"As our submission FAQ states, we do not accept stories involving people under the age of 18 in sexual situations."

[Bianca_P]

Hello lovelies. This is my first forum post about my first story. Hope you don't mind.

I've just had my first story rejected with the explanation:

"...we do not accept stories involving people under the age of 18 in sexual situations. This includes but is not limited to talking explicitly about sex, voyeurism, exhibitionism, fantasizing, masturbation, and graphic sexualized descriptions, in addition to actual sexual intercourse. This also includes explicit flashbacks/past remembrances, descriptions of an underage person’s body/physical development and/or the reaction of other people to it; references to people under the age of 18 “playing doctor” or “sex education”. "

Now the action takes place in a nightclub so all characters must, by implication, be over 18.

The only bit that may have triggered the rejection is the sentence, " Ever the adolescent puritan, she had never even let a boy grope her. Then, at fifteen, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

To me, this is not an explicit description of underage sex and does not even explicitly confirm that she had sex at fifteen.

It was included as a crucial bit of characterisation as it exposes the narrator as judgemental and the subject as a little reckless.

Is it a bit harsh to reject it for this?

Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

Thanks.

B

 

[Todger65]

First off you need to understand that all stories submitted are vetted by one person only, the site owner, Laurel. It is fair to say that she doesn't have time to read every story word for word, therefore the process has to be partially automated.

Searches are carried out for certain keywords and phrases, and it is reasonable to say you have committed the cardinal sin of putting 'adolescent', 'fifteen', and 'sex' in the same paragraph.

You have a couple of options:

1/ Rewrite that paragraph to remove the age stated, and hope it gets through.
2/ Resubmit without alteration but add an authors message explaining your reasoning. This should trigger Laurel to read the story, but this will take longer to process, but still no guarantee of approval.

Basically, Laurels site, Laurels rules

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I don't know where you are, but no, it's quite possible to get into nightclubs under 18, in many parts of the world. I haven't even needed fake ID since I was 17.

And referring to her sex switch being turned on is a blatant sexual reference. Anything like that when describing someone under 18 won't pass on this site. Remove the 'at fifteen' so the age is vague and it would likely pass as long as the next sentence isn't also referring to her being under 18.

 

[TheRedChamber]

As others have said the site is very sensitive to any kind of explicit or implied references to underage sex. I'd suggest rewriting as something like...

" She'd grown up with a puritan attidude and had never even let a boy grope her. Until one day, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

If the character is stated to be 18 (for example) then it's up to the reader to imagine whether this happened yesterday or earlier...

I don't know where you are, but no, it's quite possible to get into nightclubs under 18, in many parts of the world. I haven't even needed fake ID since I was 17.

Certainly, however in literature if you introduce a new character in a nightclub and don't say something like "Kumquatqueen took another shot of tequila and looked around the nightclub. Getting in had been easy - she hadn't even needed to use her fake ID." then the readers (and Laurel's) assumption is going to be that the character is over 18.

 

[cranegurl]

Certainly, however in literature if you introduce a new character in a nightclub and don't say something like "Kumquatqueen took another shot of tequila and looked around the nightclub. Getting in had been easy - she hadn't even needed to use her fake ID." then the readers (and Laurel's) assumption is going to be that the character is over 18.

Having a fake ID but not needing to use it suggests to me that the character is underage but looks older. If it was re-written to say "She hadn't even been ID'd" it takes away the implication of underage activity.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Having a fake ID but not needing to use it suggests to me that the character is underage but looks older. If it was re-written to say "She hadn't even been ID'd" it takes away the implication of underage activity.

That's what I was aiming for - I was saying if you don't say that, the assumption is the character is over 18.

 

[cranegurl]

That's what I was aiming for - I was saying if you don't say that, the assumption is the character is over 18.

OK, I agree with you.
I wasn't sure what the clubbing age is in the US which may mean being over 18 would still need fake ID

 

[KeithD]

" Ever the adolescent puritan, she had never even let a boy grope her. Then, at fifteen, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

Yep, I think this was over the submissions editor's line and needs to be toned down or cut out.

 

[mirafrida]

Yup I once had a story rejected because the much older guy narrator recalled having had a fantasy "since I was 16." I found it silly, personally, since we all know teens have fantasies. But, rules is rules, and it was easy enough to tweak and resubmit.

 

[Bianca_P]

First off you need to understand that all stories submitted are vetted by one person only, the site owner, Laurel. It is fair to say that she doesn't have time to read every story word for word, therefore the process has to be partially automated.

Searches are carried out for certain keywords and phrases, and it is reasonable to say you have committed the cardinal sin of putting 'adolescent', 'fifteen', and 'sex' in the same paragraph.

You have a couple of options:

1/ Rewrite that paragraph to remove the age stated, and hope it gets through.
2/ Resubmit without alteration but add an authors message explaining your reasoning. This should trigger Laurel to read the story, but this will take longer to process, but still no guarantee of approval.

Basically, Laurels site, Laurels rules

Thanks for the reply. I did try resubmitting with a note but it still got rejected. I think it's quite harsh since there was no description and it's there to characterise the character as a little reckless.

B

 

[purvis2]

" Ever the adolescent puritan, she had never even let a boy grope her. Then, at fifteen, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

Thanks for the reply. I did try resubmitting with a note but it still got rejected. I think it's quite harsh since there was no description and it's there to characterise the character as a little reckless.

B

"Ever the puritan all her life, she had never even let a boy grope her. Then, at eighteen, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

 

[MillieDynamite]

The only bit that may have triggered the rejection is the sentence, " Ever the adolescent puritan, she had never even let a boy grope her. Then, at fifteen, someone found her sex switch, and she never found the off position again, which was probably the only position she had not found."

In truth, your feeling or believing the sentence isn't specific enough to trigger the rule is not relevant. The word, fifteen, and sex in the same line are enough to trigger the rule, and I don't think Laural will pass the story with the reference to her age as under eighteen.