Questions About Submitting a Story

[HeyItsDani]

Hi, there. I'm new here, and I've been kind of searching around trying to find the answers to a couple of specific questions I have. I hope this is the right place to ask (if not, the mods can feel free to move it, obviously).

I've written a story based on personal experience about my encountering a girl I had a torrid year+ long relationship with in high school. (Watches as all the red flags fly up into the air...)

The story revolves around a girl I met on the first day of my senior year in HS. We were both 17 at the time. The story doesn't involve any sexual contact, though it does lead up to our first kiss. I wanted to make sure posting this story doesn't violate the rule regarding no "sexual activity" under 18.

Second, since there is no sexual activity other than kissing and maybe some sexual subtext if you read that into it, and the story itself isn't really erotic (unless you consider light lesbian seduction "erotic), should it be posted in the non-erotic stories section, or "first times", or the lesbian section....or where?

Thanks.

 

[sr71plt]

A kiss is sexual activity.

I've had stories pass here where the relationship started before both were 18, but there was no physical contact whatsoever.

You could try it and see how it flies. It probably doesn't matter how close you keep to the actual time periods/ages, though, because readers here don't seem all that impressed with claims of "it really happened to me." Just write it as a story.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

A senior year in high school can easily be with two eighteen-year-olds. Is it really that important that they be seventeen? Why not just make them eighteen and avoid the entire issue?

 

[HeyItsDani]

A kiss is sexual activity.

When did that come about? In the absence of any other physical contact (aside from holding hands), how does kissing equate to "sexual activity?"

You could try it and see how it flies. It probably doesn't matter how close you keep to the actual time periods/ages, though, because readers here don't seem all that impressed with claims of "it really happened to me." Just write it as a story.

Well, the story's not written so that the fact it happened to me is germane to its success. So thanks for that.

A senior year in high school can easily be with two eighteen-year-olds. Is it really that important that they be seventeen? Why not just make them eighteen and avoid the entire issue?

Actually, there's no age specified in the story at all. It's just, for me, my first assumption for a senior in HS is they're 17, not 18.

 

[lovecraft68]

Especially seeing you are new, I would just make them 18. You're risking the story getting rejected over a minor detail. I've written two stories with seniors and mentioned they had just turned 18. 17 is going to red flag, and it's not worth it.

 

[leahsgirl84]

I agree with the age thing, make them 18 that way you don't have any issues.

I'd probably try to post it in Lesbian and see what happens. Some of the parts I've posted there are just cuddling or kissing, nothing really sexual.

 

[HeyItsDani]

Especially seeing you are new, I would just make them 18. You're risking the story getting rejected over a minor detail. I've written two stories with seniors and mentioned they had just turned 18. 17 is going to red flag, and it's not worth it.

As I said above, there's no age specified in the story. You think it'd be a good idea to add that in somehow, though? It'd be a lie, but it's being presented as a story, so I guess it wouldn't really matter.

 

[HeyItsDani]

I'd probably try to post it in Lesbian and see what happens. Some of the parts I've posted there are just cuddling or kissing, nothing really sexual.

Okay. Thanks. That's where I'd have first tried if I'd done it without asking.

 

[sr71plt]

If the age isn't specified or made clear, that makes the story even more problematical. Are you also not going to cast it in high school? Anything high school will be considered underage.

New posters like to come here and argue with the forum over what is underage and what is not, but the views of those on the forum don't matter. The website selection process is going to do what's it's going to do. Arguing against it is so much spitting into the wind.

Explicitly make them over eighteen if they so much as touch each other with sex or physical attraction in mind or take your chances with the computerized selection program.

 

[lovecraft68]

As I said above, there's no age specified in the story. You think it'd be a good idea to add that in somehow, though? It'd be a lie, but it's being presented as a story, so I guess it wouldn't really matter.

You have to play by the rules, and 18+ is Lit's most strictly enforced. If the story needs to be in High school that's fine, but cover your ass and say they are 18.

All you need is something in passing. Have the character look out the window and look at the car her father just bought her for her 18th birthday, something easy that goes with the flow of the story.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

If the age isn't specified or made clear, that makes the story even more problematical. Are you also not going to cast it in high school? Anything high school will be considered underage.

Just so that we don't confuse the OP, I think you mean, "anything high school with unspecified ages will be considered underage." Specifying their age as eighteen and having them in high school is fine.

 

[HeyItsDani]

New posters like to come here and argue with the forum over what is underage and what is not, but the views of those on the forum don't matter. The website selection process is going to do what's it's going to do. Arguing against it is so much spitting into the wind.

For the record, I'm not arguing what is or isn't underage. I do take issue with a simple kiss being labeled as "sexual activity," though. I think that's pretty silly, but I understand the larger point you're making.

 

[sr71plt]

For the record, I'm not arguing what is or isn't underage. I do take issue with a simple kiss being labeled as "sexual activity," though. I think that's pretty silly, but I understand the larger point you're making.

So, you are still arguing against something/someone--when none of us on the forum have anything to do with the argument.

Write what you want and submit it--and take your chances. You asked what the rules are on submitting a story concerning underage, and I and others have suggested what the selection computer program has been known to spit out in the past. So we are just trying to answer the question you asked--without any power whatsoever to argue or do anything about what you don't like about what might happen.

 

[sr71plt]

Just so that we don't confuse the OP, I think you mean, "anything high school with unspecified ages will be considered underage." Specifying their age as eighteen and having them in high school is fine.

Yep, although you'd have to be pretty specific in pinning the age down on anything mentioning high school. The mere term "high school" will make the selection bot take notice in my observation.

 

[lovecraft68]

For the record, I'm not arguing what is or isn't underage. I do take issue with a simple kiss being labeled as "sexual activity," though. I think that's pretty silly, but I understand the larger point you're making.

