Story rejection - No appropriately sized paragraphs

[Foot_Fetish_Fan]

Hello folks,

My story was rejected due to the above issue. This info was sent to me via an automated message.

Does this mean that ONLY paragraphs are a hindrance to the acceptance of my written work or are there more roadblocks present which just weren't addressed?


Regards
Foot Fetish Fan

 

[Emirus]

Hello folks,

My story was rejected due to the above issue. This info was sent to me via an automated message.

Does this mean that ONLY paragraphs are a hindrance to the acceptance of my written work or are there more roadblocks present which just weren't addressed?


Regards
Foot Fetish Fan

I’ve never received that rejection but I would assume that’s the only reason. Paragraphs that look a reasonable length on Word, for example, which I use are a lot longer than on a Lit page. I would suggest you look at some stories, mine if you wish, and compare the number of words in a paragraph with those in your story.

 

[29wordsforsnow]

Hello folks,

My story was rejected due to the above issue. This info was sent to me via an automated message.

Does this mean that ONLY paragraphs are a hindrance to the acceptance of my written work or are there more roadblocks present which just weren't addressed?


Regards
Foot Fetish Fan

Probably they are too long. Try to break them down. Something like 100 to 200 words is a nice size for the use on Literotica. Think of your text as a movie, every time you would change the camera to look on another action or character there's a good point to have a new paragraph.

 

[SimonDoom]

Describe your paragraphs so we can give you a meaningful opinion.

Good guidelines (not inflexible rules) for paragraphs would include the following:

1. Generally put each line of dialogue in a separate paragraph.

2. Paragraphs should be from one sentence long to perhaps seven sentences long, but not too many should be longer, if any, in a Literotica page. Long blocks of text are harder to read, especially online (I find).

3. Mix up your paragraph lengths. Paragraph length should vary constantly.

4. Mix up bits of dialogue, narration, and description of inner thoughts regularly, and your paragraphing will take care of itself.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Some info that may be helpful.

A line of text on lit is roughly 80 characters.
8 lines are as long as a paragraph should be.
Most should be around 4-6, except dialogue which is as short as needed.
Long monologues should be broken by actions or other characters reacting.

1 Lit page is roughly 3750 words.

If you go to the editor's forum there are people there who will look at your story and give you advice on how to format the story and any other potential issues in your story.

 

[KeithD]

Without knowing your work, it's hard to tell if this is the only issue with your story.

This. Fix those and resubmit and then move on to the next, if need be. You'll get there eventually.

 

[lovecraft68]

Paste your story into the box...scroll though and you'll see many of your reasonable length paragraphs are jumbled together in large blocks of text. Find the end of one then add a space to break it away, do this throughout.

Its a little tedious especially with a long story, but it works.

 

[HappySpouse]

Paste your story into the box...scroll though and you'll see many of your reasonable length paragraphs are jumbled together in large blocks of text. Find the end of one then add a space to break it away, do this throughout.

This was total shock to me the first time. I was typing it on an electronic 8.5x11 sheet of paper which is just nothing like how it is published. So now I type in "web layout" and size the window horizontally so the lines match the length of a Literotica page. Now, what I see while I'm writing is the same thing I'll see when it's published.

 

[Foot_Fetish_Fan]

Thanks for all the replies. I reworked all paragraphs and limited the amount of words. Most now range from ca. 120 to 200 words.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

This was total shock to me the first time. I was typing it on an electronic 8.5x11 sheet of paper which is just nothing like how it is published. So now I type in "web layout" and size the window horizontally so the lines match the length of a Literotica page. Now, what I see while I'm writing is the same thing I'll see when it's published.

That's a good idea.

 

[NotWise]

Thanks for all the replies. I reworked all paragraphs and limited the amount of words. Most now range from ca. 120 to 200 words.

Those are still long paragraphs.

I just spot-checked my work in progress, and I haven't found any paragraph as large as 120 words. My longest paragraphs are around 80 words, and 60 words is fairly typical. So my paragraphs are normally about half the size of your smallest.

A 200-word paragraph is long even on a word processing page. On Lit's traditional story view or in the Android app, that's going to be a wall of text.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks for all the replies. I reworked all paragraphs and limited the amount of words. Most now range from ca. 120 to 200 words.

I agree with NotWise. Those are very long paragraphs.

My paragraphs range from a single sentence of perhaps 7-10 words to longer paragraphs of about 150 words. Long paragraphs typically are a) descriptive passages, or b) remembrances of something in the past.

If your story consists mostly of 120-200 word paragraphs, people will find it hard to read.

Break up your paragraphs.

A few basic ideas for how to do this:

1. Put every line of dialogue in a separate paragraph.

2. Make sure you are mixing up paragraph length regularly. Don't write three long paragraphs (long being 100 words or more) back to back. Make sure you insert a short one.

