Content Rules Question

[Z_TheWriter]

So I had a thought about a story for next Valentines. Don't know if I'm gonna actually write it, but I realized that I wasn't certain if it would be allowed on the site. I looked around a bit, but still wasn't sure, so maybe the more experienced crowd here can help me.

Underage sexual content is obviously a no go. You are also not allowed to age up existing characters to get around this rule. Pretty clear cut.
But what if a story features original characters, minors at first, who age over the course of it?
No funny business until they are of age.

Anyone know if that flies?

 

[Trionyx]

Yes, it flies. In my story Summer Vacations By the Lake the two MCs are tweens and early teens when they met. No funny stuff between them but the MMC said she was his best friend and worried about a card she sent him and signed it ‘Love.’ Only when they reconnected in their late twenties did any sexual activity occur. If you are a new writer here, you may want to write a note with your submission explaining the situation just to make sure that they are aware of it.

 

[StillStunned]

I think the guideline is whether they're underage for most of the media that they're associated with (like Harry Potter & Co have a brief epilogue as grown-ups, but mostly they're teenagers), and whether they're marketed predominantly to kids.

 

[Erozetta]

So I had a thought about a story for next Valentines. Don't know if I'm gonna actually write it, but I realized that I wasn't certain if it would be allowed on the site. I looked around a bit, but still wasn't sure, so maybe the more experienced crowd here can help me.

Underage sexual content is obviously a no go. You are also not allowed to age up existing characters to get around this rule. Pretty clear cut.
But what if a story features original characters, minors at first, who age over the course of it?
No funny business until they are of age.

Anyone know if that flies?

That should be fine. I had a story up about a couple of neighbors when they were in their young teens who never actually get together until the youngest is in her late 20s.

Just no mention of sex or sexual arousal or sexual attraction. Liking each other is fine, but don't go into any details, thoughts, fantasies, or reminiscing of any underage events.

Something like "I knew I loved her the moment she stood over my bully as he looked up in awe at the power a girl's punch could pack...." Would be fine. "I knew I wanted to bone her when..." Not so much.

 

[ElectricBlue]

But what if a story features original characters, minors at first, who age over the course of it?
No funny business until they are of age.

Anyone know if that flies?

It would, but you've got to get through the teenage years pretty quickly, without innuendo, without any sexual detail. In an erotic story, you might find that section's a bit dull, not what readers are looking for.

Or, you could do what I did in a Prologue that features a fourteen year old girl, and have a cataclysmic volcanic eruption followed by a massive tidal wave, the effects of which are seen on the opposite side of the world. She nearly drowns. The sex story then starts five years later, in the next chapter, when she's nineteen. You've got to give the punters something, in the meantime!

 

[Z_TheWriter]

It would, but you've got to get through the teenage years pretty quickly, without innuendo, without any sexual detail. In an erotic story, you might find that section's a bit dull, not what readers are looking for.

I appreciate the advice, you may be right. I may also scrap the entire idea when/if I try to actually get it on a page. However, I am (for now at least) first and foremost a romance reader and writer.

I had an idea about a story of how childhood friends never seem to get the Valentines confession off the ground. Seeing glimpses of their lives on that day every few years. Yada yada, things I won't reveal and others I haven't detailed out yet. -> Sex and happily ever- at least for a while.

( I am a walking cliche, I know. I make no apologies about it. And it feels like a Valentines kind of thing to do. )

If people find it boring that's their prerogative. I'm actually here in the first place because I found sex without much deeper context and emotion (i.e. porn) to be a bit dull. So I write for me, and people who feel the same way. (Not that I want to rule out writing much more sex-focused stuff in the future.)

 

[MelissaBaby]

"Aging up" your own characters is acceptable.

Literally, the first line of Queen of the Roller Derby: "My father bought my first pair of roller skates for my eighth birthday, right after he came home from the war."

 

[Kelliezgirl]

You can do slow burn romance, there are plenty of highly rated stories here where the first sex doesn't take place until 10 or 20 thousand words in. Don't feel the need to rush into the sex.
If you did several "missed opportunity" vignettes as they mature then have them finally come back together when they are of age and it would work.

 

[lovecraft68]

Consensus here is that it will be okay, but this it lit and you don't know until you try. Submit and see. There's no penalty for a rejection, it just tells you that you're going to need to change something.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Characters in a story are fine, but just remember that both masturbation and sexual fantasies count as sex in Lit land, and aren't allowed for underage characters.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

It would, but you've got to get through the teenage years pretty quickly, without innuendo, without any sexual detail. In an erotic story, you might find that section's a bit dull, not what readers are looking for.

Or, you could do what I did in a Prologue that features a fourteen year old girl, and have a cataclysmic volcanic eruption followed by a massive tidal wave, the effects of which are seen on the opposite side of the world. She nearly drowns. The sex story then starts five years later, in the next chapter, when she's nineteen. You've got to give the punters something, in the meantime!

Once more, with all due respect, I believe that you over dramatize the need for separating the underage characters from any sexual activity.

I have several stories where teenagers begin their exploration and teasing of each other for quite a while before turning 18 and finally consummating their relationship. I also have a story with a fourteen-year-old girl who falsely accuses a man of masturbating in front of her.

Warnings about underage content are useful, and I totally support the existing rules in that regard. If the focus is entirely on smut, then the need to tread lightly is more critical than if the focus is on first time romance, relationships, and the maturing of youth.

 

[redgarters]

I've had dialogue where characters refer to having romantic feelings for someone and first kisses in their underage teens. Went through like a breeze.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

OP isn't exactly clear about the origin of the characters.


Major media characters are the ones you can't age up. If they were never adults in the source material, you can't make them be. If they were at some point, you can use them in their adult forms.

