My Story Has Been Sent Back. Help?

[StillStunned]

Hi all!
So, I’ve had my story sent back twice, and I’m unsure what to do. It’s been edited by a volunteer and actual editor, and it’s still getting rejected. What do I do?

What's the difference between a volunteer and an actual editor? Or are they the same person: a professional editor who did it for free?

 

[Trionyx]

One option is to delete all copies of your story from your computer and wait a few weeks. Then rewrite it. The theme will be the same but your wording will change significantly. Have dialogue reflect how people talk with contractions, incomplete sentences and grammatical errors. Avoid using any editing software or use it very, very sparingly.

I tried to send this to you via the ‘conversation’ envelope icon but your name doesn’t exist in the system. See the note from TheWritingGroup above.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I've seen a lot of these posts mentioning MS Word in one way or another.

Every story that I have ever posted here has been written using MS Word and submitted as an uploaded file.

None have ever been rejected for the use of AI.

Although, my latest submission did get rejected for violating the underage rule. The rejection notice clearly indicated where the infraction (social worker explaining to parents that their 13 year old daughter was accusing a man of masturbating in front of her) was in the story and it was easy enough for me to adjust the scene's wording to correct it.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

We agree that they're garbage.

We disagree that Lit's system is "an ai detector" like this one, the top Google search. These are bullshit and should not be trusted, but if this was the system then statistically speaking most of the AH author pool would have gotten at least one flag. There would be a dozen authors in every event complaining, but that's not happening. It's always new authors, or authors with maybe one submission from 4 years ago.

RR has a point. We know nothing of how truly the submission process works. We have no idea whether Laurel gives the same scrutiny to all authors or whether maybe new authors get special treatment in this sense. Drawing a conclusion based on such an assumption can be just as misleading as you say RR's post is.
On the other hand, as RR said, Laurel confirmed she was using an AI detection tool, and you said it yourself that most of them, if not all, are garbage.
I agree that there is no malice in the website's actions. There is only a profound sense of detachment from authors and even readers to a degree. Once again, I support a firm stance towards AI-generated content, but the way the website is doing it, offering no real guidelines or a way for authors to resolve the issue is definitely something we should criticize.

Having experienced the way the website treats authors in general (again, with no malice, but with profound carelessness) I am hardly surprised to see all those authors posting their frustrations. We should try to sympathize as I truly doubt all of them actually use AI for their stories.