Those under 30 need not apply...

[J0line]

This site has published rules. Every story is fiction. Everyone submitting a story, and every one of the fictional characters in each of the stories submitted must be 18. The age of consent in my jurisdiction is 16. It is 16 (or lower) in Europe, Canada, Japan, most of Latin and South America, and most US states. But the owners have the right to set the rules and I have respected this site's posted rules.

Nothing that I have written could be construed as pertaining to people younger than in their first year of university studies, and while I concur there are a very few who enter college at an age younger than 18, that "exception" if applied to every story in the catalog would decimate it.

I've added IDIOTIC disclaimers to my submissions saying every one of the fictional characters is over 18. I've set stories in bars (no US state has a legal drinking age under 18) and in college where everyone is presumably 18. (A sticky here says "high school seniors are presumed to be 18.") But my submissions, printed exactly as I have written them elsewhere, are consistently rejected here with a BS boilerplate "are there characters under 18" question. My requests to point out WHERE EXACTLY IN THE STORY there is a character under 18 remain unanswered.

I have sent copies of those rejected stories to published authors on this site seeking constructive input. None have said they believed that the stories included underage fictional characters. Most attributed the classification error to overly restrictive story vetting software. Some kindly suggested "losing" words like "virgin," or (college) "freshman," or "sophomore," or "junior."

I took their advice and resubmitted the stories edited as suggested-- although I find those words in many stories published at this site-- but when resubmitted my stories were still rejected.

I know that I am young myself. I'm about to finish my first year of college right now. The stories I have written are based on what I know. I think that I could write from the perspective of a college senior, because I interact with many. But I couldn't write about being a Klingon, a homesteader in Kansas in 1845, or the head of finance for IBM.

 

[SimonDoom]

There must be more to the story, because many, many authors, including me, have written stories about college freshmen that are accepted without any trouble. I don't think your age would have anything to do with it. I doubt those who review the stories even consider the age of the authors as long as they are over 18.

One suggestion would be to include a reference in the body of your story to the fact that the character recently turned 18, and then when you resubmit the story include a disclaimer at the beginning and ALSO write a note to Laurel with the submission that all characters are clearly 18.

And, by the way, being a college freshman shouldn't stop you from writing from any perspective. You're as qualified to write about being a Klingon as anyone else is. With 15 minutes of online research you'd know as much as I do about being a 19th century Kansas homesteader or the head of finance for IBM.

 

[NotWise]

College-age characters won't get your story rejected. I have plenty, and I even have stories with characters who are high school seniors.

Rejections for under-18 content often arise from backstory or any recollection in which you've described sexual thought or behavior in the character's past. They can also come from a selection of words that implies that there may be such under-age recollections in the story. A story can also be rejected if characters behave under-age, but I'm not sure that ever really happens.

The site may be more sensitive to the content of the first few paragraphs than they are to later content. Avoid opening with teasers where the characters may be young or inexperienced.

If the characters are over eighteen and there are no descriptions of sexual thought or behavior from before the character was eighteen, then the next step is to resubmit your story with a note to the editor explaining that there are no under-eighteen characters or relationships in the story. Don't email the site. They won't get it. Don't PM Laurel about the problem. She probably won't answer, and without having a resubmitted copy of your story she can't act on it.

 

[Voboy]

the next step is to resubmit your story with a note to the editor explaining that there are no under-eighteen characters or relationships in the story.

This.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I would follow the above advice, making sure there's no hint of even a sexual thought by anyone under 18, since I had a story rejected for that very reason. I'm not sure if it would help, but in addition to writing a note to the editor explaining there are no characters under the age 18, you might want also to try changing the name of the story after you've made sure you've done all you can to ensure it meets the guidelines.
It was a good story, and you're a talented writer, so I hope it gets published.

 

[lovecraft68]

College-age characters won't get your story rejected. I have plenty, and I even have stories with characters who are high school seniors.

Rejections for under-18 content often arise from backstory or any recollection in which you've described sexual thought or behavior in the character's past. They can also come from a selection of words that implies that there may be such under-age recollections in the story. A story can also be rejected if characters behave under-age, but I'm not sure that ever really happens.

The site may be more sensitive to the content of the first few paragraphs than they are to later content. Avoid opening with teasers where the characters may be young or inexperienced.

If the characters are over eighteen and there are no descriptions of sexual thought or behavior from before the character was eighteen, then the next step is to resubmit your story with a note to the editor explaining that there are no under-eighteen characters or relationships in the story. Don't email the site. They won't get it. Don't PM Laurel about the problem. She probably won't answer, and without having a resubmitted copy of your story she can't act on it.

What I find interesting in the OP's post is that other authors have looked them over and saw nothing. Of course we don't know who, but if its someone who has been around awhile they'd know what you just posted and point it out if they saw it.

