Guidelines Question

[mjl2010]

From the submission guidelines I get this.

3. No sexual activity involving bestiality (you can write stories about supernatural beasts like ghosts, unicorns, werewolves, etc.) or underage persons will be considered. For the purposes of this site, the minimum legal age is 18. This site does not publish stories, articles, essays, or other material supporting, encouraging, or defending child abuse and/or exploitation.

Currently I am working on a story where a sixteen year old sophomore is attacked and manages to fight off her would be Date Rapist. However the attack leaves her unable to trust and have a relationship. The core of the story is really about how she finally manages to overcome her problems and eventually finds happiness, falls in love and is able to trust a man.

I would categorize the story as a romance, but plan to submit it to novels/novellas.

My question is this. Where do I need to stop in terms of describing what happens to her after her date spikes her drink and then tries to take advantage of her. Because of the way the drug he uses works, at first she is almost willing, then it doesn't work and she fights him off.

Any help on this would be appreciated. The story is written, I'm just fine tuning it so suggesting to change her age or something isn't going to help.

Thanks

MJL

 

[SweetErika]

IIRC, stories have been rejected for simply having the appearance of underage characters in them (more than a mention of a character having kids or something), so I'd say there's a definite chance the one you've outlined could be rejected on the age rule. After all, rape is technically sexual activity, and there's a chance some sicko could get aroused by the idea of a minor potentially being raped.

Ask yourself if her current age is central to the plot. If so, why, and is there anything you can do to make her 18+. For example, could you clearly state she's 18, and a high school senior, or make her a freshman/sophomore in college and change some of the details? It'd be a shame to get all the way through, only to get rejected on this issue, then have to go back and edit everything.

This has been fleshed out pretty well in the AH, and possibly on the Editor's board. If I were you, I'd dig up some of those threads for clarification, and ask there if I needed more specific help.

Good luck with the piece.

 

[mjl2010]

The story is written. I think its a well written story, one of my best so far. If Lit chooses not to accept it, someplace else will. The "Attempted Rape" scene isn't all that graphic really. Kissing. He manages to get her pantyhose off and gets on top of her. She basically comes to her senses, panics and gets away after a good knee to his nuts.

I suppose you're right, some sicko would get off on it. But the truth is, you see worse on regular TV frequently.

I'm not going back and changing a 70k word story that takes place mostly after the woman is eighteen anyway. It would never work or be the same.

I don't even bother with the AH anymore. If I wanted to discuss politics I'd head down to the local bar. Last time I saw someone ask a writing question there, they got bashed and told to come to HT.

MJL

 

[SweetErika]

Okay, so if it's all written and you don't want to change anything and you don't care if Lit accepts it, then why bother asking?

 

[cloudy]

The story is written. I think its a well written story, one of my best so far. If Lit chooses not to accept it, someplace else will. The "Attempted Rape" scene isn't all that graphic really. Kissing. He manages to get her pantyhose off and gets on top of her. She basically comes to her senses, panics and gets away after a good knee to his nuts.

I suppose you're right, some sicko would get off on it. But the truth is, you see worse on regular TV frequently.

I'm not going back and changing a 70k word story that takes place mostly after the woman is eighteen anyway. It would never work or be the same.

I don't even bother with the AH anymore. If I wanted to discuss politics I'd head down to the local bar. Last time I saw someone ask a writing question there, they got bashed and told to come to HT.

MJL

Really? That's odd, since there are always several writing or writing-related threads going on, although their titles may be deceiving.

So...you ask in the How To forum? Oh, gee, that makes sense.

It's especially odd, since I found all these on just the first page:

here
here
here
here
here
here
here
here
here

 

[tickledkitty]

I know you said it's already written and you're not going to change it, so I'm also unsure as to why you're asking.

However, I was thinking maybe the attempted rape could be a flashback or an intrusive recollection that keeps haunting her. The character would clearly be 18+ with a recurring nightmare or whatever. Not sure that would work either because I've not had this issue myself. See, I'm a rule follower. I know I'm just a guest here, and if I want to use this site, then I need to follow the rules of the owners.

