Message from laurel

[TxRad]

This is buried in another thread so i thought I'd repost it so everyone could see it.

Hi writers!

For clarification and future reference: we do allow characters under the age of 18 in stories. What we don't allow are stories in which characters under the age of 18 are involved in sexual situations. This includes as voyeurs, as the object of a voyeur, masturbation, having sexual thoughts, and so on.

We do allow references to past activity in stories so long as it is not explicit. For example, an adult character referencing his or her history - "I lost my virginity when I was 15" - is fine. Explicit and/or salacious details are not.

These are not new rules nor have our content rules changed in many years.

As far as things slipping through: one thing to realize is that the stories are not approved by a robot or script. They are approved by human eyes, which tire easily as I age. Every story must be formatted; tags, title, and description checked; and skimmed for content issues. The daily update takes hours. If I could find a way to do all this properly with a script, I would. But in the last 12+ years, the only way to do things right is to do it by hand, so to speak.

Mistakes happen. The site has been on a huge growth streak in the past year, with readership & unique visitors up nearly 20%. This means a corresponding growth in submissions. We want to post stories to the site as quickly as possible for you authors. We also want to make sure that the updates are as top-quality as they can be - with a minimum of formatting errors and no forbidden content inadvertently posted. Thorough checking of stories and timely posting is a balance we will continue to work to get right.

I'd like to be able to read every story through, but I can't. Reading 100+ stories/novels a night - much less formatting, tagging, etc. - is just not possible. So, if while skimming I see something that sends up a red flag and further reading doesn't clarify things, I often send it back to the author. If I stopped and read through each novel we receive to check on whether an underage character is sexually active at any point, I would be even further behind than I already am.

When a story is sent back to you for any reason, this is not a final rejection and it is not meant to be taken personally. This just means we have issues or questions. You are free to resubmit either with corrections - or, if you think we're wrong, an explanation of why we're wrong in the NOTES field.

If you believe your story was rejected in error, please open the submission, respond to the rejection in the NOTES field of the submission, and hit SUBMIT. Please do not add the word EDITED to the title, as that denotes someone editing an already approved story. Since we process all edits after the new stories are posted, adding the word EDITED to a title will cause a delay in the posting of your new story. If you are submitting an edit of a rejected story, simply open the rejected form, make the changes in that form, and hit SUBMIT. Do not start a new submission.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me anytime. PMs are faster than emails.

Thanks everybody, especially those who let me know about this thread - and have a great weekend!

 

[DG Hear]

Thanks Tex! It answers a lot of rumored questions.
DG

 

[Stella_Omega]

She should add this to her own FAQs in the submissions section.

 

[lovecraft68]

She should add this to her own FAQs in the submissions section.

Taking it further she should also post the very gray/vague rule against rape as well and although it is fairly obvious state the bestiality policy along with it.

That way the "big three" offenders are explained once and for all in her words.

 

[HeyAll]

Thanks for the message Laurel. It's nice hearing this notes from how you run the site, we find it interesting. I especially found it noteworthy how the stories get approved, and that this site is on a 20% upswing in the past year. Thanks for the hard work.

 

[estragon]

No wonder Laurel has no time to answer e-mails! Running the content side of Lit sounds like it's worse than working in a sweatshop. But that message really clarifies the underage policy, and indeed should be a FAQ. Thanks Tex, and many thanks, Laurel.

 

[jdnunyer]

Thanks for posting this Tx, and thank you Laurel for all your hard work! It is greatly appreciated.

 

[monique1971]

I can't even imagine what it must be like to have to read all those stories.

Lord have mercy.

 

[TxRad]

I can't even imagine what it must be like to have to read all those stories.

Lord have mercy.

From what I understand, reading stories was why Laurel started the site. I think it has gotten a little out of hand.

 

[sr71plt]

She does state she doesn't read them all.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

Can she hire new readers? How much revenue does this site make anyway? I like that this site isn't cluttered up with adds, but if she added a few more she could hire a few readers and give herself a break.

 

[Stella_Omega]

From what I understand, reading stories was why Laurel started the site. I think it has gotten a little out of hand.

