Story taken down... Disappointing.

[Narg]

So I wrote and submitted a story. A silly porn story about female characters from different TV shows, games and books in a game where they have to fuck each other for points.

It was by far my most viewed and most Favorited story, and my first red H. It may have been just a silly porn story, but I was proud of it, and judging by the comments people left, they liked it too. "I can't wait for the next chapter!" said one. "This may be my new favorite series," said another. "You've captured the essence of these character's very well," said a third.

I knew some people wanted more chapters, and I was only too happy to write them. I sat down and churned out a second chapter, submitted it, and then began a third. The story was called "Lust Island Ch. 01" by the way.

But then the hammer fell.

My story was taken down because apparently, non-consent stories about copyrighted characters are against the rules. Which is fair enough. But if my story was against the rules, then why the FUCK did it get accepted in the first place? All those people who read my story are going to be disappointed now, PLUS I wasted a bunch of time writing more chapters for a story that won't be approved. GAAAAAH!

But that's still my fault, because I didn't read the rules, right? Well, I've looked through the submission guidelines and the FAQ and for the life of me I cannot find where it says I can't write non-consent stories about copyrighted characters! Honestly, I'm probably just overlooking it, but if someone could let me know exactly where that rule is, I would be very grateful.

Anyway, I revised my story so that the characters are given the choice whether or not to participate in the game and all the sex that it entails at the beginning. I figured this way I could make the story not "Non-consent" without removing ALL the elements of non-consent. I mean, surely, the story can't be considered "Non-consent" if there is EXPLICIT CONSENT.

But no dice. The story was rejected again.

I am currently trying removing the "forced" tag in case there is some robot that is automatically rejecting stories in the Celebrities category with the forced tag. I doubt this is the case. My story will most likely be rejected again. If it is, I'll just post it somewhere else, probably AdultFanFiction.net.

I am loathe to do this though, because A) AFF.net has EXTREMELY LOW STANDARDS and B) most of the stuff on AFF.net is yaoi and slash. Which is fine if that's what you're into, but I just don't want my story to get buried under an avalanche of gay shit.

Anyway, I'm very disappointed.

 

[Darkniciad]

To the best of my knowledge, this is a recent rule change ( as in, the last couple of years at most )

And - no - it isn't a written rule that you can learn about in advance. The only way you know about this one is through rejection notices or people bringing it up here when they get one.

As to pulling the story after posting, Laurel speed-reads to approve around 70 stories a night, and things slip through the cracks. When you put in Ch. 02, she must have noticed the content issue, went back to check Ch. 01, and pulled it.

Changing tags isn't going to do the trick. If it's a story with non-con and characters from some already established fiction, it's not going to get posted. At best, you'll have it go through the queue by slipping through the cracks again. Then, if someone reports the story, it will just get rejected after the fact again.

A blanket consent to the game probably won't work, either. It depends upon how each scenario plays out, I'm sure.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

To the best of my knowledge, this is a recent rule change ( as in, the last couple of years at most )

And - no - it isn't a written rule that you can learn about in advance. The only way you know about this one is through rejection notices or people bringing it up here when they get one.

As to pulling the story after posting, Laurel speed-reads to approve around 70 stories a night, and things slip through the cracks. When you put in Ch. 02, she must have noticed the content issue, went back to check Ch. 01, and pulled it.

Changing tags isn't going to do the trick. If it's a story with non-con and characters from some already established fiction, it's not going to get posted. At best, you'll have it go through the queue by slipping through the cracks again. Then, if someone reports the story, it will just get rejected after the fact again.

A blanket consent to the game probably won't work, either. It depends upon how each scenario plays out, I'm sure.

It isn't new. I had a story in 2005 rejected for this.

 

[Darkniciad]

It isn't new. I had a story in 2005 rejected for this.