Trust me when I tell you, the wine in lit stories can't be under 18. They are paranoid, so silly or not, there is not much you can do.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, although you'd have to be pretty specific in pinning the age down on anything mentioning high school. The mere term "high school" will make the selection bot take notice in my observation.

I've gone 3 for 3 on High school stories. It's not hard, as long as you toss the number 18 out there.

On the other side of the coin the "bot" cannot do math, and you can have under age sex in flashbacks, as long as you don't get dumb and say "back when I was 16"

 

[sr71plt]

Granted. But the one thing we can say for sure is that it's a crap shoot with the selection bot. Oh, and another thing--no one posting to the forum has a vote in what will be selected/rejected, or in setting the criteria for doing this.

 

[HeyItsDani]

Trust me when I tell you, the wine in lit stories can't be under 18. They are paranoid, so silly or not, there is not much you can do.

lol Noted.

 

[HeyItsDani]

So, you are still arguing against something/someone--when none of us on the forum have anything to do with the argument.

Quit taking it personally. I like to voice my opinion occasionally, and doing so does not mean I'm necessarily "arguing" with you or anyone else. I appreciate your input, and understand what you're saying, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to express the opinion that X is a stupid policy. Maybe it's a defect in my personality, I don't know.

And I'll close by saying that allowing a computer program to make decisions like that is pretty silly as well, though I suspect with as many stories as get submitted on a daily basis that's the only way to do it. Computers don't do "context" very well, IMO.

 

[sethp]

My two cents on the earlier question. Make all people 18 years old for the sake of the site. Context is important but it's (Making all characters eighteen or older) for the best that way... and in my opinion doesn't take anything away from the story at all. There's really no reason not to and if you truly want to, then post it on another site. Just my two cents!

 

[lovecraft68]

Granted. But the one thing we can say for sure is that it's a crap shoot with the selection bot. Oh, and another thing--no one posting to the forum has a vote in what will be selected/rejected, or in setting the criteria for doing this.

Correct. However, however after awhile you begin to get a "feel" for what will and won't fly. Might still gamble the wrong way occasionally, but it's not quite the crapshoot it is for newbies.

 

[lovecraft68]

My two cents on the earlier question. Make all people 18 years old for the sake of the site. Context is important but it's (Making all characters eighteen or older) for the best that way... and in my opinion doesn't take anything away from the story at all. There's really no reason not to and if you truly want to, then post it on another site. Just my two cents!

What year are the pennies comprising your two cents? if they are newer than 1993 they are not allowed here.

 

[Darkniciad]

Unfortunately, I agree with the overwhelming opinion that you'll need to nail down all characters as 18 in order to prevent a pretty much automatic rejection that comes with mentioning high school.

If the kiss were something mentioned from the past, it might fly. Characters don't have to be virgins until they're 18, but anything more than the briefest of clinical mentions is likely to trigger a rejection.

Since it is the culmination of the story, the amount of focus on the kiss and what leads up to it is probably going to kick it over into the "sexual contact" range as far as Lit is concerned. An underage person even thinking about something sexual can be enough to trigger a rejection. I've seen stories rejected for a peripheral character who was in high school going wide-eyed at the sight of a braless character in a tight t-shirt.

Everything I see in your description is throwing up red flags for a likely rejection without a nice, big neon sign that says "18+"

As to category -- I'm no expert on this category, but I would expect that even without sex, it would do okay in "Lesbian Sex". There's a tendency for male author names to suffer far lower scores in that category, which -- along with some of the comments I've observed -- suggests to me that there's a large enough contingent of female -- and likely lesbian -- readers there for a story focusing mostly on the emotion over the physical to do fine.

Stories about LGBT characters have limited options on Lit. There's no "Lesbian Romance" category or "Lesbian Fetish" category, so all things Lesbian end up there. The variety of stories probably limits the expectations of the readers at the start to "women will be engaged in a relationship not involving men". It could be romantic, older/younger, sub/dom or about anything under the sun once you start reading.

Those looking for a quick masturbation fix don't usually vote, so you're not likely to suffer too many downvotes from that. Most of them will back-click if the story doesn't get to the naughty bits right from the get-go. That leaves those who appreciate the emotions to go forward, cast a vote, and give you a decent score -- if limited in votes because you won't get those from "strokers" who will vote when something does the trick for them.

You'll almost certainly get more reads and votes in Lesbian than Non-Erotic, and Non-Erotic is notorious for lower scores on top of low vote totals.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Hi, Dani, and welcome to Literotica and to the AH. This is a good place to hang out, and it is also a good place to get info and writing tips.

I highly recommend the Lesbian category. If there is a romantic attraction between women, it will be put there anyhow. Writers do not choose the category, but do make a suggestion, which may or may not be accepted. They usually are.

As for the kissing before 18 years old: You might be able to say something like they were very close friends and always kissed each other on the cheeks by way of greeting. Then again, you might not. Lit. is VERY strict about the age of participants. If they are high school students, you will need to make mention of the fact they are 18 years old before the sex, if there is any, gets involved. The best way to do that is casually, such as mentioning a birthday party or something like that.

 

[HeyItsDani]

Thanks Darkniciad and Boxlicker101 for the input - I appreciate both of you taking the time to write out such detailed replies.

I'll recompose the first part of the story to make them both explicitly 18. This will have the benefit of allowing this story, plus it'll allow me to publish the stories of the sexual encounters that transpired later on. I had originally figured I'd have to post those off site somewhere, but if I do make them 18, then I can publish the entire series here.

I do have one more question, in subsequent submissions with these same characters, do I need to reiterate that they're 18 in future "chapters," of if the chapters are named in a sequence, will it be assumed or understood that the characters are the same ones used before and know that they're 18?