Our Guidelines
Derived from the guidelines for Serotica, written by their fabulous editors. Altered by A_Nonny_Mouse to fit the focus of the new website.What You Need To Know
The big umbrella guideline: Quality, style, class -- call it what you like, but it's the most important thing to think of! This website exists to provide a home for stories that are a cut above, which means that they should make reasonably good use of the English language, make sense, and in general follow the basic criteria of good fiction. No overt abuse, whether this means sexism, racism, homophobic attitudes or horrible violence whatsoever in the guise of a story. If it is central to the plot and the story is serious, we will consider it- if, however, it is just a string of insults which will undoubtedly insult members of the community, it won't make it in. We also frown upon preaching, proselytising, 'moral' outrage, or digs at other members of the community in the guise of a story. No stories about vaginas or penises afflicted with bizarre allergies please. Ditto breasts, feet, navels, armpits etc. It's just goofy and crass. All sexualities catered for. Apart from the 'body part' thing, no separatism will be practised. Some of the subjects raised in these stories might be seen as distasteful- this is why you must use your judgement as to what you read. What We Welcome
Stories with a strong or central homosexual theme. (Heterosexual themes are cool too, but we think you assumed that.) Masturbation fantasies are fine, so long as they're readable and have more than ten words in them. Drug use in your stories is generally fine; violence simply shouldn't detract from the story -- the keyword is 'erotic'. Violence can be erotic -- a vampire's kiss, for example -- but blatant gore and similar types of material usually turn readers off. In a change from Serotica's guidelines, we welcome fan fiction! Specifically, we are looking for well-written fan fiction that is accessible to readers outside of its fandom. That's not every fan fiction story, but I see examples of it every day; when in doubt, send it out! Other points, which might be of interest to some of our readers and contributors:
"I WANT TO WRITE SNEEZE-RELATED EROTICA BUT I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DO IT"Though we are tempted to pull a Nike and tell you to "Just Do It", this might not be enough for some would-be writers. There are many do's and don'ts regarding writing good erotic fiction. We've found one of the best web-based (and thus easily accessible to all of you) Guides for Writing Erotic Fiction to be housed at Literotica.com. If you are looking for pointers, we recommend that you click on the link above and check it out. And who knows, reading a few of the stories there might not only be highly entertaining, it might even inspire you to write one or several of your own!
REJECTIONThe Language of Sneezing is unlikely to turn down anything which follows the stated guidelines! Just be attentive and make sure to follow those guidelines. Most of them are fairly obvious, and we promise to be relaxed about them whenever possible. As always, when in doubt, send it out.
LEGAL STATUSAll stories printed here are copyright. This is simply to prevent other people from stealing them and passing them off as their own.
EDITORIAL PROCESSWe reserve the right to take submitted material, which fits in with the site's orientation and intent, and edit it in cases when we think such an approach is necessary. All submitted stories are subject to spelling, grammar and sentence structure corrections where these are needed, but we also sometimes ask permission to elaborate a little on the material we receive. In situations where we would wish to make more substantial alterations, the author of the original material will naturally be consulted as to whether they would allow this, but we ask that authors be prepared for this approach, which we only occasionally bring into play, and are not offended by the prospect of our editorial process. We will not credit ourselves on stories we edit and give no evidence that we have done so, unless specifically requested by the author. Let us know about your needs, and we'll let you know about ours!
POSTING TIMESWe ask authors whose submissions we accept not to be offended if it takes a short while for their stories to be posted. Maintaining a website is some work. Rest assured, authors will receive notification IINS (Immediately If Not Sooner) as to whether or not their stories have found a home on the site, and whether major editing will need to take place.
REPOSTS FROM OTHER BOARDS / SITESWe can and have posted stories here that had previously been posted elsewhere. We will never reject stories due to their having been posted somewhere else, and will even request archive rights sometimes from authors at other sites. New stories, however, are preferred and welcomed. We are certain that, as readers, you can appreciate why.
REFERRALSWe welcome all submissions and, in the very few cases where we do not think they are suitable, we will do our best to give editorial suggestions and refer your work to more suitable sites if there are any appropriate.
With this out of the way, PLEASE, submit stories and help this site to grow. We are grateful to all those who will take the time to write and contribute to the site!