Story got rejected - need advice

[JessikaN135]

Not only my latest story submission got rejected, but also an older chapter already accepted weeks ago had been in retrospect.
But I don't want to complain about! I had to find out my story is within a "gray area" the hard way, because I just simply missed one rule under the guidelines (completely my bad).

The reason I'm asking for advice:

I put A LOT of work into my three chapters of "The Adventures of Lucy and Tharion" and got quite satisfying ratings so far and even some fan mail (which is a very pleasant surprise for English not being my native language) and now I'm wondering if there is a way to recover the chapters in a way they can be accepted on Literotica without completely changing it.


That's the problem:

My stories are set in the universe of "World of Warcraft". The characters so far are gnomes (about 3 feet tall humanoid creatures), night-elves (the usual tall guys and girls with pointy ears) and ... here is the problem ... some frostsabers, which play quite an "active" role in some situations as well as the night-elf druids do in quite similar appearance.
While the chapter 2 with only the night-elf druid seems to be ok, the other two featuring frostsabers don't.


My question:

Considering the guidelines, which allow "mystical creatures, but not real ones", do you think:

1) I should just try to emphasize somewhat clearer that those "huge cats" I am talking about in these chapters are exactly such "mystical creatures", because nothing like them exists in reality (Perhaps that was not obvious enough for people not player WOW), and resubmit after some minor additions in this spirit?

OR

2) The damage is too severe; and because only huge alterations, which would break the very core of the stories, could make it acceptable on Literotica, I should consider giving up and next time "RTFM" before wasting dozens of hours writing?


I would be a very happy gnome - I mean girl - if you had some helpful advice. Perhaps even somebody from the administration, who rejected them in the first place, could give me a hint?

 

[slyc_willie]

I am going to guess there's a little hanky-panky going on with the frostsabers, and that is why it was rejected. Doing a search for them pretty much told me that they are big white cats. While they are, indeed, not real animals, it seems from reading about them in the WoW Wiki that they behave like big cats in the real world.

Lit does allow for mythical creatures in explicit situations; however, it seems to be something of an unwritten rule that either those creatures are either very well known (unicorns, minotaurs, etc.) or are anthropomorphized in some way. In other words, if your Frostsabers spoke, that might be enough to convey that they are more than just animals. Might.

You are indeed in a very grey area with this. You can try sending a PM to Laurel (not an email) and asking for clarification. Ultimately, she's the one who decides what is and is not allowed.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree with asking Laurel by PM what the specific problem area is before rewriting to a guess of what it is.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hey Jessika, do ask Laurel. She is always quick to reply to any PMs I've sent and very helpful.

PM not email though!

Welcome to the board. If anyone is snarky, ignore them, LOL. People are really helpful on here but sometimes someone gets bored and starts hunting for a snark.



(Put a link to your submissions in your signature, too, so we can idle along and check them out.)

 

[JessikaN135]

OK, thanks a lot for your support!

I will try to reach Laurel (as soon as I find out how ).

Lucy would be very sad if nobody could read about her great time with her night elf.

 

[PennLady]

OK, thanks a lot for your support!

I will try to reach Laurel (as soon as I find out how ).

Lucy would be very sad if nobody could read about her great time with her night elf.

Jessika, first make sure you have enabled private messages. To do this, click on the User CP link at the top left of the page, then go down the list on the left side of the new page and click on Edit Options, then scroll down and click on "Enable Private Messages" if you haven't already. That last option will be in the middle of the page. Then go down and save pages.

After that, you can click on the Private Messages link at the upper right of this page, and enter "Laurel" (sans quotes) into the to: field.

Good luck.

 

[JessikaN135]

Jessika, first make sure you have enabled private messages. To do this, click on the User CP link at the top left of the page, then go down the list on the left side of the new page and click on Edit Options, then scroll down and click on "Enable Private Messages" if you haven't already. That last option will be in the middle of the page. Then go down and save pages.
After that, you can click on the Private Messages link at the upper right of this page, and enter "Laurel" (sans quotes) into the to: field.
Good luck.

And thanks again! Done

Let's hope some minor changes can make Lucy a happy gnome again.

 

[JessikaN135]

Great advice!
Laurel already replied and encouraged me to resubmit my stories. My mistake was that I but "beastiality" in the tag-fields (since I didn't know it wasn't allowed). But since there are no real animals in my stories, Laurel said they should be OK as long as I removed the problematic tag.

