..describe early lost virginity?

[dc25]

Are we aloud to have a character in a story talk about losing their virginity before they were 18? I assume not but I figured I'd ask. Can we allude to it or what? I would like to do a little backstory on one of my characters whose 18 and has obviously had sex before. Just wondering how to go about it.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

- DC

 

[SweetErika]

It seems to depend on which editor happens to handle your story, but in general, your best bet is going to avoid any details. You can usually allude to it or say something like "when she lost her virginity with her first boyfriend" (you might be able to get away with "...a few years ago" or "...when she was a junior"), but you generally want to avoid mentioning any ages under 18 in relation to sex (so, no "...when she was 15"), just to be safe. Some editors will let that kind of thing by if there are no details, but others seem to be very strict, and reject anything that specifies ages or doesn't explicitly state the story is taking place when the characters are 18+.

Do you have a volunteer editor? If not, I'd suggest getting one by posting in the Editors Forum. Most are very good about finding work-arounds and catching mistakes (e.g. 'aloud' for 'allowed' ).

 

[dc25]

It seems to depend on which editor happens to handle your story, but in general, your best bet is going to avoid any details. You can usually allude to it or say something like "when she lost her virginity with her first boyfriend" (you might be able to get away with "...a few years ago" or "...when she was a junior"), but you generally want to avoid mentioning any ages under 18 in relation to sex (so, no "...when she was 15"), just to be safe. Some editors will let that kind of thing by if there are no details, but others seem to be very strict, and reject anything that specifies ages or doesn't explicitly state the story is taking place when the characters are 18+.

Do you have a volunteer editor? If not, I'd suggest getting one by posting in the Editors Forum. Most are very good about finding work-arounds and catching mistakes (e.g. 'aloud' for 'allowed' ).

Haha, good catch! Do you want to volunteer? I don't have an editor as of yet but I'll go apply for one now as it's a pain looking for all those mistakes yourself! If someone wants to find them for free that's fine with me.

I think what I'm going to do is just summarize what the character says and not give any details. Then just give the characters thoughts about it without any specifics. Like 'can you believe that?', etc. etc. Seems the safest way. Thanks for the reply!

 

[mjl2010]

Haha, good catch! Do you want to volunteer? I don't have an editor as of yet but I'll go apply for one now as it's a pain looking for all those mistakes yourself! If someone wants to find them for free that's fine with me.

I think what I'm going to do is just summarize what the character says and not give any details. Then just give the characters thoughts about it without any specifics. Like 'can you believe that?', etc. etc. Seems the safest way. Thanks for the reply!

I hope you're being tongue-in-cheek. You need to spend a fair amount of time getting your story as close to perfect as you can. These people volunteer their time, they don't want it wasted.

MJL

 

[Weird Harold]

Are we aloud to have a character in a story talk about losing their virginity before they were 18? I assume not but I figured I'd ask. Can we allude to it or what? I would like to do a little backstory on one of my characters whose 18 and has obviously had sex before. Just wondering how to go about it.

The rule is generally applied as no descriptions of sex involving underage persons and no depictions of underage persons having sex.

Your characters don't have to be virgins until they're 18 and they can even remember who, what where, when and even vague descriptions of how.

Your character CAN say (or think) something like, "My first time wasn't very good. He was in a hurry to get started and even more of a hurry to finish. If it hadn't hurt so much I would have missed it. but then, what can you expect from a pair of thirteen-year-olds?"

Your (eighteen year-old) character CANNOT say, "My first time wasn't very good. Tommy's thirteen-year-old cock nearly split me in two and then he got cum in my eyes when he tried to pull out before getting me pregnant ten seconds later."

Relevance to the storyline and/or character development is a big factor in how close you can get to explicit. Neither of the examples above would pass if they were non-sequiters that had nothing to do with either the character's current sexuality or the context around it.

 

[dc25]

I hope you're being tongue-in-cheek. You need to spend a fair amount of time getting your story as close to perfect as you can. These people volunteer their time, they don't want it wasted.

MJL

Yes I was being tongue in cheek. Sometimes I have to remember that my sense of humor doesn't always come through over the internet, especially to people who don't even know me!

I have a friend who edits for a living, as well as write, so I'm astounded people give that service away for free on here. It's truly an awesome thing.

 

[Weird Harold]

I have a friend who edits for a living, as well as write, so I'm astounded people give that service away for free on here. It's truly an awesome thing.

You get what you pay for in a lot of cases. The best volunteer editors do it as much as a learning experience for themselves as a teaching experience for the client.

Few of the volunteers are "professional quality" who could make their living from editing, but all of them are at least a second set of eyes to spot errors.

it's a pain looking for all those mistakes yourself!

There are tricks to self-editing that make it less of a pain, but nothing beats another pair of eyes.

Some tricks for self-editing:

Let the work sit untouched for a minimum of a week -- or longer if you have an exceptiona memory. Youhave to let it sit ling enough that you forget the exact words you meant to type so you read and edit what you actualy typed.

Change the type font, font size and/or font color: make your text LOOK different and your eyes will see what is there instead of what your brain says you put there.

Edit out-of-sequence: edit one paragraph at a time from the end to the beginning or from the middle in both directions: make yourself think about the wording and spelling without relying on the context to permit your brain to fill in the gaps where you left words out.

 

[mjl2010]

Yes I was being tongue in cheek. Sometimes I have to remember that my sense of humor doesn't always come through over the internet, especially to people who don't even know me!

I have a friend who edits for a living, as well as write, so I'm astounded people give that service away for free on here. It's truly an awesome thing.

I kind of figured that. I do a little editing here and there. Like Harold said, for the experience and learning it provides me. Nothing worse than getting something that is so rough it can hardly be read. I do one page, send it back and tell them to get cracking.

MJL

 

[KokopelliRises]

What I've found really helps if one is self-editing, or even looking at a friend's work is to read it out loud to yourself. It will usually catch any awkwardly phrased sentences or weirdly worded phrases. Works for me, and my friends know that I can give good editing advice.

I hope that wasn't too off topic.

 

[dc25]

What I've found really helps if one is self-editing, or even looking at a friend's work is to read it out loud to yourself. It will usually catch any awkwardly phrased sentences or weirdly worded phrases. Works for me, and my friends know that I can give good editing advice.

I hope that wasn't too off topic.

Not at all. Thanks for the tip! I'll try it later today.