I'm so frustrated trying to figure out how to share my stories

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

So this might take some explanation. Basically, as a general rule, my protagonists can go through some really traumatizing and dark stuff but only things they can fully recover from to the point of being better at the end of the story than they started it. I don't like tragedies and I dont like downer endings. But within that realm I will often put them through the wringer pretty direly. And within that category I really don't like holding back, as I feel that ruins the point; I want traumatizing events to feel appropriately traumatizing after all.

Herein lies my problem. On different sites with different criteria, rules, and tagging systems, I consistently find that the content of my stories flummoxes my attempts to reach any reader that might like it. I reached out to the staff at royalroad the other day and found I had to stop posting my story there because of the rulings. Throughout two of my three biggest stories, there's instances of sexual assault, characters with incestuous urges/inclination, sometimes direct mention of genitalia and nudity, at least one pedophile....

Here's the problem though! That description I just gave? It really, really, really doesn't give an accurate assessment of what any of my stories are actually like. And in fact I don't think anyone who was okay with the things I just listed would like any of my stories. There's never any actual sex acts that ever occur in any of them, not even off-screen. Sexual assault always ends with the assaulter in question either dying, suddenly realizing 'oh god what am I doing', or getting the shit kicked out of them. The characters with incestuous inclinations never actually act on them and its more something they have to work through. The sexual content is just... Its present but I swear it doesn't really accurately portray what the story is about or like.

I mean, hell's teeth, I read my stories to my relatives, both my mother and father and cousins and some friends. And I am not the kind of person who would normally be okay with that for something really explicit. I wouldnt really even consider my writing explicit, but the aforementioned scenes are all fairly important as critical pieces of character development as they are traumatized from what might have happened to them. Now I can't just not warn the audience about any of that, it does have potential to be upsetting.

But I just don't know how to tag it on sites! like, tagging them with 'rape' or something like that feels... Eurgh, I would never write a story where that actually succesfully happens and I don't think anyone who would be okay with reading a story like that would enjoy my stories. Plus most sites have rules like 'minors in sexual situations are disallowed' which like, yeah, thats totally fair and I agree, but I don't even know how to classify what happens in my stories. Like I dont actually write anything truly happening to a minor, its a horrific event when someone tries to and gets killed in the process. But that still runs afoul of site rules in most places. And the few places where it wouldn't run afoul, I honestly just feel uncomfortable even going to.

It's like, I need to write evil horrific shit for characters to respond to, develop from, and to give justifications for their beliefs and feelings developing. Its a somewhat common theme in my stories for characters to be bemoaning their loss of innocence and youthly vigor and some level of sexual development is often a part of that. Yet I feel like I can't describe that or warn about it without it coming across like a fetish fic which it just... It really isnt.

I'm just getting to feel so frustrated now and don't even know how to progress. I'm wondering if I have to just give up on posting some of my stories entirely. I dunno.

 

[Corty]

Tag it with popular tags that also fit, and leave out the heavy stuff

--BUT--

In the synopsis, do leave an author's note of what to expect from the story, and when such a chapter does arrive, put up a warning at the beginning.

 

[Amelia-chan]

So this might take some explanation. Basically, as a general rule, my protagonists can go through some really traumatizing and dark stuff but only things they can fully recover from to the point of being better at the end of the story than they started it. I don't like tragedies and I dont like downer endings. But within that realm I will often put them through the wringer pretty direly. And within that category I really don't like holding back, as I feel that ruins the point; I want traumatizing events to feel appropriately traumatizing after all.

Herein lies my problem. On different sites with different criteria, rules, and tagging systems, I consistently find that the content of my stories flummoxes my attempts to reach any reader that might like it. I reached out to the staff at royalroad the other day and found I had to stop posting my story there because of the rulings. Throughout two of my three biggest stories, there's instances of sexual assault, characters with incestuous urges/inclination, sometimes direct mention of genitalia and nudity, at least one pedophile....

Here's the problem though! That description I just gave? It really, really, really doesn't give an accurate assessment of what any of my stories are actually like. And in fact I don't think anyone who was okay with the things I just listed would like any of my stories. There's never any actual sex acts that ever occur in any of them, not even off-screen. Sexual assault always ends with the assaulter in question either dying, suddenly realizing 'oh god what am I doing', or getting the shit kicked out of them. The characters with incestuous inclinations never actually act on them and its more something they have to work through. The sexual content is just... Its present but I swear it doesn't really accurately portray what the story is about or like.

