Story rejected for AI: Now what?

[PublicNudityLover]

I spent a month working on a new story and I'm really proud of it. I was so excited to post it, but it was rejected for AI. I resubmitted with a note explaining that I didn't use AI (only the basic spellcheck in MS Word), but it is still rejected. What's the next step?

Since Literotica doesn't actually give any explanation about what it thinks is AI, I have no idea what part of the story needs to be rewritten. I put the story in two free online AI detection tools and neither one flagged anything.

So I'm essentially stuck. Did I just waste all that time writing a story that I can't even post? What am I supposed to do?

 

[Agent0069]

Yeah, that sucks, but don’t give up. Try appealing once more perhaps?

If nothing else, try introducing typos and grammar mistakes. I mean, it works for me - I haven’t been rejected once, since I’m so illiterate no one thinks AI would write that.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

This is going to sound silly.

Don't read any AI slop. Maybe it's affecting your writing style. Are you using the Rule of Three? Do you have any bullet lists in your smut?

--Annie

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Some practical advice based on what has been working for me so far.... Other may disagree, but I have yet to see anyone answer this question with concrete examples, and no guarantees. My next story could get kicked back, too...

1. Vary your sentence length. Short is good. Sometimes, though, you need to go longer, espouse on what you're describing, dig into the feeling of the moment to get to the core of the character's motivation. Consistent sentence length is not only boring, it's what AI does, so don't do that. Got it?
2. Inject some personality, some emotion into your writing. "Tom hated his job and only stayed for the money." is flat, boring, mechanical. "The last fifteen minutes felt like hours as Tom watched the clock, waiting for five o'clock and his escape from the hellhole he called his job, cursing the bi-weekly check that shackled him to the tedium." says the same thing but paints a deeper picture of what Tom feels.
3. Use big words, or as @EmilyMiller might say, sesquipedalienate(is that a word?). Get creative with metaphors and other figures of speech. Use Similes and personification, hyperbole, irony, euphemisms. Throw in a pun or two. Add an oxymoron. AI doesn't do these things.
4. When it comes to grammar, use proper punctuation and spelling, but break all the other rules. Use. One. Word. Sentences. for emphasis, use dialect, y'all; do stuff like that. In dialog, remember people don't always talk in complete thoughts. Get creative with dialog tags, too.
   "Sometimes they, um, uh, you know, they, um, sort of, shit..." Derick shook his head, frustrated that the words just disappeared.
   "Lose track of what they're trying to say?" Emily chucked, showing her amusement at his discomfort.
   "Fuck you." He shook his head trying not to laugh with her.
   "Later." She winked.
   Notice none of my tags are "he said" or "she said" but you know exactly who is speaking.

You're writing a piece of fiction not a term paper or a business brief.
Bottom line, variety, creativity, use them. AI offers the median example of what it writes and only knows what it's told. Make it obvious through your words that you're not a robot, and you don't even have to click all the boxes with a bus in them.

 

[StillStunned]

Some practical advice based on what has been working for me so far.... Other may disagree, but I have yet to see anyone answer this question with concrete examples, and no guarantees. My next story could get kicked back, too...

1. Vary your sentence length. Short is good. Sometimes, though, you need to go longer, espouse on what you're describing, dig into the feeling of the moment to get to the core of the character's motivation. Consistent sentence length is not only boring, it's what AI does, so don't do that. Got it?
2. Inject some personality, some emotion into your writing. "Tom hated his job and only stayed for the money." is flat, boring, mechanical. "The last fifteen minutes felt like hours as Tom watched the clock, waiting for five o'clock and his escape from the hellhole he called his job, cursing the bi-weekly check that shackled him to the tedium." says the same thing but paints a deeper picture of what Tom feels.
3. Use big words, or as @EmilyMiller might say, sesquipedalienate(is that a word?). Get creative with metaphors and other figures of speech. Use Similes and personification, hyperbole, irony, euphemisms. Throw in a pun or two. Add an oxymoron. AI doesn't do these things.
4. When it comes to grammar, use proper punctuation and spelling, but break all the other rules. Use. One. Word. Sentences. for emphasis, use dialect, y'all; do stuff like that. In dialog, remember people don't always talk in complete thoughts. Get creative with dialog tags, too.
   "Sometimes they, um, uh, you know, they, um, sort of, shit..." Derick shook his head, frustrated that the words just disappeared.
   "Lose track of what they're trying to say?" Emily chucked, showing her amusement at his discomfort.
   "Fuck you." He shook his head trying not to laugh with her.
   "Later." She winked.
   Notice none of my tags are "he said" or "she said" but you know exactly who is speaking.