Wow. Then there are a LOT of stories of this nature that have slipped through the cracks. I've seen several tales where I would think that the title and tagline should give it away as non-con -- let alone the content of the story.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Wow. Then there are a LOT of stories of this nature that have slipped through the cracks. I've seen several tales where I would think that the title and tagline should give it away as non-con -- let alone the content of the story.

Let me rethink this (as I remember new information ). I was told I couldn't have RAPE in a celebrity story. I switched around the tags and everything passed. Maybe it will get taken down as well. I don't know.

 

[Darkniciad]

Let me rethink this (as I remember new information ). I was told I couldn't have RAPE in a celebrity story. I switched around the tags and everything passed. Maybe it will get taken down as well. I don't know.

It may be that Laurel has raised the bar of what she considers non-con/rape with respect to that category in the last couple of years. I assumed it was a relatively new rule because of those stories I saw that were obviously non-con in the Celeb category, and a spike in people complaining about that specific rejection notice.

Whatever the case, it certainly appears that nothing that's even remotely non-con will get through in the Celeb category now, except by accident.

( Several of the complaints I've seen were stories where it was the standard "starts non-consent but ends up loving it" that passes all the time in the Non-Con category )

 

[laptopwriter]

It appears I'm not the only one with concerns on this site.

It can certainly see why the author of this thread would be upset; my advice would be to submit the story to SOL; it has many of the same readers.

I have had a ton of problems trying to submit a story to this site. I read the guide lines and submitted the first chapter of my story using one of the three formats suggested in the guide lines...only to have a notation pop up saying their, 'Robot,' did not accept that format; then why include it in the guide lines? So I submitted it again using a different format but one included in the guide lines...guess what? yep, same thing. So I wrote on the bulletin board asking for help. I was told to copy and paste the story, so I did. I checked the copy and everything appeared to be fine at the time of submission.

After waiting 6 days, I received a reject notice saying my story ended in the middle of a sentence...no it didn't. When I checked again I found 2/3 of the story had dropped off into the abyss somewhere.

I'm beginning to think this site has it out for me!

So, I have resubmitted my story using a .docx format, (and received the same notation) but I am told it will work it just takes longer...longer...really?

I have submitted stories to Smashwords, Amazon, SOL, and several other sites with no trouble at all. I feel for this gentleman but I take comfort in knowing I'm not the only one having problems here.

 

[TxRad]

It can certainly see why the author of this thread would be upset; my advice would be to submit the story to SOL; it has many of the same readers.

I have had a ton of problems trying to submit a story to this site. I read the guide lines and submitted the first chapter of my story using one of the three formats suggested in the guide lines...only to have a notation pop up saying their, 'Robot,' did not accept that format; then why include it in the guide lines? So I submitted it again using a different format but one included in the guide lines...guess what? yep, same thing. So I wrote on the bulletin board asking for help. I was told to copy and paste the story, so I did. I checked the copy and everything appeared to be fine at the time of submission.

After waiting 6 days, I received a reject notice saying my story ended in the middle of a sentence...no it didn't. When I checked again I found 2/3 of the story had dropped off into the abyss somewhere.

I'm beginning to think this site has it out for me!

So, I have resubmitted my story using a .docx format, (and received the same notation) but I am told it will work it just takes longer...longer...really?

I have submitted stories to Smashwords, Amazon, SOL, and several other sites with no trouble at all. I feel for this gentleman but I take comfort in knowing I'm not the only one having problems here.

As you were told in the other thread, save your story using the .doc format in word and submit it that way. You'll also find that if you submit a .docx format to any major publishing house it will also be rejected as they use the older versions of word.

 

[sr71plt]

I have had a ton of problems trying to submit a story to this site. I read the guide lines and submitted the first chapter of my story using one of the three formats suggested in the guide lines...only to have a notation pop up saying their, 'Robot,' did not accept that format; then why include it in the guide lines?