I mean, hell's teeth, I read my stories to my relatives, both my mother and father and cousins and some friends. And I am not the kind of person who would normally be okay with that for something really explicit. I wouldnt really even consider my writing explicit, but the aforementioned scenes are all fairly important as critical pieces of character development as they are traumatized from what might have happened to them. Now I can't just not warn the audience about any of that, it does have potential to be upsetting.

But I just don't know how to tag it on sites! like, tagging them with 'rape' or something like that feels... Eurgh, I would never write a story where that actually succesfully happens and I don't think anyone who would be okay with reading a story like that would enjoy my stories. Plus most sites have rules like 'minors in sexual situations are disallowed' which like, yeah, thats totally fair and I agree, but I don't even know how to classify what happens in my stories. Like I dont actually write anything truly happening to a minor, its a horrific event when someone tries to and gets killed in the process. But that still runs afoul of site rules in most places. And the few places where it wouldn't run afoul, I honestly just feel uncomfortable even going to.

It's like, I need to write evil horrific shit for characters to respond to, develop from, and to give justifications for their beliefs and feelings developing. Its a somewhat common theme in my stories for characters to be bemoaning their loss of innocence and youthly vigor and some level of sexual development is often a part of that. Yet I feel like I can't describe that or warn about it without it coming across like a fetish fic which it just... It really isnt.

I'm just getting to feel so frustrated now and don't even know how to progress. I'm wondering if I have to just give up on posting some of my stories entirely. I dunno.

I’d say to take your time and learn to separate your personal emotions as a writer from the task

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

I’d say to take your time and learn to separate your personal emotions as a writer from the task

I dont really see the relevance to my problem..? Do you mean because of my discomfort with the sites where its permitted? Well, discomfort aside, I also dont think those sites reader bases would really like it.

Tag it with popular tags that also fit, and leave out the heavy stuff

--BUT--

In the synopsis, do leave an author's note of what to expect from the story, and when such a chapter does arrive, put up a warning at the beginning.

Thats... About what I am doing for the time being, yeah. But it still just feels... I dunno. I never know if its technically allowed everywhere I would want to post it. I always feel like I'm walkin on a razor wire. I dont want to break any rules but I feel like sites just werent made for the types of things I write or something.

 

[Corty]

Thats... About what I am doing for the time being, yeah. But it still just feels... I dunno. I never know if its technically allowed everywhere I would want to post it. I always feel like I'm walkin on a razor wire. I dont want to break any rules but I feel like sites just werent made for the types of things I write or something.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as it's not glorifying it, it's fine. I had some of my characters have some really fucked up childhoods and coming over it.

As for SH, it has clear rules:

Content Guidelines | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

 

[Arkus86]

I suppose your best bet is just to not describe any of the problematic sexual content. You can mention it happened, or you can "fade to black" right as it starts and skip to the aftermath, but avoiding any of the juicy details that could trigger the rules.

 

[Eldoria]

Its a somewhat common theme in my stories for characters to be bemoaning their loss of innocence and youthly vigor and some level of sexual development is often a part of that. Yet I feel like I can't describe that or warn about it without it coming across like a fetish fic which it just... It really isnt.

Could you please send me links or specific chapter references from your novel regarding this? Please go directly to the specific chapters so I can read them directly. I'd like to assess it objectively before commenting further.

 

[GeppettoNoir]

I can understand your frustration better than you know.

You are encountering the modern terrain of the internet. Keep in mind these statistics:

- Just over 50% of web traffic is now bots of one kind or another.

- Up to 1/3 of content on any form of social media or forum is obscured or deleted via moderation.

I bring this up because you strike me as someone who isn't afraid to explore the visceral nature of reality. Perhaps it is part of why you put your characters through such punishment. Not out of cruelty but out of your own sense of care. As you say, they aren't meant to become tragedies. From what you describe, they are meant to experience pressure to spark transformation and overcome adversity--a happy ending that's earned. Like savoring the taste of food after starvation. Maybe this is your subconscious way of saying, "hey, this is important."

If my observation is true, then I can absolutely relate. You may be running into a problem I have noticed.

You are trying to treat the internet like reality. Perhaps on a bookshelf somewhere would gravitate towards your work and appreciate the grit and realism. But here, in the virtual expanse, you are appealing to a world of fantasy with discomfort and reality. That will get you moderated into oblivion.

There is another thing to consider:

- People almost never fully engage with what they encounter.

- Many read headlines, few read the first paragraph, even fewer read the whole article.

- Average audience retention rate is supposedly 50-60% but when you take into account marketing fraud through bot usage, the numbers look closer to 20-30%.

