Story rejected for rule I’m certain I didn’t break

[TexasKatie]

Hoping for some advice before I just give up and find another site for my story.

I submitted a story where the main character is identified in the first few paragraphs as a high school senior who just turned 18 a month ago. She has sex with 4 men: the school’s football coach and 3 of the players on the team who are also seniors.

The story was rejected with the reason given that it included underage characters.

It absolutely does not. No one under 18 is even mentioned, even in a non sexual context (for example, no one mentions the existence of a younger sibling). Literally, there is not a single character at all who is under 18 or pretending to be under 18 or described as being under 18.

I went back through the story line by line and added specific ages for everyone. The Coach is in his late 30s. All the students involved are 18 or 19 years old.

I resubmitted it with a note to the moderators saying no one was under 18 and I had made some additions to make that very clear.

And it got rejected again. I cannot figure out what is going on unless maybe they have a very stupid AI reviewing these and it got triggered by the guys calling her “girl” a few times, but that’s silly. Women get called “girl” well into adulthood all the time, especially in a romantic or sexual context.

Any advice would be appreciated. I worked hard on this and I’m really frustrated.

Thanks

 

[alohadave]

Did the character remember or reminisce or talk about anything sexual that happened before she turned 18?

 

[Bamagan]

Sorry to hear that.
There probably is an automated level of review, though it's more likely to be an old-fashioned keyword-based series of code scripts. Either way, I don't think the word girl is the issue, since it shows up all the time on the site.
You've already done most of the things I'd recommend, so I'm unfortunately pretty much at a loss as well. You could try adding a foreword or disclaimer such as, "All characters are at least 18 years old." Stories set in high schools do seem to get extra scrutiny, for obvious reasons, although that doesn't help much with figuring out the trigger(s) for automatic rejection.
If you can find someone on the volunteer editor page to look it over, that might also help, especially if you're just asking them to confirm that there are no characters whose ages were left ambiguous (and no wacky typos like 8 instead of 18). They can vouch for an author in such cases, I believe.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I had this with my very first story here and I was equally clueless as to the problem. What I’d suggest is that just saying - character X is 18 - may not be enough. Rejections could also be due to how she is described (looking underage) or how she behaves or talks (sounding underage).

I doubt it’s the use of ‘girl,’ I have that epithet used by thirty-something characters about themselves and others using it about them.

I’m not saying this is the case with you, but having the character in your mind as being - say - 16, and then just slapping a ‘she’s 18,’ in the text won’t fly.

 

[Photog1rl]

Could the story work if it was set at a college? I am wondering if simply being in high school is the issue. I don’t submit stories so I have no personal experience with what would trigger the issue but discussing HS has been a trigger in the playground before. Is being in HS integral to the story? If it is-that probably is the issue. If not, you could change that piece and see what happens.

 

[TexasKatie]

Did the character remember or reminisce or talk about anything sexual that happened before she turned 18?

No, not at all. In the intro one of the players is sitting next to her in class leering at her and she thinks to herself how annoying he became after she turned 18 too. Like I made it clear he started hitting on her after she was 18 too.

 

[TexasKatie]

Sorry to hear that.
There probably is an automated level of review, though it's more likely to be an old-fashioned keyword-based series of code scripts. Either way, I don't think the word girl is the issue, since it shows up all the time on the site.
You've already done most of the things I'd recommend, so I'm unfortunately pretty much at a loss as well. You could try adding a foreword or disclaimer such as, "All characters are at least 18 years old." Stories set in high schools do seem to get extra scrutiny, for obvious reasons, although that doesn't help much with figuring out the trigger(s) for automatic rejection.
If you can find someone on the volunteer editor page to look it over, that might also help, especially if you're just asking them to confirm that there are no characters whose ages were left ambiguous (and no wacky typos like 8 instead of 18). They can vouch for an author in such cases, I believe.

The original draft said “all characters are at least 18” and the rejection note said that disclaimer doesn’t fix it.

I guess I’ll try to find a volunteer editor but if that doesn’t work I’m probably never posting another story here again. The u/i is already annoying enough and spending all that time inputting the text and formatting it only for it to be rejected for a false reason? I’m not wasting my time again.