Were you playing book designer and trying to submit with all sorts of styling bells and whistles? I've submitted over 600 stories to Lit. simply by not putting any styling in them at all, coding the italics myself, and cut and pasting into the submissions box provided--and none have been rejected for formatting errors. It sounds like maybe you were trying to be a book designer more than a writer.

 

[laptopwriter]

Yes, I also submitted using .doc

In the 97 format and got the exact same message.
No, I don't think I was trying to design a book; as I stated in the other thread, in the first chapter of my story I used italics in several places. Rarely do I do that but in this case I felt it was needed. I took every one's advice and used the italic off set tags before and after each phrase then submitted using copy and paste.

After submitting, I checked and everything appeared to be fine. After six days, as I said, it was rejected saying the story ended in the middle of a sentence. When I re-checked my submission I found most of it had disappeared.

 

[sr71plt]

If you previewed it before the original submission through copy and paste and it was all there but it was rejected as not all there, I'd try it again--previewing it again to ensure it was all there--with a note on it to Laurel concerning the problem you had originally. It would seem to have been a computer glitch. I can't be occurring frequently or it would have bitten me by now.

 

[laptopwriter]

Thanks,

I actually re-submitted it using a .RTF format with a note asking that they maintain the italics. It's already been pending for the last couple days so I'll just leave it for now and hope for the best. I'm sure you're right about the computer glitch, I have used that method before for other sites with no problems.

The italics are only in the first chapter, the remaining 3 chapters have just straight text and I will submit as a .doc file so I shouldn't have any problems after that one goes through...I hope.

 

[sr71plt]

Again, *sigh*, if you just cut and paste the text into the submissions box, it doesn't matter what extension you put on the file.

 

[PennLady]

Again, *sigh*, if you just cut and paste the text into the submissions box, it doesn't matter what extension you put on the file.

Yep. I submitted a file the first couple of times, but this is so much easier. Plus you get to preview the story before you submit, to find any formatting or other errors, which you can't do with a file.

 

[DG Hear]

Yep. I submitted a file the first couple of times, but this is so much easier. Plus you get to preview the story before you submit, to find any formatting or other errors, which you can't do with a file.

I've only cut and paste. Don't even know the other way and don't want to learn. If something works, I don't try and fix it. LOL
DG

 

[NaokoSmith]

I paste in the submissions box if there are no italics, emboldenments, etc in my document. If there is anything in italics, I upload as an RTF file (as instructed, I don't think they list Word as a kind of file they are willing to take). In the comments box, I put a list of which phrases have gone into italics in case they need it. It takes a bit longer that way but I have no idea how to do italics as a coded thingy in the submissions box (LOL, MILF moment there) and I'm happy to wait a little while.

 

[PennLady]

I paste in the submissions box if there are no italics, emboldenments, etc in my document. If there is anything in italics, I upload as an RTF file (as instructed, I don't think they list Word as a kind of file they are willing to take). In the comments box, I put a list of which phrases have gone into italics in case they need it. It takes a bit longer that way but I have no idea how to do italics as a coded thingy in the submissions box (LOL, MILF moment there) and I'm happy to wait a little while.

Naoko, you can still do the formatting, you just need to put HTML tags around the text. For italics, use <i> and </i> around the text; for bold, <b> and </b>. I put these in as I type, along with the actual formatting. It really is so much easier all around. Then when I'm ready, I just copy the text in the document and when I paste it, the actual formatting is gone but the tags are there to preserve it in the submission.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Naoko, you can still do the formatting, you just need to put HTML tags around the text. For italics, use <i> and </i> around the text; for bold, <b> and </b>. I put these in as I type, along with the actual formatting. It really is so much easier all around. Then when I'm ready, I just copy the text in the document and when I paste it, the actual formatting is gone but the tags are there to preserve it in the submission.

! Thank you for that.


I learn all sorts in here. In fact I am about to grout my own bathtub, after the inspiring success I had sorting out the wishy washy wiper water bottle in the car under HP's tuition.