That means that if you are jamming up your characters early on, expecting the reader to achieve a pay-off at the end, then you are setting yourself up for failure statistically speaking. Most people will judge your work quite quickly.

So, in my opinion, you have some options:

- Restructure your writing into micro-setups and micro-payoffs to breadcrumb a potential reader.

- Cut out the parts that shock people. (Personally I would hate this because it's the "me" of my writing)

- Strengthen your start game. Get good at reeling readers in. Place only the first issues on websites and forums then direct readers to your own website for the rest. That way you can avoid moderation.

But here's the kicker...

For over a decade now, adult content had been freely accessible to anyone. Mostly protected behind nothing more than a "click accept" button to validate the user's age. Things are getting dangerous for anyone that produces what can be considered as adult content. The laws are changing right now--and fast.

- Books banned (more than the ban laws intended)

- Payment Processors (Visa, Mastercard) cracking down on indie adult goods. (Can't buy NSFW on Steam or Itch but OnlyFans and PHub are still fine I guess)

- Adult Entertainment Industry lobbying against AI to recover losses from indie adult content.

- Sudden government interest in age verification.

There's a lot of insincere "protect the kids" rhetoric floating around right now. I don't say this to be political or edgy. I say it to highlight the dangers of navigating this sort of terrain at the moment. If your content triggers the wrong tribe at the wrong time... well... just be careful. Be mindful. You may be made an example of through moderation, banning, or worse.

The option I, myself, am going for right now is hitting the practice field again. Trying to get better at writing. Hoping to up my start game. If I can hook a reader's interest, I can hopefully get them to click a link to my website (future website, still making). But in this case, I am having to research how to protect myself from some kid lying on that "click accept" button.

What makes it all so frustrating is that I'm not even trying to "produce adult content" or write smut or gore or anything like that. Sometimes writing feels less like creating and more like revealing. As if this was always my character's story, I just had to uncover it. Sometimes that means they are heroes slaying dragons and living happily ever after. Sometimes it means they are victims of trauma and tragedy that struggle painfully through an arc towards redemption and true happiness.

So I totally feel your pain on this one.

EDIT: Afterthought

If you do decide to restructure your writing style, rather than cut your content you could transform it from literal to suggestive. Depending on your audience, if you feel comfortable trusting your reader's intelligence then you can brush up on evocative suggestion and symbolism. There is a strength in the negative space of what you don't say. It can be tricky to harness but it's more powerful than you could ever hope to achieve through direct explanation. The epitome of "show, don't tell" being put in the hands of the reader.

Just an example:

Imagine a room you cannot get to. It's just on the other side of the wall. You can hear muffled voices. Screaming. Bumps and thuds. You have no idea what's happening. Someone screams again. Gurgling. Like choking on something. Several thuds, a low moan. Someone sobbing, begging.

Now imagine hearing someone scream. You walk into a room and see someone torturing someone else. Bloody, visceral, the other person's face contorted in fear and agony. The person torturing them brandishes a bloody pair of scissors. You see bits of flesh on the floor.

In my mind, it was the same scene both times. Were they the same in your mind? Both characters being tortured. But in one I told you. In the other I suggested. Trusted your mind to gravitate to the things you most fear rather than what I hoped you would see.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

I can understand your frustration better than you know.

You are encountering the modern terrain of the internet. Keep in mind these statistics:

- Just over 50% of web traffic is now bots of one kind or another.

- Up to 1/3 of content on any form of social media or forum is obscured or deleted via moderation.

I bring this up because you strike me as someone who isn't afraid to explore the visceral nature of reality. Perhaps it is part of why you put your characters through such punishment. Not out of cruelty but out of your own sense of care. As you say, they aren't meant to become tragedies. From what you describe, they are meant to experience pressure to spark transformation and overcome adversity--a happy ending that's earned. Like savoring the taste of food after starvation. Maybe this is your subconscious way of saying, "hey, this is important."

If my observation is true, then I can absolutely relate. You may be running into a problem I have noticed.

You are trying to treat the internet like reality. Perhaps on a bookshelf somewhere would gravitate towards your work and appreciate the grit and realism. But here, in the virtual expanse, you are appealing to a world of fantasy with discomfort and reality. That will get you moderated into oblivion.

There is another thing to consider:

- People almost never fully engage with what they encounter.

- Many read headlines, few read the first paragraph, even fewer read the whole article.

- Average audience retention rate is supposedly 50-60% but when you take into account marketing fraud through bot usage, the numbers look closer to 20-30%.