You're writing a piece of fiction not a term paper or a business brief.
Bottom line, variety, creativity, use them. AI offers the median example of what it writes and only knows what it's told. Make it obvious through your words that you're not a robot, and you don't even have to click all the boxes with a bus in them.

I think this is all very sound advice.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

1. Never let the AI tool (spell/grammar check) make the changes for you. Let them identify the error but correct it manually.
2. Check everything and then resubmit your story differently. (If you pasted it into the submission box, next time upload the file. If you uploaded, next time paste it.)
3. Human-sounding dialogue trumps AI. Have your characters speak as real people do. @ShelbyDawn57 provided some good examples of this.
4. Go bigger if possible. If you are submitting only a chapter or part of a story, consider submitting more. Most AI detection processes report a percentage of suspected AI. 50% suspected AI in a 10K story is only 10% in a 50K story.

 

[TheDok]

I have had this happen to me only once, and I have now published close to eighty stories. About five back, a story was rejected as being written by AI when it had not been (i use only Word Editor without accepting any changes in vocabulary and avoid Grammerly like the plague). I remember how pissed and frustrated I was, since how and more importantly why I should rewrite something I had honestly created. I resubmitted with a note to Laurel saying that their checker was wrong and asked her why I would use AI if I had not done it before. Three weeks later, it was published. I would recommend the same route, even though you have only two stories published, they are longer, and the first was published in 2015. Ask why on earth I would start to use AI Now. BobbyBrandt makes excellent points but for me WRITE SHORT is the way to go. The offending passage will only affect one of a series rather than the whole work, and use grammar checkers to check only punctuation and NOTHING else

 

[VerbalAbuse]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

 

[StillStunned]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

If your fiction writing is mistaken for AI slop, that might be a sign that your style isn't suited to fiction writing. People have had their stories rejected for "not the style we're looking for" forever, here and by trad publishing houses. If Lit decides your story isn't up to the site's standards, it's their right not to publish it.

Fiction writing is a skill. Not everyone possesses it. But if you want to be a fiction writer, it's a skill you need to master. Just being able to kick a ball around doesn't make you a footballer. Having a paintbrush and a canvas doesn't make you a painter. Being able to type words into a word processor doesn't make you a writer.

The good thing about Lit is that the standards are very basic, and writers have every opportunity to improve. There are plenty of discussions in the AH about writing skills. Anyone can learn the bare minimum to get a story published, as long as they're willing to put in a bit of effort to be able to call themselves a writer.

 

[TheDok]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

Whilst I agree with your sentiment, not everybody has suggested altering their writing for a demented, inaccurate, and non-human checker, me included, and I would never and have never done this, But keep it short and avoid Grammarly remains good advice. Most of us want what we write to be published after all.

 

[Dark_Logan_]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

This 100% this.

The second guessing by genuine authors of how they must write in order to make it past the undeclared rules for publishing on this site these days is nothing short of demeaning and degrading.

You are not the issue the lack of clarity and the abhorrent lack of communication from those that run this site are the problem.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

This 100% this.

The second guessing by genuine authors of how they must write in order to make it past the undeclared rules for publishing on this site these days is nothing short of demeaning and degrading.

You are not the issue the lack of clarity and the abhorrent lack of communication from those that run this site are the problem.

exactly.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

That's your opinion, and you are certainly welcomed to it.