Tabitha Stevens for example was a small child in Bewitched, but got her own series later as an adult. Same with Wednesday Addams.

 

[YmaOHyd]

OP isn't exactly clear about the origin of the characters.


Major media characters are the ones you can't age up. If they were never adults in the source material, you can't make them be. If they were at some point, you can use them in their adult forms.

Tabitha Stevens for example was a small child in Bewitched, but got her own series later as an adult. Same with Wednesday Addams.

I don't think that's necessarily the case -- I think it has to be that the major association is with them as an adult. Harry Potter is the obvious example; the main characters all appear as adults in an epilogue and in a sequel. But HP fiction isn't allowed, even if it is specifically set in the world of that sequel.

 

[MillieDynamite]

That would be the definition of OKAY for this site.

 

[MillieDynamite]

IT sucks to be Harry Potter; he can never dip his wick.

I don't think that's necessarily the case -- I think it has to be that the major association is with them as an adult. Harry Potter is the obvious example; the main characters all appear as adults in an epilogue and in a sequel. But HP fiction isn't allowed, even if it is specifically set in the world of that sequel.

 

[YmaOHyd]

IT sucks to be Harry Potter; he can never dip his wick.

Must have adopted.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Once more, with all due respect, I believe that you over dramatize the need for separating the underage characters from any sexual activity.

People are constantly asking where the line is, which means people are trying to push it, or they're genuinely asking for clear advice.

It's better to advise them, you can't say much, not much at all. Back when I started writing, I had a couple of stories rejected, that finally required but a single sentence to change tenor. That's the point I try to make - if you have a clear separation of age from sexual content, you have no problems whatsoever getting content published. If you squeeze in against the line, your story might get rejected. Leave a wide gap, it won't.

I'm not on holy crusade, I'm saying to new writers who ask this question, if you don't go into detail, and get the kids out of the room and at least five-hundred words away, you will never have an issue.

I have several stories where teenagers begin their exploration and teasing of each other for quite a while before turning 18 and finally consummating their relationship. I also have a story with a fourteen-year-old girl who falsely accuses a man of masturbating in front of her.

As do I. Did you go into much more detail than the sentence given here? Probably not.

Warnings about underage content are useful, and I totally support the existing rules in that regard. If the focus is entirely on smut, then the need to tread lightly is more critical than if the focus is on first time romance, relationships, and the maturing of youth.

You know that because you know the rules - these new writers don't, that's why they're asking the question. Some of the threads started, there's no way the content as they describe will get a pass; and by the same token there's content as you describe that would get by. But all it needs is one clunky sentence, and there's another thread started, "What's the under-age policy again?"

Clear cut advice might be better than a response saying, there's nuance, because a lot of people don't know what nuance is. In any event, we're both giving (slightly) different advice; mine's more black and white because I had to lose a paragraph from a story which fucked up the benign essence of it, but I saw the site's point. So I changed a sentence.

 

[THBGato]

Underage sexual content is obviously a no go. You are also not allowed to age up existing characters to get around this rule. Pretty clear cut.
But what if a story features original characters, minors at first, who age over the course of it?
No funny business until they are of age.

One of the very best stories on the site, Sandcastles, does this. The subtitle even makes it very clear this is what will happen: "Two childhood friends reunite by fate."

As others have said, you'll be fine.

 

[Z_TheWriter]

OP isn't exactly clear about the origin of the characters.


Major media characters are the ones you can't age up. If they were never adults in the source material, you can't make them be. If they were at some point, you can use them in their adult forms.

Tabitha Stevens for example was a small child in Bewitched, but got her own series later as an adult. Same with Wednesday Addams.

I did say "original characters", but thanks for the extra clarification

 

[YmaOHyd]

One of the very best stories on the site, Sandcastles, does this. The subtitle even makes it very clear this is what will happen: "Two childhood friends reunite by fate."

As others have said, you'll be fine.

As does On the Simplicity of Words, which for my money is the best author's best story.

 

[MillieDynamite]

@onehitwanda usually knocks it out of the park. Not sure what the Cricket term would be.

As does On the Simplicity of Words, which for my money is the best author's best story.

 

[THBGato]

As does On the Simplicity of Words, which for my money is the best author's best story.

Love that one too, but for my money her "sandcastles" shades it as the premise behind their separation just makes way more sense; I've never bought the (lack of) logic around the parents' actions or their failure to stay in touch in "simplicity". Doesn't stop their reunion making me weep buckets of course!

 

[YmaOHyd]

Love that one too, but for my money her "sandcastles" shades it as the premise behind their separation just makes way more sense; I've never bought the (lack of) logic around the parents' actions or their failure to stay in touch in "simplicity". Doesn't stop their reunion making me weep buckets of course!

I'm not going to argue. Sandcastles is brilliant. But the moment in Simplicity, with the narrator screaming why won't you let me help you, reaches a level of emotion that few writers can touch. And I'm sure someone else could come in with, you know, actually Jetsam is the best, or Midnight's Daughter, and they'd probably be right too.

 

[Djmac1031]

its really about whether or not you're intentionally trying to titilate with underage characters.

I wrote a passage in a story about lifelong friends who shared their first kiss at 14 as an experiment after watching the film ET where the main character kisses a girl in school.

My characters found the experience awkward, laughed it off and went back to playing video games.

I had no issues with that. Now if it had evolved into a makeout session with emotions and hormones flaring? That would certainly draw a flag.

I also wrote a line where a male character makes reference to his first masturbation experience "after finding a Playboy in my dad's dresser as a young man." I made no age reference and didn't dwell on graphic details.

I was fully prepared to delete the line if it got flagged but again, no issue.

All this to say: just don't try to get hard-core with anything til they're 18 and you'll be fine.