That means that if you are jamming up your characters early on, expecting the reader to achieve a pay-off at the end, then you are setting yourself up for failure statistically speaking. Most people will judge your work quite quickly.

So, in my opinion, you have some options:

- Restructure your writing into micro-setups and micro-payoffs to breadcrumb a potential reader.

- Cut out the parts that shock people. (Personally I would hate this because it's the "me" of my writing)

- Strengthen your start game. Get good at reeling readers in. Place only the first issues on websites and forums then direct readers to your own website for the rest. That way you can avoid moderation.

But here's the kicker...

For over a decade now, adult content had been freely accessible to anyone. Mostly protected behind nothing more than a "click accept" button to validate the user's age. Things are getting dangerous for anyone that produces what can be considered as adult content. The laws are changing right now--and fast.

- Books banned (more than the ban laws intended)

- Payment Processors (Visa, Mastercard) cracking down on indie adult goods. (Can't buy NSFW on Steam or Itch but OnlyFans and PHub are still fine I guess)

- Adult Entertainment Industry lobbying against AI to recover losses from indie adult content.

- Sudden government interest in age verification.

There's a lot of insincere "protect the kids" rhetoric floating around right now. I don't say this to be political or edgy. I say it to highlight the dangers of navigating this sort of terrain at the moment. If your content triggers the wrong tribe at the wrong time... well... just be careful. Be mindful. You may be made an example of through moderation, banning, or worse.

The option I, myself, am going for right now is hitting the practice field again. Trying to get better at writing. Hoping to up my start game. If I can hook a reader's interest, I can hopefully get them to click a link to my website (future website, still making). But in this case, I am having to research how to protect myself from some kid lying on that "click accept" button.

What makes it all so frustrating is that I'm not even trying to "produce adult content" or write smut or gore or anything like that. Sometimes writing feels less like creating and more like revealing. As if this was always my character's story, I just had to uncover it. Sometimes that means they are heroes slaying dragons and living happily ever after. Sometimes it means they are victims of trauma and tragedy that struggle painfully through an arc towards redemption and true happiness.

So I totally feel your pain on this one.

EDIT: Afterthought

If you do decide to restructure your writing style, rather than cut your content you could transform it from literal to suggestive. Depending on your audience, if you feel comfortable trusting your reader's intelligence then you can brush up on evocative suggestion and symbolism. There is a strength in the negative space of what you don't say. It can be tricky to harness but it's more powerful than you could ever hope to achieve through direct explanation. The epitome of "show, don't tell" being put in the hands of the reader.

Just an example:

Imagine a room you cannot get to. It's just on the other side of the wall. You can hear muffled voices. Screaming. Bumps and thuds. You have no idea what's happening. Someone screams again. Gurgling. Like choking on something. Several thuds, a low moan. Someone sobbing, begging.

Now imagine hearing someone scream. You walk into a room and see someone torturing someone else. Bloody, visceral, the other person's face contorted in fear and agony. The person torturing them brandishes a bloody pair of scissors. You see bits of flesh on the floor.

In my mind, it was the same scene both times. Were they the same in your mind? Both characters being tortured. But in one I told you. In the other I suggested. Trusted your mind to gravitate to the things you most fear rather than what I hoped you would see.

I'd generally agree with most of that. Ok, all of that really. Some of my work isn't too hard to work around issues. But some of it, specifically Immaculate, its a bit too tied to the characters emotional journey to really avoid. Thing is I'd say its already more evocative than explicit for the most part, since I tend to feel a bit queasy writing more than that. But at the same time I try to push through and make sure it seems appropriately traumatic. Pulling punches just feels self defeating when circumstances are meant to be horrifying.

It seems like I run into the most problems with Immaculate since the characters ages are explicitly fairly young. Which is important to the story since it in significant part deals with the characters feelings about puberty. Its... To some extent based on my own childhood and wanting to write a story showing how a character could come to my way of thinking, I guess. But content rulings tend to be very strict on things like that. Which, I mean, I kinda get. But theres something deeplly ironic for me of all people to have my work disallowed for sexual content. If a character can never be exposed to something then how are they to decide against it?

Could you please send me links or specific chapter references from your novel regarding this? Please go directly to the specific chapters so I can read them directly. I'd like to assess it objectively before commenting further.

uh, sure, alright. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1plSMwyzecd5TcoHqBfcqP9WVT6e7gfZLUkun2BiCzqA/edit?usp=sharing that right there is the most graphic and gross chapter in the story, chapter thirty-six. Theres a handful of other things in the story but none come anywhere near that one I'd say.