It seems like you're setting yourself up for failure with this. I'm not trying to be a smart ass or anything, so I hope you don't take it that way. You know the rules here, yet you're going to submit a story that you know most likely won't be approved. You asked for help but then became stubborn about changing it. That just doesn't make sense.

Sure, you can get it accepted someplace else, but will you be entirely happy with that?

You have to take the good with the bad on the AH. I've learned so much there, and people have been really helpful. I've also made some really good friends. There's a big mix of people there with varying interests, just like the rest of Lit. I don't like politics either, so I just avoid the political threads. It's pretty simple.

Have you let anyone else read the story? Maybe you need a couple other opinions before you submit.

Good luck with this.

 

[SweetErika]

I know you said it's already written and you're not going to change it, so I'm also unsure as to why you're asking.

However, I was thinking maybe the attempted rape could be a flashback or an intrusive recollection that keeps haunting her. The character would clearly be 18+ with a recurring nightmare or whatever. Not sure that would work either because I've not had this issue myself. See, I'm a rule follower. I know I'm just a guest here, and if I want to use this site, then I need to follow the rules of the owners.

It seems like you're setting yourself up for failure with this. I'm not trying to be a smart ass or anything, so I hope you don't take it that way. You know the rules here, yet you're going to submit a story that you know most likely won't be approved. You asked for help but then became stubborn about changing it. That just doesn't make sense.

Sure, you can get it accepted someplace else, but will you be entirely happy with that?

You have to take the good with the bad on the AH. I've learned so much there, and people have been really helpful. I've also made some really good friends. There's a big mix of people there with varying interests, just like the rest of Lit. I don't like politics either, so I just avoid the political threads. It's pretty simple.

Have you let anyone else read the story? Maybe you need a couple other opinions before you submit.

Good luck with this.

Great post, and I hope you'll continue to contribute to this corner of Lit, TK!

Again, I'm just going on (my sometimes not-so-great) memory, but I think people have tried the flashback idea with little success WHEN they have specified the age at which the sexual events in the flashback/memory occurred. Fantasies and dreams that follow that path are often problematic as well.

I believe a flashback (fantasy, dream, etc.) to 'younger years,' or something similarly ambiguous or with an implied minority, is likely to sail through the review process, however.

At least that's the gist of what I've been able to gather from many discussions. I'm not even sure if there's a hard-and-fast standard; at times it seems to be dependent on which editor just happens to review the piece.

 

[tickledkitty]

Great post, and I hope you'll continue to contribute to this corner of Lit, TK!

Thank you! I think I will.

 

[mjl2010]

I am willing to fine tune the chapter where the attempted rape takes place. My question was, Where do I need to stop in terms of describing what happens to her? The vast majority of the story takes place after she is 18.

I asked the question primarily so I'd know whether to even bother submitting here, and if there was a way it could be done that was acceptable. The story is definitely not a stroker, you could pick up any romance novel off the shelf in the grocery store and find a lot more sex than you could in this one.

My personal opinion, and you'll find a lot of agreement on this from experts and victims alike, is that rape is not sex. It's violence and power. What happens to this young girl changes her life dramatically as it does many women. I agree there are plenty of sickos out there that would get off on the description of a rape.

The things written in the guidelines, FAQ's and other places are so old a lot them don't apply anymore. A good example is it tells you to EMAIL Laurel if you have questions. Yeah Right. So I asked. Don't get mad at me because I don't want to rewrite the entire story.

Finally, before I start ranting if I'm not already, this is a how to question. So I asked it in How To. I asked a how to question in the AH once, and while several people did respond nicely, several others pointedly and not so nicely told me it was a question for the HOW TO area. So yeah, it was me I was referring to and since I was already sick of the continuous political discussion, I haven't been back.

I'll finally, finally, say one more thing. I am VERY grateful to the many kind people, including one person who pretends to be so abrasive you could use her for sandpaper, who helped me along here and made so many helpful suggestions and comments. If you look at my posts to new writers asking questions, you'll see I mention all the help I got here many times.

Lit is a good place to start. Hopefully I get good enough I can see a pen name on the cover of a real book someday.

Thanks for responding anyway, I'm sorry my intentions were misunderstood.

MJL