Rejection!

[soflabbwlvr]

Last week I submitted a three chapter story. All three chapters were rejected. The reason given for the rejection was the following:

"Was there an underage (under 18 years old) sexual relationship in my story?"

The answer is "NO." There were no underage characters in any of the chapters, and no underage sexual relationships anywhere in the story.

In the first chapter, all of the characters are high school seniors. The text clearly states that the youngest member of the group had just turned eightteen, and the events described in the story were part of the celebration of that birthday.

In chapter two, the youngest characters are nineteen years of age.

In chapter three, the youngest character is eightteen, and all other characters are several years older.

There is no underage sex anywhere in the text of these three chapters.

How do I get someone to actually read the story? The rejection page says to have it reviewed by a volunteer editor and to resubmit after making changes. There is nothing to change. In any event, two volunteer editors already signed off on it before it was submitted.

I am at a loss.

 

[sr71plt]

Just resubmit with a note in the "notes" box saying the stories were initially rejected with that question and the answer is no, there is no underage sex in the story. I had to do that once on a different question and then the story got posted as written. If you put a note in the notes box, a human editor will see it.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Just resubmit with a note in the "notes" box saying the stories were initially rejected with that question and the answer is no, there is no underage sex in the story. I had to do that once on a different question and then the story got posted as written. If you put a note in the notes box, a human editor will see it.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[PennLady]

It might also help not to submit all three parts at once. I know from previous experience they prefer the stories submitted on separate days.

Just resubmit with a note in the "notes" box saying the stories were initially rejected with that question and the answer is no, there is no underage sex in the story. I had to do that once on a different question and then the story got posted as written. If you put a note in the notes box, a human editor will see it.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

It might also help not to submit all three parts at once. I know from previous experience they prefer the stories submitted on separate days.

That's interesting. I have always done it that way in the past, but on a number of recent threads other authors have recommended submtting all chapters at once with a note specifying the requested publishing schedule.

 

[pointless]

attach an age disclaimer to the header. seriously. works wonders.

 

[sr71plt]

Disclaimers almost always look defensive to me--and they clutter up the story. If it's clear in the story that there isn't an age problem, I dodn't see the problem of just clearing that up with an annotated refile if/when the problem pops up.

 

[pointless]

Disclaimers almost always look defensive to me--and they clutter up the story. If it's clear in the story that there isn't an age problem, I dodn't see the problem of just clearing that up with an annotated refile if/when the problem pops up.

that's great, but it still works.

 

[PennLady]

I think when I submitted one of my early, 2=part stories (Pretending, I think), I actually got a note from someone about submitting separate chapters on different days. But I'd think, as others have said, that a note to the site managers would clear it up.

That's interesting. I have always done it that way in the past, but on a number of recent threads other authors have recommended submtting all chapters at once with a note specifying the requested publishing schedule.

 

[bronzeage]

Last week I submitted a three chapter story. All three chapters were rejected. The reason given for the rejection was the following:

"Was there an underage (under 18 years old) sexual relationship in my story?"

The answer is "NO." There were no underage characters in any of the chapters, and no underage sexual relationships anywhere in the story.

In the first chapter, all of the characters are high school seniors. The text clearly states that the youngest member of the group had just turned eightteen, and the events described in the story were part of the celebration of that birthday.

In chapter two, the youngest characters are nineteen years of age.

In chapter three, the youngest character is eightteen, and all other characters are several years older.

There is no underage sex anywhere in the text of these three chapters.

How do I get someone to actually read the story? The rejection page says to have it reviewed by a volunteer editor and to resubmit after making changes. There is nothing to change. In any event, two volunteer editors already signed off on it before it was submitted.

I am at a loss.

There is something strange about the way the story submission editors look at under age characters. Just mentioning a characters age will do it. It does not have to be a sexual relationship.

I edited a story which was rejected because the marriage of a seventeen year old was discussed. When the "seventeen year old" was changed to "young man", the story was accepted.

 

[pointless]

There is something strange about the way the story submission editors look at under age characters. Just mentioning a characters age will do it. It does not have to be a sexual relationship.

I edited a story which was rejected because the marriage of a seventeen year old was discussed. When the "seventeen year old" was changed to "young man", the story was accepted.

yeah, it's obviously a program which makes sense when you realize how hard it would be to read all the stories posted here. i mean some of them are quite long. that would be a pain in the ass.

 

[sr71plt]

yeah, it's obviously a program which makes sense when you realize how hard it would be to read all the stories posted here. i mean some of them are quite long. that would be a pain in the ass.

Bingo!

I've had two rejections of this nature. One was because I hadn't read the rules about it: I put a fake URL in the text (even in the title). The other one, though, was a case of being too good, I guess, of giving a character the attributes of a snake. The story was questioned on the issue of bestiality. All I had to do was refile and say, "Uh, no, the character is just being likened to a snake."

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Bingo!

I've had two rejections of this nature. One was because I hadn't read the rules about it: I put a fake URL in the text (even in the title). The other one, though, was a case of being too good, I guess, of giving a character the attributes of a snake. The story was questioned on the issue of bestiality. All I had to do was refile and say, "Uh, no, the character is just being likened to a snake."

Based on a recent PM exchange I had with Laurel, she's a one-woman show. I believe she may have tried sodtware programs to "check" stories in the past, but she did mention that the programs, upon detecting mention of an animal (dog was the example she used), that it would be flagged for bestiality. So now she "reads" (thinking quickly skims) them over, especially given the number and length of them.

She makes mistakes, and no surprise given the volume she's dealing with. She does the best she can. Maybe add in the notes pane when submitting that all characters are 18+, but I've never had to. Stating ages at the forefront of the story as opposed to deeper within might be of help, or a disclaimer as I have done before. Some writers may resist this but it does work.

For what it's worth.