So there is hope that you can soon read more about a little gnomes adventures with her noble elf.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Fab. Glad you had the courage to come and ask how to sort this out!

Post some more, when you hit 100 you can have an avatar (I think that's right , can't find the thread which tells you what you get when you hit so many posts). Lucy the gnome can your pix(ie) perhaps!

 

[JessikaN135]

Lucy as avatar-picture would really be nice, NaokoSmith! I promise she will be smiling at you as soon as I can show her.

I'm still feel a little stupid that I didn't check the rules carefully enough beforehand; but at least I'm quite confident now that you can read chapters one and three very soon.

The good thing is: This all gave me lots of new ideas for a fourth chapter, which will definitively show the saber cats true nature as cunning and holy creatures of Elune. It will unveil one of the biggest elfish secrets, show the saber cats' important role in the elvish society and will once for all unambiguously prove that they are far from being normal animals.
And yes, there will be still a lot of opportunities for Tharion and Lucy to play their nasty little games.

It just has to be written down.

 

[laptopwriter]

My advise is

Post it on Stories On Line.

 

[slyc_willie]

Post it on Stories On Line.

I did that, once.

Only once.

SOL will take anything. And I do mean, anything. I should have looked deeper into the site before I posted a single story there. From what I saw, the site was inundated with pedophile stories. Some were even chosen as editor's picks. That was enough for me to quickly and permanently sever any connection to that site.

 

[LaRascasse]

Great advice!
Laurel already replied and encouraged me to resubmit my stories. My mistake was that I but "beastiality" in the tag-fields (since I didn't know it wasn't allowed). But since there are no real animals in my stories, Laurel said they should be OK as long as I removed the problematic tag.

So there is hope that you can soon read more about a little gnomes adventures with her noble elf.

There was (still maybe there) a story several years back involving humans and well... Pokemon of all things :|

If that could be allowed, yours is fine.

 

[JessikaN135]

... Pokemon of all things...

Ah, the moment of relief when you realize there are fetishes a lot stranger than yours.

 

[Darkniciad]

I did that, once.

Only once.

SOL will take anything. And I do mean, anything. I should have looked deeper into the site before I posted a single story there. From what I saw, the site was inundated with pedophile stories. Some were even chosen as editor's picks. That was enough for me to quickly and permanently sever any connection to that site.

The old stories are still there, but the policy has dramatically changed so that no new ones are posting.

And those weren't editor's picks. That "recommended story" or whatever it's called on the front page is completely random Pretty sure I remember that when the policy changed, it also filtered those stories from the random scroll.

SOL has a leg-up on Lit when it comes to stories that would end up in LW here. Those stories will get a much fairer shake - especially if they're multi-chapter.

No matter what, more people will read you here on Lit than anywhere else. Lit dominates the free erotica market.

 

[slyc_willie]

The old stories are still there, but the policy has dramatically changed so that no new ones are posting.

And those weren't editor's picks. That "recommended story" or whatever it's called on the front page is completely random Pretty sure I remember that when the policy changed, it also filtered those stories from the random scroll.

SOL has a leg-up on Lit when it comes to stories that would end up in LW here. Those stories will get a much fairer shake - especially if they're multi-chapter.

No matter what, more people will read you here on Lit than anywhere else. Lit dominates the free erotica market.

Well, glad that SOL is -- somewhat -- cleaning up a bit. But I still won't post there. Lit gives me more than enough traffic.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The old stories are still there, but the policy has dramatically changed so that no new ones are posting.

And those weren't editor's picks. That "recommended story" or whatever it's called on the front page is completely random Pretty sure I remember that when the policy changed, it also filtered those stories from the random scroll.

SOL has a leg-up on Lit when it comes to stories that would end up in LW here. Those stories will get a much fairer shake - especially if they're multi-chapter.

No matter what, more people will read you here on Lit than anywhere else. Lit dominates the free erotica market.

But the quality isn't good, and the site is a bitch to navigate. Too much poop clogs the system.

 

[PennLady]

Well, glad that SOL is -- somewhat -- cleaning up a bit. But I still won't post there. Lit gives me more than enough traffic.

I held off posting there for quite some time, for the reasons you cited. However, I did post and have had good experiences and good feedback. Even "met" a guy who did a lot of beta reading for me and we've been emailing ever since, for about three years or so.

But I can understand not posting there.

It is different to navigate, and I understand there are no forums, or they don't get much use. I do think the tag system, as opposed to the categories, is better than what Lit does.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

I held off posting there for quite some time, for the reasons you cited. However, I did post and have had good experiences and good feedback. Even "met" a guy who did a lot of beta reading for me and we've been emailing ever since, for about three years or so.