 

[djrip]

Do you have any numbers less than 18 in the text that a bot might find, like "it had been fifteen years since we..." Or "that wine was twelve years old" or "he had fourteen cars on the lot..."

 

[TexasKatie]

Could the story work if it was set at a college? I am wondering if simply being in high school is the issue. I don’t submit stories so I have no personal experience with what would trigger the issue but discussing HS has been a trigger in the playground before. Is being in HS integral to the story? If it is-that probably is the issue. If not, you could change that piece and see what happens.

It’s a private school and that short plaid skirt is part of the plot, in ways that I’m sure y’all can imagine

There’s also a bit where the coach has taken over uniform orders from the assistant principal and he and other male teachers alter the orders for the hot senior girls once they turn 18. The main character can’t figure out why her skirt is so short and her shirt is too tight too.

I could rewrite it for college but would have to eliminate all the uniform stuff

 

[TexasKatie]

Do you have any numbers less than 18 in the text that a bot might find, like "it had been fifteen years since we..." Or "that wine was twelve years old" or "he had fourteen cars on the lot..."

That’s a good suggestion. I’ll go back through and make sure i didn’t. Ugh. Like I get the reason for the rule. I support the rule about no underage porn even in writing! And I really do not believe I wrote an underage story!

 

[TexasKatie]

Did the character remember or reminisce or talk about anything sexual that happened before she turned 18?

No not at all. No one mentions anything that happened before they turned 18. No one is described as looking underage either.

 

[NotWise]

I think all we can do for advice is clutch at the straws you've given us. You should have someone read your story. They'll have a fresh look at something you've probably read too many times, and they may be able to see things you're missing.

 

[RejectReality]

The prohibition on underage is pretty wide. If a character brings up anything that happened before 18 in too much detail, it will get bounced. If you've been popped, resubmitted with a note, and got popped again, there's something in there Laurel believes is over the line.

And, NotWise says exactly what I was going to type next. You're probably at a stage where someone who has a reasonable grasp of how Laurel adjudicates this rule is probably going to need to read it and give you an idea of what's causing the rejection. Lord knows I'm not writing anything at the moment in my slump, so if you want to send a PM to find a way to exchange the document, I'm open to giving it a read.

 

[TexasKatie]

I think all we can do for advice is clutch at the straws you've given us. You should have someone read your story. They'll have a fresh look at something you've probably read too many times, and they may be able to see things you're missing.

I guess I’ll have to figure out the volunteer editor thing. I never bothered to do that before because I write a lot in my real life and didn’t feel like I needed grammar help, etc. I also never expected I’d get rejected for a story that is not as hardcore as others I’ve read here and get accused of including content I definitely didn’t include, but here we are.

If there are any of the editors reading this who can walk me through it and want to read the story, feel free to message me. Otherwise I’ll just find the instructions on here and figure it out. Sigh.

 

[NotWise]

I guess I’ll have to figure out the volunteer editor thing. I never bothered to do that before because I write a lot in my real life and didn’t feel like I needed grammar help, etc. I also never expected I’d get rejected for a story that is not as hardcore as others I’ve read here and get accused of including content I definitely didn’t include, but here we are.

If there are any of the editors reading this who can walk me through it and want to read the story, feel free to message me. Otherwise I’ll just find the instructions on here and figure it out. Sigh.

It isn't really an editor you need. It's a beta reader who understands the problem.

 

[TexasKatie]

The prohibition on underage is pretty wide. If a character brings up anything that happened before 18 in too much detail, it will get bounced. If you've been popped, resubmitted with a note, and got popped again, there's something in there Laurel believes is over the line.

And, NotWise says exactly what I was going to type next. You're probably at a stage where someone who has a reasonable grasp of how Laurel adjudicates this rule is probably going to need to read it and give you an idea of what's causing the rejection. Lord knows I'm not writing anything at the moment in my slump, so if you want to send a PM to find a way to exchange the document, I'm open to giving it a read.

I really wish they had a way to copy and paste whatever text is triggering the rejection, sigh.