The OP has only been a member here since 4/16 of this year and no stories published. They might be getting extra scrutiny from being new maybe?

Issue is the site has made it so its all guess work and the number of threads we get like this shows just how vague and inconsistent everything is, which I feel is deliberate so they can do what they want without being pinned down into any rule with real structure.

I'm sure we're 6 or less posts from someone telling them don't like it, leave.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I just want to mention that I have many stories set in the 1970s when the minimum drinking age in many states was eighteen. That included New York State, where many of the stories occur.

I often include some note, either in the text or above it, mentioning the lower age limit back then. I do that because some if not most younger readers probably have no idea of what it was like back then and may think I'm making an error by having a character in, say, a bar. We'll certainly never see that come back anytime soon.

 

[NotWise]

Issue is the site has made it so its all guess work and the number of threads we get like this shows just how vague and inconsistent everything is, which I feel is deliberate so they can do what they want without being pinned down into any rule with real structure.

I think the real rule is that Laurel won't publish what Laurel doesn't want to publish. All those other things that look like rules aren't really rules. They're guidelines to help us understand where and when she might put her foot down.

 

[Voboy]

I just want to mention that I have many stories set in the 1970s when the minimum drinking age in many states was eighteen. That included New York State, where many of the stories occur.

I often include some note, either in the text or above it, mentioning the lower age limit back then. I do that because some if not most younger readers probably have no idea of what it was like back then and may think I'm making an error by having a character in, say, a bar. We'll certainly never see that come back anytime soon.

My characters drink under 21 all the time. They do a bunch of drugs, too, at all ages. That's not going to get a story kicked back.

Without reading the OP's story, I'd guess it might be a misunderstanding of some reference to prior sexual activity.

 

[KeithD]

College-age characters won't get your story rejected. I have plenty,

Ditto here. Without fuller information there doesn't seem to be any possible help from the discussion board.

 

[oggbashan]

UK drinking age limits:

If you’re under 18, it’s against the law:

• for someone to sell you alcohol
• to buy or try to buy alcohol
• for an adult to buy or try to buy alcohol for you
• to drink alcohol in licensed premises (such as a pub or restaurant)

However, if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal.

If you’re 16 or under, you may be able to go to a pub (or premises primarily used to sell alcohol) if you’re accompanied by an adult. However, this isn’t always the case. It can also depend on the specific conditions for that premises.

It’s illegal to give alcohol to children under 5.

When I was young, gripe water was given to babies who had stomach upsets. That was usually 30% alcohol - now illegal!

 

[KeithD]

Which is all irrelevant to posting at Literotica and helps to cause this topic just to circle around and around and around here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My characters drink under 21 all the time. They do a bunch of drugs, too, at all ages. That's not going to get a story kicked back.

Without reading the OP's story, I'd guess it might be a misunderstanding of some reference to prior sexual activity.

Agree. Legal drinking ages have got nothing to do with it, just as legal ages of consent are always irrelevant. There must be some use of language which is tripping up a text bot, that the OP needs to wade through and find.

As an aside, when replying to queries like this, folk should stop going on about this law or that law, because that's misleading to newbies. It is ALWAYS something in the content that is tripping the submission up, it's never to do with any state or country's law.

These rejections are always about something in the words, often something subtle, often only a phrase or a sentence. The OPs need to think outside their story, think like a computer. They're up against a text bot, I'm sure, not a set of human eyes. And they're not up against any law.

It's in the words, read them more closely!

 

[windar]

This site will post any story that involves incest or wife swapping. Add in a scene in which one of the undergrad's parents show up. Have him fuck his mom along with all his football teammates (many of them Black), while Dad watches. Story will appear within 24 hours guaranteed...

 

[J0line]

UK drinking age limits:

If you’re under 18, it’s against the law:

• for someone to sell you alcohol
• to buy or try to buy alcohol
• for an adult to buy or try to buy alcohol for you
• to drink alcohol in licensed premises (such as a pub or restaurant)

However, if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal.

At least four US states have similar laws. You cannot "buy" unless 21, and cannot consume unless 17 or 18. In two of those four states the purchaser must also be your legal guardian. (Which is self-contradictory for 18 year-olds.)

 

[J0line]

The OP has only been a member here since 4/16 of this year and no stories published...

Five stories submitted, five rejected, three of those rejected a second time. All five posted as written elsewhere.

 

[windar]

Five stories submitted, five rejected, three of those rejected a second time. All five posted as written elsewhere.

May I ask why you want to post them here? It hardly seems worth the effort. The pay here sucks...

 

[Comshaw]

Five stories submitted, five rejected, three of those rejected a second time. All five posted as written elsewhere.

I'm not sure which authors you asked to look at your stories, but there are a number in this thread who have been around a very long time and have oodles and gobs of stories posted. My advice? Ask one of them to review one of your rejected stories. I'm sure one of them will and maybe be able to figure out the problem.