But I can understand not posting there.

It is different to navigate, and I understand there are no forums, or they don't get much use. I do think the tag system, as opposed to the categories, is better than what Lit does.

My editor found me from SOL, so I can't dog em. And no I have more views on one story on Lit than I have on all my posts on SOL. I prefer Lit but the other gives a little different audience.

 

[laptopwriter]

I can only hope to see the difference

between Literotica and SOL since my story has yet to be posted after 3 weeks now. I only know from my experience on SOL; it was posted within half an hour from the time I submitted it. The story has over 8200 hits with 780 votes and over 160 comments by email.

I am told that pales by comparison from what I can expect from Literotica; of course so far, the number of views here have been zero.

 

[Darkniciad]

between Literotica and SOL since my story has yet to be posted after 3 weeks now. I only know from my experience on SOL; it was posted within half an hour from the time I submitted it. The story has over 8200 hits with 780 votes and over 160 comments by email.

I am told that pales by comparison from what I can expect from Literotica; of course so far, the number of views here have been zero.

Three weeks is a problem. You haven't been clicking the "pending" link at all, have you? Almost nothing pure text, even in the slowest of times, has taken more than 8 days -- and that's brand new authors.

If you haven't been messing with the "pending" link, and it doesn't have a rejection note, then you probably need to contact Laurel via PM to see what's up. There's absolutely a problem there, and there have been a lot of weird glitches happening lately.

As to the comparison: I get as many hits per chapter as I get with the strange, inflated download numbers for an entire multi-chapter story on SOL.

Don't know how in the sam-hell he calculates that. It's not total. It's not any kind of average or mean. It just seems to be pulled out of nowhere Score and downloads ( except on one-shots ) seem to be derived from mathematical formulas so complex that the border on witchcraft utterly incomprehensible to anyone looking at them.

 

[sr71plt]

As to the comparison: I get as many hits per chapter as I get with the strange, inflated download numbers for an entire multi-chapter story on SOL.

We don't really know that the "view" numbers here aren't strange and inflated too, do we? I've yet to see an explanation of what a "view" represents.

 

[Darkniciad]

We don't really know that the "view" numbers here aren't strange and inflated too, do we? I've yet to see an explanation of what a "view" represents.

For one-shot stories or individual chapters on SOL, the numbers are straight-forward. Someone opens it, it's a download. Nothing else counts. To the best of my knowledge, spiders and non-members can't register as a download, as it won't even let them view the whole story. He even has a neat script in place that prevents many of the automated story-scraping bots from getting anything but garbage characters and a link back to the site.

I've seen a few of the fly-by-night story stealing sites get nabbed by that. They pay so little attention to what they're stealing that they post the keyboard-spew the script spits out

For multi-chapter stories, there's a number displayed to the public that is much higher than the maximum DLs for any one chapter, but isn't a total of all the downloads, either.

7576 4856 3611 3420 3178 2835 2845 2655 2498 2456 2455 2327 2284 2293 2234 2279 2225 2140 2359 2082 2091 1989 1989 1947 1899 1894 1925 1872 1817 1805 1832 1784 1724 1752 1671 1662 1749 1740 1645 1685 1692 1666 1684 1774 1593 1648 1612 1582 1620 1745 1763 1723 1644 1716 1731 1726 1923 1696 1696 2086

Individual chapter DLs for a story. What's listed to the public as the downloads? 22346.

Where in the bloody hell does that number come from? *laugh*

As to Lit, I generally compare the Alexa traffic ratings to my download/view counts for the same story on 2 or 3 different sites, and extrapolate out. My best calculation is that a maximum of 25% of "views" are extraneous stuff.

 

[sr71plt]

So, each time you open a page, it doesn't add a view number?

 

[Darkniciad]

So, each time you open a page, it doesn't add a view number?

Not according to what I've seen by collecting the data across all of my stuff and a few representative authors selected by visibility. Best as I can tell, the individual Lit ID in the database only registers a view once within a certain period of time, regardless of what or how many pages in that story/chapter are accessed.

I'll have to dig around the hard drive and see if I can find my data sheets. I went through a long period where I couldn't write shit, and doing silly, pointless stuff like this helped me pass the time until my muse came back from whatever beach the bitch was sunning herself on.

I take that back, I was fully capable of writing shit during that period. I wrote mountains of it. I just couldn't write anything worth reading