If you really don’t mind reading it I’ll absolutely take you up on your offer. I think I can just copy and paste the text in messages. It’s a bit long so will take a little bit but I’ll send it along shortly. Thank you!

 

[Britva415]

Just based on what I’m reading in this thread, it sounds to me like even though people are over 18 and the disclaimer makes that clear, the 18-year old character is kind of infantilized and the story leans into the whole “highschool” element.

This does get stories rejected, because it appears (to the site’s story reviewer) like an author who does this really is trying to get a teenybopper story which sexualizes excessively youthful girls past the “technical requirement” of maturity which the site requires by simply making the teeny teen teener be a hair over 18. They don’t like that.

Maybe just don’t lean so heavily into the tiny plaid skirts and all the other trappings of sexualized highschool, and any other “code” for fresh underage yet slutty teenies which may be in your story, and a gangbang with an 18 year old could be accepted.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Do we REALLY have to do this thread every day or so?

Stay away from school ... period. Drop the uniform gig.

 

[PennyThompson]

You know what's sexy and flirty and fun and a good setting for discovery and exploration, but not inherently sexualizing of minors? College

It can still have gyms and sports teams and cheerleaders and coaches if that's what you're into, plus the added opportunities that shared dorm rooms provide!

 

[ronde]

Do we REALLY have to do this thread every day or so?

Stay away from school ... period. Drop the uniform gig.

I agree. The two words "high school" imply underage because in the US anyway, most seniors don't turn 18 until near graduation or after they graduate.

The OP probably didn't intend to imply that a character is under 18, but I've read similar threads where it's pretty obvious the writer is attempting to slither around the under 18 rule by implication. The way out is to set the timing in college.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

It’s a private school and that short plaid skirt is part of the plot, in ways that I’m sure y’all can imagine

There’s also a bit where the coach has taken over uniform orders from the assistant principal and he and other male teachers alter the orders for the hot senior girls once they turn 18. The main character can’t figure out why her skirt is so short and her shirt is too tight too.

I could rewrite it for college but would have to eliminate all the uniform stuff

Yes, we know exactly what you're imagining.

 

[TheLobster]

You know what's sexy and flirty and fun and a good setting for discovery and exploration, but not inherently sexualizing of minors? College

High school doesn't have to be inherently sexualizing to minors. Here on Lit, it's often a good venue to put your I/T characters in, for example, because it ensures they'll most likely still be living at home. You just have to make them go through a very eventful senior year

But yes, in this case it's pretty clear OP is playing off of slutty schoolgirl stereotype and it's raising all sorts of flags with Laurel.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

High school doesn't have to be inherently sexualizing to minors. Here on Lit, it's often a good venue to put your I/T characters in, for example, because it ensures they'll most likely still be living at home. You just have to make them go through a very eventful senior year

But yes, in this case it's pretty clear OP is playing off of slutty schoolgirl stereotype and it's raising all sorts of flags with Laurel.

My I/T characters have just returned form a couple of years at college, or a stint in the military, or a world tour after school .....

They live at home while trying to readjust to their community and find jobs to be able to afford to move out.

 

[TexasKatie]

geez ok, this is all honestly very surprising because I've lost track of how many stories I've read here set in high school, with uniforms, short skirts, etc. I've seen stories here with a female student being order by a dom teacher to wear ruffled panties like toddlers wear, or onesie pajamas with a flap open to their bottom. THAT is sexualizing youth imho, I'm absolutely not into that, but a young adult wearing a short skirt is a very different thing.

have they gotten stricter? if the moderators really are being crazy strict now about high school settings or uniforms, they should update the FAQ so people don't waste time writing for a site that is never going to approve the story even though the characters are legal adults

 

[TheLobster]

My I/T characters have just returned form a couple of years at college, or a stint in the military, or a world tour after school .....

They live at home while trying to readjust to their community and find jobs to be able to afford to move out.

This works too, especially for longer stories. Another option is pack some action into those summer and winter breaks if you're looking for a self-contained plot line. (Worked for both my ND and Xmas contest entries last year).