings of characters in my stories, from all sides of the spectrum, but most of these comments have been positive in how they helped define the characters for the readers.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think this is the key. A different timeline should be enough, without any identifiable real world politicians (particularly US politicians).

Agreed. My story Image Nine Point Four is all about a political campaign against a real-life Government campaign to ban 'extreme porn', and slags off a couple Home Secretaries and other politicians and the legal system - but it's set three years in the future and no politician is named, so it's definitely fiction and no individuals could complain.

As long as no actual person could plausibly argue a story is modelled on them, and your story isn't just a political campaign leaflet with a veneer of sex (tbh, that might work quite well for a campaign), you should be fine.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I'm planning to have the story take place in a different "timeline" without discussing actual politicians. and the characters won't express opinions on any matter. In fact, trying to remain unbiased will become part of the story.

How different?

Babylon 5 has a heavily political subplot, but it's between the Narn, Cantauri, Minbari, First Ones and Earth Alliance. Part of it deals with a takeover of EarthGov by an 'unpleasant' faction.

 

[PennyThompson]

How different?

Babylon 5 has a heavily political subplot, but it's between the Narn, Cantauri, Minbari, First Ones and Earth Alliance. Part of it deals with a takeover of EarthGov by an 'unpleasant' faction.

The Nightwatch in Babylon 5 is so comically villainous, there's no way a functional democracy would let a faction like that gain power and influence....

 

[lovecraft68]

The idea sounds interesting in the sense I'd like to see how you tie sex to politics.

I think if you can stay away from not just names, but parties, or even "The right/The left" and keep it as non specific as possible you should be able to get it through.

I would expect some crap from trolls to lash out though.

I don't encourage anyone to break a site rule so stay within them, but I also can't stand the thought that we have to constrain ourselves because some people are so thin skinned everything triggers them.

Conformity and creativity don't mix well.

BTW, I also have one coming out in a couple months that will involve a Governor's race and a scandal, but as I advised to you, no mentions of party or too much detail. Mine is going to go in LW so I'm basically going to throw a cherry bomb in the toilet and listen at the door.