Those were the sweet, golden, days of yore-- when we travelled the Internet highway via the horse and buggy of dial-up, and there were a few thousand folk on the World Wide Web at any one time instead of the multi millions we now have...

 

[TxRad]

Those were the sweet, golden, days of yore-- when we travelled the Internet highway via the horse and buggy of dial-up, and there were a few thousand folk on the World Wide Web at any one time instead of the multi millions we now have...

From what I've seen, a couple of sites similar to this that had no story posting rules has bit the dust over the last two years. A lot of the writers from there had no choice but to come here. One site had nothing but chapters and their writers have done the same here. That is where a lot of the underage writers have also come from. Another site that closed at the end of last year.

 

[RedMonkeyButt]

Could we maybe get this moved and stickied in the Editor's Forum? It sure explains a whole lot and might stop some of the questions... And yes... I realize I was one of those that asked about the pending views, but had this been there I wouldn't have asked.

 

[TxRad]

Could we maybe get this moved and stickied in the Editor's Forum? It sure explains a whole lot and might stop some of the questions... And yes... I realize I was one of those that asked about the pending views, but had this been there I wouldn't have asked.

Butt, butt, butt....

If we did that then being a newbie would be easy and everyone would do it.

 

[loquere]

I think this rule is good. However it does drive language in some stories!

 

[someoneyouknow]

That explains my most recent story rejection. I thought I had made everything clear as to who was what age, but I guess not. Looks like it's time to send an email.

Thanks Tx

 

[Stella_Omega]

That explains my most recent story rejection. I thought I had made everything clear as to who was what age, but I guess not. Looks like it's time to send an email.

Thanks Tx

Email will not get through.

Resubmit the story and explain in the notes section.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

Taking it further she should also post the very gray/vague rule against rape as well and although it is fairly obvious state the bestiality policy along with it.

What rule about rape? I just re-read the submission guidelines and they didn't mention rape.

I read a story (accepted here) recently about an 18-year old who had sex whilst extremely drunk (hence not really consenting). Example line:

> "Please, don't, no, not that..." she begged, trying to back her hips away from my prodding hard-on

I would have thought that on a site with a "NonConsent" section, rape was basically OK.

And violence? Another story had an abusive boyfriend shot dead.

Is it OK to kill, say, a cheating partner?

Disclaimer: I don't approve of rape or violence in real life, but these are fantasy stories we are talking about.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

What rule about rape? I just re-read the submission guidelines and they didn't mention rape.

I read a story (accepted here) recently about an 18-year old who had sex whilst extremely drunk (hence not really consenting). Example line:

> "Please, don't, no, not that..." she begged, trying to back her hips away from my prodding hard-on

I would have thought that on a site with a "NonConsent" section, rape was basically OK.

And violence? Another story had an abusive boyfriend shot dead.

Is it OK to kill, say, a cheating partner?

Disclaimer: I don't approve of rape or violence in real life, but these are fantasy stories we are talking about.

It's pretty soft.

Nonconsent and reluctance are basically okay to write about as long as the victim enjoys it. You can write about plot-point rape as long as you don't sexualize it, and you can have extreme violence if you don't sexualize it.

Fucking a very drunk horny girl is okay. Recalling a traumatic rape without all of the dirty details is okay. Murdering people is okay.

Having a description about how hard you got when the girl under you screamed in agony, is not okay.

Also, there are a couple of words you cannot use as tags. Torture and Murder are two of them

 

[Boxlicker101]

It's pretty soft.

Nonconsent and reluctance are basically okay to write about as long as the victim enjoys it. You can write about plot-point rape as long as you don't sexualize it, and you can have extreme violence if you don't sexualize it.

Fucking a very drunk horny girl is okay. Recalling a traumatic rape without all of the dirty details is okay. Murdering people is okay.

Having a description about how hard you got when the girl under you screamed in agony, is not okay.

Also, there are a couple of words you cannot use as tags. Torture and Murder are two of them

You also cannot use words like baby or child, etc. If you write a story about having sex with the babysitter after driving her home, you cannot use "babysitter" as a tag.

The rules about rape and violence seem rather fluid. I have written about women who were abducted and treated very harshly (whipped, etc.) and sexually assaulted, and they have been accepted.