Comshaw

 

[TheRedChamber]

As others have said it's hard to work out what might be causing the problem without seeing them and we can't see them until they're published. I did have a quick Google to see if I couldl see the stories elsewhere but with no luck.

However, five stories all rejected suggests you must be doing something wrong. I've had university age students in a few stories and I never put an 'over 18 disclaimer' at the top, I rarely specify their actual age and just have phrases like 'since graduation from high school...' or 'he was enjoying his first year at university...'. Word like 'virgin' definitely won't trigger a refusal because there's a whole catagory here dedicated to first times (which obviously must occur after the age of 18 by the sites own rules). I don't see why freshman etc would trigger anything either as it actually demonstrates the character is over 18 (at least almost always).

The other thing that I haven't seen mentioned in the thread already is that the site doesn't like what you might call 'nudge,nudge,wink,wink' over 18s. That is to say, if you describe your magic fairy girl as being a thousand years old but then describe her physical appearance and behaviour in a way that makes her sound prepubesant, you're going to hit a wall. For five stories being rejected, maybe your stories are being looked at closely and someone is reading it as sounding more like a high-school than a university (just a guess.)

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

I once had a story rejected for underage. Everybody in this story was over 40. I realized that there was a reference to a character with Pigtails and braces. That character was actually a cartoon character that a mom was talking about.. Once I copied and pasted the relevant section into the notes field the story passed without a problem.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My characters drink under 21 all the time. They do a bunch of drugs, too, at all ages. That's not going to get a story kicked back.

Without reading the OP's story, I'd guess it might be a misunderstanding of some reference to prior sexual activity.

I'm not worried that the story will be kicked back. I'm just concerned that younger readers may not realize that there were different laws back then. And I'm just guessing; I don't really know what younger people know and don't know. I have met some people who are nearly clueless about anything that happened before they were born.

 

[J0line]

"Sometimes I sit and wonder about stuff I do not know
Like what the Earth was like 100 years ago.
Did cavemen ride on dinosaurs?
Did flowers even grow?
Did spiders rule the earth?
Were deserts filled with snow?
There were no books or humans so how are we to know
What life was like 100 years ago."

---Jeff Kinney (as Roderick Heffley)

 

[J0line]

May I ask why you want to post them here? It hardly seems worth the effort. The pay here sucks...

Honestly at this point I don't know. At first it was because this site's name is eponymous-- or should I say synonymous with literary eroticia. Now, I guess I'm trying to make sure it is not me.

 

[windar]

Honestly at this point I don't know. At first it was because this site's name is eponymous-- or should I say synonymous with literary eroticia. Now, I guess I'm trying to make sure it is not me.

I have stories on a number of sites, both free and pay. Lit is by far the biggest pain in the ass of all of them.

And it it's accepted here, your story easily gets lost in a flood of others. The comments are few and not particularly enlightening. The management is distant and opaque. Sure, there are a lot of viewers, but there are also 500,000 stories and if yours doesn't have a guy fucking his Mom or sharing his wife, the views your story will get are not significantly better than elsewhere in my experience.

Quite honestly it's no great honor or thrill to post here so why beat your head against a brick wall?

 

[J0line]

....The site doesn't like what you might call 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink' over 18s. That is to say, if you describe your magic fairy girl as being a thousand years old but then describe her physical appearance and behaviour in a way that makes her sound prepubesant, you're going to hit a wall. For five stories being rejected, maybe your stories are being looked at closely and someone is reading it as sounding more like a high-school than a university (just a guess.)

That is the opposite of what I am seeking to do. For those I grew up with in real life high school was a place without real responsibilities, parents made sure you had clothes, food, enough sleep, and transport to school if the school did not provide it. Then the school told you what to study, what sports to play, and what extracurricular activities to engage in. Then they told you what the benchmarks for success in all three were.

Then the next year you are in college. Some schools have freshmen dorms, but mine does not and it doesn't have a curfew. There is a no alcohol in the dorms POLICY, but the legal drinking age is 18, so it's handled in house if it were ever enforced. (I think the policy exists so if you fall down the stairs and break your neck while drunk they can say it isn't their fault. If you fall down the stairs sober they might pour half a pint of Vodka on you.)

If you want to stay up all night, and not go to class, or never finish an assignment-- you are an adult.

Maybe it's a part of life that is only interesting to me. But to me it's where people are out on their own for the first time and they have to make their own decisions. They don't have to do what their parents, grandparents, or minister want them to do. If they don't like a professor they can just drop the class after five minutes. They have the ability to make their own decisions. But they do have to face the consequences of their decisions.

OTOH: This site has a whole series where the "18 and over high school" has officially set up a room where daughters can nurse on their father's cocks at lunchtime. (I found it googling "Literotica high school senior")