Pending Stories

[PenumbralVision]

So I wake up this morning and find another rejection in my inbox- but this time it’s for a story I wrote as a test, to see if it didn’t get caught for AI issues. This was the new reason for rejection:



Now, I’ve checked the story and I’ve conformed to the guidelines.

So I am now at a loss as to why this rejected.

It is beginning to feel like any excuse to prevent any kind of publication right now. It started with “use of the word sample” in the title. Then it was AI. Now it’s about dialogue - except it wasn’t.

That's bizarre... Have you tried asking an experienced member with recent publications to take a look at it? Maybe there are some opaque rules/guidelines about dialogue.

First, I had the suspicion that submitting too many stories at once or within a few days triggers some kind of automated A.I alarm, but after realizing that there are authors whose 750 word stories get published practically daily, that theory crumbled as well

 

[STrent]

That's bizarre... Have you tried asking an experienced member with recent publications to take a look at it? Maybe there are some opaque rules/guidelines about dialogue.

First, I had the suspicion that submitting too many stories at once or within a few days triggers some kind of automated A.I alarm, but after realizing that there are authors whose 750 word stories get published practically daily, that theory crumbled as well

I have tried reaching out to a few editors but they have a lot going on I think to deal with a “newb”. It’s been really frustrating.

 

[SamBomb]

So, I spent a week. Rewrote a bunch of my story, took it in 500 word chunks and threw it into AI Detection, which said it was all likely human. Changed some of the robotic sentences that I could and re-submitted.

It's really my last ditch effort, let's see how it goes.

 

[STrent]

So, I spent a week. Rewrote a bunch of my story, took it in 500 word chunks and threw it into AI Detection, which said it was all likely human. Changed some of the robotic sentences that I could and re-submitted.

It's really my last ditch effort, let's see how it goes.

Fingers crossed!

 

[STrent]

Yet another rejection, this time for the below:

Dear Writer,

Thank you for your submission to Literotica. We appreciate the time and effort you've taken to write a story and submit it to our site . However, we've found that we cannot post your submission in its current form. The checklist below may help you in re-examining your manuscript.​

• Please fix the formatting of your dialogue. The essay "How to Make Characters Talk" in our Writer's Resources section has more information on the formatting of dialogue if you have further questions: https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-make-characters-talk

Please feel free to re-submit the story after a Volunteer Editor has examined it, or after you've made revisions. You can find a list of Volunteer Editors here.

Please consult our Writer's Resources section and make sure you read our submission guidelines.
If you have any questions on these, please let us know.

Thanks for your time, and look forward to reading you again!

Laurel & Manu
Literotica.Com​

Here’s the guidelines:

https://www.literotica.com/s/dialogue-this

Here’s a sample from said guidelines:

"You know...that's amazing," Taylor murmured, "but it'd be even better if you did that thing..."

Robin grinned.

"What thing?"

"Remember the log cabin?"

"Oh yeah." He looked at Taylor's round arse cheeks and thought of how they'd marbled to red and pink. "I remember."

Here’s a sample of my work:

"Why aren't we having this meeting with Annika?" Peta asked. "She will want to know when the treatment will start".

The consultant took off her glasses, and looked at Peta carefully. "Ms Fernsands, this is your husband, yes?"

"Divorced", Hans said.

"Okay", the consultant said. "Divorced. Fine. But you have been together since...?"

"On and off since we were twenty-one", Peta said.

I literally conform exactly to the standard being quoted.

I’ve sent it back with a note quoting the standard.

I’ve now messaged @Laurel for the 7th time in six weeks (with no reply) with the below:

Good afternoon Laurel,

You have rejected my story “Bone Dry, Bone Marrow” for dialogue issues, and I have responded by quoting the standard on dialogue, which I exactly conform to by way of a comparison between two settts of dialogue.

I think you have unfairly rejected that last story and would urge you to review it.

Best wishes Strent

I have seen far worse examples of stories with dialogue issues get published, daily. This is getting to feel like I am simply being blocked from publishing.

 

[StillStunned]

Your commas should be inside the quotation marks, but that's a fairly trivial complaint.

 

[STrent]

Your commas should be inside the quotation marks, but that's a fairly trivial complaint.

Perfectly acceptable in British English and both interpretations of the quotation marks/commas/full stops are accepted for publication elsewhere. There’s far worse that has been published on Literotica, literally today.

 

[TakeItOrLeaveIt]

There’s far worse that has been published on Literotica, literally today.

Based on your extract, it does seem odd. As @StillStunned says, some of your punctuation falls outside of the inverted commas - but to reject on that basis is - imo - really, really harsh.

I'm way too new and too inexperienced with this site to offer any advice that might be either meaningful or helpful - but I do sincerely hope that you are able to resolve this. Based on the above, I've no idea what is going on... Other than to say that it does seem terribly strange.

And I agree, I've read a slew of works on this site that should get nowhere near publication based on want appears to be a very dogmatic application of a narrowly designed house style.

 

[STrent]

What is insanely irritating is just quoting the guideline without any kind of example as to why I am falling foul. I don’t believe the quotation mark issue is actually an issue - it’s a different and acceptable stylistic choice in the real world.

