Rejected, Help!

[LaSalia]

Hey authors! I keep trying to submit a story but the moderators keep rejecting it saying there is an underage character. My story starts with the character being born, but the newborn is not involved in a sex act (duh!). Then the story transitions to 18 years later. You know it's 18 years later because the beginning date is 1289 and the next date is 1307. After my first rejection, I put "(18 years later)" to erase any doubts from people who couldn't do simple math. Then it was rejected again! The only thing I can think of is that the midwife is also a witch, and when she baptizes the baby in the frozen lake, they are both naked. Nudity is not a sex act, and neither person is described in an erotic fashion, the baby not at all. It is intended to mirror a pagan ritual, and sorry, they didn't have bathing suits back then! I've read several stories where the main character starts out underage and then the story changes to several years later. Any suggestions? Editors who think they can let me know what's going on?

Thanks!

 

[glynndah]

Hey authors! I keep trying to submit a story but the moderators keep rejecting it saying there is an underage character. My story starts with the character being born, but the newborn is not involved in a sex act (duh!). Then the story transitions to 18 years later. You know it's 18 years later because the beginning date is 1289 and the next date is 1307. After my first rejection, I put "(18 years later)" to erase any doubts from people who couldn't do simple math. Then it was rejected again! The only thing I can think of is that the midwife is also a witch, and when she baptizes the baby in the frozen lake, they are both naked. Nudity is not a sex act, and neither person is described in an erotic fashion, the baby not at all. It is intended to mirror a pagan ritual, and sorry, they didn't have bathing suits back then! I've read several stories where the main character starts out underage and then the story changes to several years later. Any suggestions? Editors who think they can let me know what's going on?

Thanks!

My advice would be to PM Laurel and let her know your concerns. She'll be able to take a closer look at the story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Hey authors! I keep trying to submit a story but the moderators keep rejecting it saying there is an underage character. My story starts with the character being born, but the newborn is not involved in a sex act (duh!). Then the story transitions to 18 years later. You know it's 18 years later because the beginning date is 1289 and the next date is 1307. After my first rejection, I put "(18 years later)" to erase any doubts from people who couldn't do simple math. Then it was rejected again! The only thing I can think of is that the midwife is also a witch, and when she baptizes the baby in the frozen lake, they are both naked. Nudity is not a sex act, and neither person is described in an erotic fashion, the baby not at all. It is intended to mirror a pagan ritual, and sorry, they didn't have bathing suits back then! I've read several stories where the main character starts out underage and then the story changes to several years later. Any suggestions? Editors who think they can let me know what's going on?

Thanks!

The nudity might be it.

Let me ask you something. If you start with the baby born then go "18 years later" do you have the baptism in "real time" or a flashback?

If you start off with the character at eighteen (having something early on stating it) then simply do it as a flashback i.e. "when I was born I was baptized by a witch in such and such river"

It gets through easier like that and I say that from experience.

also understand one thing. Lit is very lax on most of its "rules", but over zealous with underage. In the lit universe no one exists until their 18th birthday.

 

[PennLady]

First suggestion: go over your story once more to make sure there is no way one could mistake any underage sex.

Second: re-submit with a note in the notes field explaining the age issues and specifying that no sex takes place between characters under eighteen. And possibly explain the nudity issue; sorry, you may have to either not describe it in detail or put a thin dress on the midwife.

Third: consider including an author's note at the top of the story stating that all characters involved in sexual situations are 18 or over.

Third: send a private message to Laurel to explain the issue.

 

[LaSalia]

Thanks!

This last time I did put a note to the moderators explaining that there are no underage characters involved in sexual activity, hopefully that will help. I'm starting to suspect you are right, it's the fact that the witch is nude. It's really annoying, since anyone who knows anything about basic human physiology knows that wearing clothes in water during late October would likely make you sick since you wouldn't be able to dry off and get warm. Nudity does not denote eroticism, I live right next to a nudist community actually, and that places is NOT erotic! But if this is the reason, I'll ask Laurel if I can just leave the witch in a dress or maybe eliminate the word nude and leave it to the reader to assume whether she goes into the lake in a bathing suit or not, LOL. Otherwise it's going to feel horribly historically inaccurate... I really don't want to use a flashback, as it would break the continuity of the story.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[sr71plt]

Glynndah provided the definitive answer to getting a definitive answer. Laurel recently said there was no computer-generated screening (as many of us thought was the case) of stories and that she, Laurel, sent any rejections that were sent. It then stands to reason that she's the definitive source on why a specific story has been rejected. PM her (private message system, upper right corner of this page), don't e-mail.

 

[LaSalia]

Newb Problem....

So I can see how to PM, but what is Laurel's username? I don't know what to put in the recipient box. Thanks!

 

[fuckwaffle]

So I can see how to PM, but what is Laurel's username? I don't know what to put in the recipient box. Thanks!

Uh...that would be Laurel.

 

[LaSalia]

Uh...that would be Laurel.

Yeah... It figures! Went ahead & tried that, TY!

 

[fuckwaffle]

Yeah... It figures! Went ahead & tried that, TY!

Not a problem, glad to help.

 

[lovecraft68]

Bump!

 

[LaSalia]

Bumps???

I feel on the wrong end of an inside joke, ROFL.

 

[PennLady]

To keep a thread visible on the first page, it needs a "bump" -- a post. So sometimes people will just write "bump!" to keep it on the list.

 

[Bramblethorn]

To keep a thread visible on the first page, it needs a "bump" -- a post. So sometimes people will just write "bump!" to keep it on the list.

FWIW, Vonda36 is a spambot. She posts generic stuff like "bumps" and "thumbs up" and has a spammy link in her sig.

 

[LaSalia]

Ooooooooh!

Aaaaaaaaah! Yes, yes, I see!

 

[PennLady]

FWIW, Vonda36 is a spambot. She posts generic stuff like "bumps" and "thumbs up" and has a spammy link in her sig.

Ah, thanks. I don't have sigs displayed, so I didn't know.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Ah, thanks. I don't have sigs displayed, so I didn't know.

I don't either, only noticed because I saw her post generic-looking stuff on several different threads and I got suspicious enough to go look at her profile.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Good point

...and there's another one.

 

[LaSalia]

Fuckwaffle:

Not a problem, glad to help.

Awesome pic, dude!

 

[LaSalia]

So It Finally Posted!!!

8==D

I never got a reply from Laurel, but it seems the note to the moderator did the trick! I'd love it if you guys checked out my stories, I don't have a lot of them yet, and some are only one page long, short and sweet.

 

[Marvin33]

FAIL

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

8==D

I never got a reply from Laurel, but it seems the note to the moderator did the trick! I'd love it if you guys checked out my stories, I don't have a lot of them yet, and some are only one page long, short and sweet.

Their shortness is a major plus.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Damn, soon the spambots will outnumber us!

 

[LaSalia]

Did You Vote???

Their shortness is a major plus.

So you voted for them, since you liked them, right, right??????

<------ Desperate for love in all the wrong places....

 

[TxRad]

So you voted for them, since you liked them, right, right??????

JBJ is our own little private troll that lives under the footbridge in the courtyard. He's like Mikey and hates everything. He's always trying to tell people how to write but never seems to do any himself. Just pat him on the head but please don't feed him. When you feed him, he just gets worse.