I, along with thousands of other writers have been publishing here for years without a single AI rejection. I haven't changed my style or the tools that I use for spelling (MS Word) and grammar checking (Grammarly) in all that time.

Is the site perfect? Hell no. But no other site is either. (This isn't male pattern baldness you see, it is the result of trying to get something published on a site such as Amazon with their screwy quality checks and restrictive content policies.) You can moan and whine about things, you can give up and pout, or you can adapt and change. Expecting the site to change for you is fools play.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

the advice offered here is plain wrong.

why the fuck would you alter your writing to satisfy some demented site checking procedure?
write what you feel like writing.

Um, because you want to get published and what you’re doing isn’t working, or maybe because it will make your story more interesting and more readable. Some might say evolving your style will make you a better writer, but better is subjective.

You seem to be implying that your style is somehow sacrosanct. It’s not and shouldn’t be. The ‘style’ of my early stuff is very different from my newer stuff. I’ve even written a few stories directly emulating the style of other authors.

Not meaning to brag, but I’ve successfully published close to 100 stories with an average score of 4.75(not counting 750 word stories). One of those doesn’t have a red H; a well deserved 4.2 because it’s just a hard read, very melancholy and disturbing. The only rejections I’ve ever received were valid. Feel free to take your advice from who you will, but I’d suggest looking to those who have had success first.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This 100% this.

The second guessing by genuine authors of how they must write in order to make it past the undeclared rules for publishing on this site these days is nothing short of demeaning and degrading.

You are not the issue the lack of clarity and the abhorrent lack of communication from those that run this site are the problem.

If thousands of writers can publish here without AI rejections but some other writers can't, how can the site be the sole issue?

We hear these whining arguments on all restrictions here, from underage characters, to non-consent, to the suspected use of AI. Unless you appeal the rejection to the admin or correct the issue yourself, the problem IS you. This is demonstrated by the sheer number of other writers who have proven success publishing here.

There are no tricks. There are no work-arounds.

 

[RocketGrunt]

You might also have computer generated garbage in your file. Save as plain text and then submit that. If you have stuff like "track changes" on, your file can include a lot of behind the scenes computer gibberish that you can't see when you're reading or writing it.

 

[Dark_Logan_]

If thousands of writers can publish here without AI rejections but some other writers can't, how can the site be the sole issue?

With hundreds of submissions a day and as widely stated/speculated only one moderator controlling that flow the site doesn’t allude to the process, doesn’t communicate and doesn’t respond to requests beyond broad-brush cut and paste style responses
The FAQ’s and dedicated pages on submission guidance offer suggestion but nothing specific and nothing that seems relevant to recent issues experienced

The silence is deafening, ironically I don’t doubt that AI is likely the issue here but it’s the AI being used to proofread stories

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

With hundreds of submissions a day and as widely stated/speculated only one moderator controlling that flow the site doesn’t allude to the process, doesn’t communicate and doesn’t respond to requests beyond broad-brush cut and paste style responses
The FAQ’s and dedicated pages on submission guidance offer suggestion but nothing specific and nothing that seems relevant to recent issues experienced

The silence is deafening, ironically I don’t doubt that AI is likely the issue here but it’s the AI being used to proofread stories

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

Because we as writers have no control over the site and how it operates. We have 100% control of what we write. If we want to change the results, our only choice is to change what we control. If you’re getting rejected for AI, change what you wrote or don’t get published. Simple.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

With hundreds of submissions a day and as widely stated/speculated only one moderator controlling that flow the site doesn’t allude to the process, doesn’t communicate and doesn’t respond to requests beyond broad-brush cut and paste style responses
The FAQ’s and dedicated pages on submission guidance offer suggestion but nothing specific and nothing that seems relevant to recent issues experienced

The silence is deafening, ironically I don’t doubt that AI is likely the issue here but it’s the AI being used to proofread stories

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

What feedback would you like, that would not constitute advice on how to disguise your use of AI?

