First submission sent back

[Steph70kk]

Hi

My first story and submission has been sent back due to "underage (under 18 years old) sexual relationship", and using Grammarly or other such similar tools.

My story does not have any underage sexual relationship, and yes, I have used spell/grammar checkers. Otherwise, the 70,000 word story is mine.

Any idea what I could or should do next? Re-introduce an earlier version with (spelling/grammar) errors?

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

[Milo9012]

Maybe it was in the words you used to describe or reference your characters themselves, or their place in the social ranks.

Something in the text is making them seem as underage, so read it again with that in mind.

That's my guess.

Good luck,

Milo

 

[IsabellaEmily]

Hi

My first story and submission has been sent back due to "underage (under 18 years old) sexual relationship", and using Grammarly or other such similar tools.

My story does not have any underage sexual relationship, and yes, I have used spell/grammar checkers. Otherwise, the 70,000 word story is mine.

Any idea what I could or should do next? Re-introduce an earlier version with (spelling/grammar) errors?

Thanks,

Stephanie

My first few stories were rejected for underage elements as well, simply because I didn't make it clear that the characters were in college. There weren't any underage characters in any of those first few stories, but I didn't clarify that enough.

I learned to be VERY specific about their ages so as to leave no doubt.

 

[Steph70kk]

OK, thanks. In the first chapter of my story, I write about the childhood of one of the main characters — maybe that’s what triggered the rejection. I don’t mind having policies in place, but spending time on a submission only to have it rejected for unclear or unwarranted reasons just isn’t worth the effort. I’ll publish my stories elsewhere.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I tend to include some indirect clue that a character is a legal adult (like buying a beer in a restaurant) just to avoid any ambiguity about that.

--Annie

 

[IsabellaEmily]

OK, thanks. In the first chapter of my story, I write about the childhood of one of the main characters — maybe that’s what triggered the rejection. I don’t mind having policies in place, but spending time on a submission only to have it rejected for unclear or unwarranted reasons just isn’t worth the effort. I’ll publish my stories elsewhere.

Unfortunately spending time on a story is part of the writing process, whether you're publishing it here or anywhere else.

I'm sorry you think that it isn't worth the effort to publish your stories here, but I respect your choice. We each have to decide if the benefits and perks of being here are worth the rules and limitations.

I personally love how hard the site works to make writers spell out the ages of their characters clearly. Not only do I not want to read underage stuff, I don't want anything of mine to be mistaken as an endorsement of that stuff.

Getting a story kicked back doesn't bother me, since it gives me an opportunity to resubmit a better version of that, which means that the readers get the best possible version I can submit.

Again sorry you've had some bad experiences, and I wish you luck in landing somewhere that feels like a better fit.

 

[Actingup]

OK, thanks. In the first chapter of my story, I write about the childhood of one of the main characters — maybe that’s what triggered the rejection. I don’t mind having policies in place, but spending time on a submission only to have it rejected for unclear or unwarranted reasons just isn’t worth the effort. I’ll publish my stories elsewhere.

Bear in mind that some of the process is automated. They get a lot of submissions, many of them have dodgy content, and the fight against AI is real. There’s only one person managing the publication queue, and she doesn’t have any reason to know or trust you yet.

It’s natural to take a rejection as a personal slight, but I would always recommend a deep breath, careful consideration of the reasons for rejection, and then resubmission with a polite note about what you’ve updated.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I’ve had that happen, particularly early on. Generally it was an ambiguity. Two things I learned. The first was to make it clear that everybody is an adult, either by specifically giving their age or by having them do something or be something an under-18 couldn’t, eg, being a third-year college student or a doctor or an army sergeant.

The second thing, if there is even the possibility of it being misunderstood, of saying something in the Notes box in the submission page, eg. “I state that the MMC has a ‘childlike innocence’. That’s just their character and I clearly state that he voted in the last election, so he’s of legal age.”

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

My first story was sent back, too, with some concern that characters were underage. I pointed out that the characters were college cheerleaders (and the specific text that talked about that) and the story was accepted later that day for publication the next day. If you get a return for underage, provide a copy of the text that disputes that (and the approximate location in the story) and there's a good chance it might be accepted without making any changes at all. If the rejection is for suspected AI, it may take more and there are a lot of threads with advice on that.

Good luck if you decide to stick around and publish here or if you move elsewhere as you were considering.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I had a submission bounced because I mentioned being inspired by another Lit story in the author note, and Laurel thought I was continuing another author's story. I wasn't, and the other author was aware of my story and had no objection to it. Once I said that to Laurel, it was accepted.

--Annie

 

[OddLove]

As for as the underage thing, just make the characters age painfully obvious. Mention it several times in different ways, through dialog, action, and narration. I got nothing for the AI issue though. I stopped using grammar software that restructures my sentences because I'm worried about the same thing happening to me. I just use spell checking on my writing software, then use a program to read my story back so I can fix clunky stuff and catch missing words or double used words, etc.

Best of luck.

 

[Tomh1966]

My story Every body loves life drawing got sent back for that. There is no one under 30 in the story. I did tighten up some words making sure it was obvious everyone was an adult and resubmitted. It got approved but it was REALLY slow. I also pointed out no one was under 30 so it did work.

 

[Levorotatory]

As for as the underage thing, just make the characters age painfully obvious. Mention it several times in different ways, through dialog, action, and narration.

It sucks that authors feel the need to do that. Working mention of the character's age into the narrative once is normal character background information, but when it is repeated several times it is like overuse of any other character description and it gets annoying. Like, you have told me that he is 18 years old and has a 7 inch dick already, please stop repeating his age and stop inserting a size related adjective every time you mention his dick.