Thinking of Submitting My Story, But Stuck on the Age Issue

[Bramblethorn]

Maybe Lit shouldn't have content rules.

If Lit didn't have content rules, it wouldn't exist. At least two other sites have been taken down and their operators jailed because of the content of the stories they hosted.

https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca11/13-14350/1118331399/0.pdf
https://infosecurity-magazine.com/news/mr-doubles-operator-jailed/

The writer must stay true to their vision and stay true to their ideas. Without that we have nothing real to ground our work. We're not performing monkeys set out to please other people.

Sure, but equally, other people aren't obliged to risk prosecution to provide us with a platform to publish whatever our muse has to offer.

 

[Audiflex]

Hey guys, thinking about submitting my story here, but it’s in another language. I used AI to translate it into English and made sure the phrases make sense for English speakers since some didn’t quite work.

The thing is, my story has characters under 18, which I know is against the rules here. I’m wondering if I should just change their ages, but that would mean changing a lot of other stuff—like their school, college, jobs, etc. There are a lot of characters, but only three are underage.

What do you think? I’m kinda not in the mood to go through all that, so I’m just looking for some opinions.

Age-up the under 18 characters to meet site rules, no exceptions. Even small tweaks (like making them college freshmen instead of high schoolers) can work without a full rewrite. But if you’re not feeling it, maybe shelve this story and write something new that fits the guidelines. Better safe than banned!

 

[Audiflex]

Follow your intuition, your gut, and the context. If something is starting to sound way too formal, you may have to switch a few words here and there... I mean, you may need to write a few vignettes and practice a little until you find your style.

However, there are more words than the filthy or scientific ones. John Cleland and Marquis de Sade proved that you can come up with so many creative euphemisms for genitals. Sure, it may end up sounding silly at the end of the day (Cleland does sound silly, but de Sade's sillyness makes it a bit creepier, but also humorous, depending on how dark your humor is), but if you're really struggling with using the typical words, you might want to consider thinking outside of the box.

My spartan way to deal with that issue is that everything that I do takes place in a fictional(ized) place/world/universe, where the dialect is more of a merge of a bunch of different cultures, and this is especially noticeable in my stories that are neon-noir. Characters may sound American, but it could come as a shock for them to use kiwi expressions, suddenly borrow words from another language (something that the Filipino does), or outright do literal translations from idioms taken from another language and then put in English. This is largely because I come from the Blade Runner-esque Cyberpunk genre, and cityspeak is one of the things that really stuck with me.

Sounds like you’ve got a really creative approach to language and world-building! Mixing dialects and cultural influences like that can add a lot of depth to a story. And yeah, euphemisms can be a fun way to play with tone whether you're going for silly, dark, or something in between. Cleland and de Sade definitely proved that creativity knows no bounds when it comes to, well… descriptive phrasing.