 

[ronde]

I spent a month working on a new story and I'm really proud of it. I was so excited to post it, but it was rejected for AI. I resubmitted with a note explaining that I didn't use AI (only the basic spellcheck in MS Word), but it is still rejected. What's the next step?

Since Literotica doesn't actually give any explanation about what it thinks is AI, I have no idea what part of the story needs to be rewritten. I put the story in two free online AI detection tools and neither one flagged anything.

So I'm essentially stuck. Did I just waste all that time writing a story that I can't even post? What am I supposed to do?

How do you have Word configured? If you have Word automatically correcting errors as you type, therein probably lies your problem. The process may be different for different versions of Word, but make sure Word only highlights errors as you type. Disable anything that Word will automatically do, like word completion and auto-correct of spelling and punctuation. If you allow it to correct as you type, what you write will probably have correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but may have an AI "feel" because that's actually what it is. If Word has made the change while you write, it won't flag those changes when you run a spell-check so you'll never be able to review them.

I also use MS Word both for writing as well as checking for spelling and punctuation. It also flags what it considers to be grammatical errors, but the suggested change usually sounds like dry, boring, business correspondence to me.

 

[StillStunned]

The FAQ’s and dedicated pages on submission guidance offer suggestion but nothing specific and nothing that seems relevant to recent issues experienced

The silence is deafening, ironically I don’t doubt that AI is likely the issue here but it’s the AI being used to proofread stories

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

It seems pretty clear to me that @Laurel (may she live forever) has outsourced the business of helping and advising writers to the regulars here in the AH.

And fair enough. I've been here for two and a half years and already I get frustrated to see all the new threads asking the same questions over and over again. The Tech Support forum is even worse. If I'd been here for 25+ years, and I saw that there were regulars here who already provided the same answers, I'd just leave it at that too.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Because we as writers have no control over the site and how it operates. We have 100% control of what we write. If we want to change the results, our only choice is to change what we control. If you’re getting rejected for AI, change what you wrote or don’t get published. Simple.

I couldn't have said it better.

Worry about what YOU can control, not anything else.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

It seems pretty clear to me that @Laurel (may she live forever) has outsourced the business of helping and advising writers to the regulars here in the AH.

It says so on the contact page:

There are many different ways to contact Literotica, depending on what you need. In most cases, you should find the information you’re seeking either in the Literotica FAQ or in one of the many Literotica Support Forums.

https://www.literotica.com/resources/contact-literotica

--Annie

 

[BobbyBrandt]

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

I never said that the site wasn't an issue. I said that it can't be the "sole" issue.

Writers need to own up to their own inadequacies, styles, or stubbornness. There has been plenty of advice offered on how to do that.

 

[ronde]

What feedback would you like, that would not constitute advice on how to disguise your use of AI?

With hundreds of submissions a day and as widely stated/speculated only one moderator controlling that flow the site doesn’t allude to the process, doesn’t communicate and doesn’t respond to requests beyond broad-brush cut and paste style responses
The FAQ’s and dedicated pages on submission guidance offer suggestion but nothing specific and nothing that seems relevant to recent issues experienced

The silence is deafening, ironically I don’t doubt that AI is likely the issue here but it’s the AI being used to proofread stories

How is the site not the issue by the way it sterilely handles submissions?

I don't think the problem is authors using AI to proofread stories. That's really no different than having a human editor, but is fraught with the same problems.

The problem is authors automatically using the changes the proofreader suggests. The key is to use very simple proofreading, meaning spelling and punctuation only, and not accepting any suggested change as the Gospel According to (fill in the name of the software used). AI must be taught how to do things and in the case of proofreading, the lessons come from other written works. Depending upon how AI was taught, those written works may include fiction, scientific papers, business articles, and almost any other type of writing including erotica, along with some literary "rules" that may vary depending upon the opinion of the person who wrote the rules.

Look at every suggested change and decide if the change sounds like the way real people speak every day, not how they speak when giving a presentation at a board meeting.