Absolutely demoralising.

 

[SamBomb]

Yet another rejection, this time for the below:



Here’s the guidelines:



Here’s a sample from said guidelines:



Here’s a sample of my work:



I literally conform exactly to the standard being quoted.

I’ve sent it back with a note quoting the standard.

I’ve now messaged @Laurel for the 7th time in six weeks (with no reply) with the below:



I have seen far worse examples of stories with dialogue issues get published, daily. This is getting to feel like I am simply being blocked from publishing.

This is the one I got last time!

 

[STrent]

This is the one I got last time!

Any luck yet?

 

[STrent]

Just got my fourth AI rejection for Part 5 of this story and my twelfth AI rejection across this story.

I don't know if I can keep fighting this. I've followed every instruction, every guideline, every suggestion, and it's not working. This has been going on for months and I can't keep doing this.

I’ve now had a total of 24 rejections, 22 for AI and 2 for dialogue now.

Agree this can’t continue ad infinitum. Laurel not responding to PMs is also an issue - I’ve sent enough polite follow up PMs, but no response.

I will see how the this final batch of stories go in terms of acceptance, and if I still don’t get one through, I think that’s me done. A real pity.

 

[MillieDynamite]

There are several sites that you can post on. Sorry for your issues! I've discovered this isn't a fun thing to have happen to you.

I've given up on the polite replies - they're not working. At this point, I don't care if it gets me kicked off Lit, I've had enough. Might see if there is anywhere else I can post this story since it's clearly not wanted here - ironic given I've signed onto be a creator on a different website (although they don't allow erotica).

 

[PenumbralVision]

What is insanely irritating is just quoting the guideline without any kind of example as to why I am falling foul. I don’t believe the quotation mark issue is actually an issue - it’s a different and acceptable stylistic choice in the real world.

Absolutely demoralising.

That's just odd... Could it really be something as trivial as the placement of commas? I kinda doubt it, but it is frustrating that we can only guess about the reasons of rejection.

One of mine actually got published today (it was rejected once before) and the other was rejected (first attempt) because of A.I. The detection tool posted in this thread by someone gave it a 34% score ("likely human"). Not human enough, I guess

 

[PenumbralVision]

To clarify; I understand that the admins of this site are probably drowning in submissions (no, not that kind *bonk*) and I have great respect for the effort needed to keep a site like this up and running, and fed with a constant stream of new stories, but it would be nice to hear something about these A.I-issues from the big boss(es).

It's a great loss when aspiring authors of smut are turned away without exactly knowing why... It's just the humble opinion of an unseasoned newbie, I know, but in my eyes, Literotica is a platform for enthusiastic, horny wordslingers, who put a lot of time and effort into their stories, to share their fantasies with the world. I think that's a beautiful thing Would be sad to deprive them of the opportunity to share their stories with the rest of us...

 

[SamBomb]

Any luck yet?

Still pending...

 

[SoCalAshley]

I just discovered this thread. My story has been in the pending category since February 4th. It was originally rejected for AI, and I resubmitted it. Has anyone had a story sit in pending for almost three weeks?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not me, but others have.

I just discovered this thread. My story has been in the pending category since February 4th. It was originally rejected for AI, and I resubmitted it. Has anyone had a story sit in pending for almost three weeks?

 

[Astrotrain]

I've had a chapter pending for a week. It's still listed under pending in my profile, but it has a big "new" label on it and it says "today in Fetish" beside it. It's not showing up on my story page. What's going on?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Be patient, it should go live at midnight in the land of Laurel. Which may or may not coincide with your midnight.

I've had a chapter pending for a week. It's still listed under pending in my profile, but it has a big "new" label on it and it says "today in Fetish" beside it. It's not showing up on my story page. What's going on?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've had a chapter pending for a week. It's still listed under pending in my profile, but it has a big "new" label on it and it says "today in Fetish" beside it. It's not showing up on my story page. What's going on?

As Millie says, patience is required. Your story will go live shortly after midnight Laurel time (somewhere in the US) when they do a server refresh.

 

[STrent]

I just discovered this thread. My story has been in the pending category since February 4th. It was originally rejected for AI, and I resubmitted it. Has anyone had a story sit in pending for almost three weeks?

Not three weeks, but I have regularly had about ten days. Quickest rejection was three days. Nothing published yet.

 

[nice90sguy]

Yet another rejection, this time for the below:



Here’s the guidelines:



Here’s a sample from said guidelines:



Here’s a sample of my work:

That's scary. My dialog style matches yours, pretty much. I've never had a rejection like that.

 

[STrent]

That's scary. My dialog style matches yours, pretty much. I've never had a rejection like that.

Just reading your Dog Days story and I am astonished - we do have very similar formatting styles.

The only difference is yours is in first person and mine is always explicitly in the third person.

I’ve noted your dialogue quotation marks do match the Literotica guidelines, unlike mine, so yours must go through because of that.

But it does highlight for me how this all feels a bit too subjective on the review side of things.

 

[SamBomb]

Any luck yet?

It's going up tomorrow!!!

Finally got it through the censors!