3. Write MORE dialogue. A flaw of some stories is not enough dialogue. I don't know if this is true of your stories. If you insert more dialogue and follow number 1, above, you'll shorten your paragraphs.

4. Make a point of having 1 or 2 sentence paragraphs here and there.

 

[Actual_Mom]

Easy or hard to read/follow

I had to read/review resumes for positions I had available.

Some resumes came in with well defined separations, bullet points and brief descriptions.

Some came in written as a page of single spaced text top to bottom with everything running together making it a real chore to review if this candidate even has the skill sets I was looking for.

Those resumes went to the bottom of the pile without a second look.

I don't know what your story looked like, but if it was one long run of thoughts with very little separation, that might make the person that decides if it goes any further to throw up their hands and give up before they even start.

 

[Foot_Fetish_Fan]

@Actual mom:

I posted my story prior to this on two other forums without any difficulties at all from the mods. If my corrected version will not be accepted I will refrain from submitting any further stories here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

@Actual mom:

I posted my story prior to this on two other forums without any difficulties at all from the mods. If my corrected version will not be accepted I will refrain from submitting any further stories here.

That would be your loss. Literotica gets far more traffic than its competitors, by a long shot.

Publishing on line requires a different approach to readability, compared to print media. There's consistent advice that "white space" makes on-line content much easier to read. It's not Mods you need to think about, it's your readers.

 

[SimonDoom]

@Actual mom:

I posted my story prior to this on two other forums without any difficulties at all from the mods. If my corrected version will not be accepted I will refrain from submitting any further stories here.

I'd think twice about doing that if I were you. You've received some good advice, and you'd do well to heed it. Some of it comes from very experienced writers. You may find your stories accepted "as is" at others sites, but that doesn't mean the readers will like them, and you won't have as many readers. It would be worth your while, probably, to really look hard at your story in view of some of the advice you've received. That's good advice for all of us.

 

[KeithD]

@Actual mom:

I posted my story prior to this on two other forums without any difficulties at all from the mods. If my corrected version will not be accepted I will refrain from submitting any further stories here.

Well, sure, there are other sites. This isn't the only game in town.

 

[Foot_Fetish_Fan]

I just received a 2nd rejection due to issues concerning conversation. I am not going to fix it because I won't correct my text half a dozen times addressing just one problem.

I will however continue to post my poems here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I just received a 2nd rejection due to issues concerning conversation. I am not going to fix it because I won't correct my text half a dozen times addressing just one problem.

I will however continue to post my poems here.

Seems to me you're giving up too quickly. It's not hard to format dialogue to meet the site's standards - which is all the site asks for - and to adjust your text layout to accommodate digital devices.

Maybe you could find an editor who can run you through the basic guidelines, or take a random look at other writers to see how they approach their text and format. Once you get the basics, it's easy to adjust to the platform, I'd have thought.

 

[KeithD]

Maybe you could find an editor who can run you through the basic guidelines, or take a random look at other writers to see how they approach their text and format. Once you get the basics, it's easy to adjust to the platform, I'd have thought.

I think this would be easy enough to do. Just go into the file, pull up random stories, and see how the dialogue is being handled on stories that got accepted.

 

[Foot_Fetish_Fan]

The issue is the unprofessional behaviour of the mods. When you correct a text you mention ALL issues at ONCE and not do it in a piecemeal fashion.

 

[SimonDoom]

The issue is the unprofessional behaviour of the mods. When you correct a text you mention ALL issues at ONCE and not do it in a piecemeal fashion.

There's basically one person, as I understand it, who quickly scans stories to see if they meet the standards. She has no time to do much more.

I'd suggest copying a few sample paragraphs into a post, or contacting someone to edit your piece and give you a better idea what's going on. I think there is a miscommunication. As EB says, dialogue here is not that tricky and my guess is that there's a repeated problem that's not getting cleared up in your communications with the Site owner. The other authors here probably can give you a better idea than the Owner can what's going on.

I encourage you to do so because a story published here will get more readers than if it's published elsewhere.

 

[DarkPleasures]

The issue is the unprofessional behaviour of the mods. When you correct a text you mention ALL issues at ONCE and not do it in a piecemeal fashion.

Laurel approving or rejecting a story has nothing to do with the mods of this site.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The issue is the unprofessional behaviour of the mods. When you correct a text you mention ALL issues at ONCE and not do it in a piecemeal fashion.

The site uses generic cut and paste responses covering the half dozen or so basic reasons for rejection (content breaches, punctuation and formatting) and you'll get bounced on the first one spotted. You will not get comments specific to your story, your submission won't get scrutinised for everything all at once - you get a generic response on the first thing that pings.

You're not getting editorial services from the site editor, your work is being screened as is, and it's up to you to secure a (volunteer) editor to figure it out, or figure it out yourself. Laurel vetts multiple stories a day, and won't spend much time on it.

She doesn't "correct" text - she either processes it as is, or sends it back.