I suppose your best bet is just to not describe any of the problematic sexual content. You can mention it happened, or you can "fade to black" right as it starts and skip to the aftermath, but avoiding any of the juicy details that could trigger the rules.

I really don't know how I'd even do that in circumstances where attempted SA is interrupted before anything can really happen, which tends to be my most common scenario. Again, its not like I try to write smut. Just... horrific encounters.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as it's not glorifying it, it's fine. I had some of my characters have some really fucked up childhoods and coming over it.

As for SH, it has clear rules:

Content Guidelines | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

see thats the thing here, its still not that clear to me. Its talking about 'sexual content between characters'. Whats that mean specifically? is it sexual content if they catcall them or say something suggestive? What about attempted sexual assault that doesnt go anywhere? How about bathing with no mention of sexual anatomy? Or characters conflicted about their own sexual development from puberty but not going into the details? How about a character implied to have lust for another but not outright described? I dont know what the line for what is considered 'sexual content' is at all.

 

[Corty]

is it sexual content if they catcall

What. I’m too Eastern European for this to be SA.

How about bathing with no mention of sexual anatomy?

That’s bathing… um….

The rest I’m not even touching.

U ok? Are you Bri’ish to be this concerned about what you and can say?

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

What. I’m too Eastern European for this to be SA.


That’s bathing… um….

The rest I’m not even touching.

U ok? Are you Bri’ish to be this concerned about what you and can say?

Nah, just a mega prude who is very squeamish. But I bring up several of those things since I've been explicitly told those all qualify as sexual content on royalroad. How am I to know if it counts here or not, the wording is just as unclear. "Sexual content is anything that touches the subject. Nudity, jokes, talking about it, leading up to and the act of. Where the SA doesn't happen it would still count as sexual content " thats what I was told when I sought clarification over there.

To be clear I also have more graphic things than the above. Well, the chapter link I put in was the most graphic. But mostly its fairly restrained. My point is more that the line is very unclear to me. Immaculate definitely gets the worst of it, though Birthright still can't be posted on Royalroad at least but should probably be fine here. Apparently, having a character trying to justify their depravity in their own head counts as 'glorifying' something even if its just there for them to later realize how warped they became.

 

[Eldoria]

uh, sure, alright. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1plSMwyzecd5TcoHqBfcqP9WVT6e7gfZLUkun2BiCzqA/edit?usp=sharing that right there is the most graphic and gross chapter in the story, chapter thirty-six. Theres a handful of other things in the story but none come anywhere near that one I'd say.

Thank you for sharing this chapter. After further reading, I found it to contain trauma porn and sadism.

Trauma porn is the explicit and exaggerated presentation of trauma (in this chapter, depicted through scenes of sexual violence), intended to satisfy voyeuristic or sensationalistic desires, resulting in the trauma becoming shallow entertainment.
There are scenes of (attempted) rape depicted in psychological and literal terms, potentially making sensitive readers feel discomfort. However, the narrative context is not simply about exploiting trauma, but rather about showing the suffering and struggle of the protagonist (Alunya). Therefore, the intention is not to savour the victim's suffering, but rather to show the brutality of the perpetrator (of the attempted rape).

Sadism is the enjoyment (in this chapter of the antagonist, Tanith) in the suffering of others, or the depiction of violence and torture in vivid detail that accentuates the victim's suffering.
There are scenes of sadism where the (attempted) rapist attempts to savour the suffering of the helpless victim through a detailed narrative. However, these scenes serve to demonstrate the perpetrator's brutality and the horrors experienced by the victim.

Conclusion: This chapter is psychologically heavy, not suitable for sensitive readers, and is likely to be misunderstood as justifying sexual violence.

Recommendation: Provide a warning about the attempted rape scene at the beginning of the chapter and a strong warning not to imitate it, as a sign of the author's harsh stance on the narrative.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

In the actual story, There is a warning. As well as a quick summary in the authors note so that anyone who wants to skip it can still follow along.

But if someone reads a chapter in which a rapist is brutally killed in the attempt and described as a 'slavering beast' and 'vile creature' to the extent that their soul is stated to be 'mindless hunger' like 'sickly-sweet decay', and generally is treated exclusively as subhuman, and somehow got the impression that they were to be emulated... I... I don't even know what to say to that honestly.
Thanks for the input, I guess..?

 

[Eldoria]

In the actual story, There is a warning. As well as a quick summary in the authors note so that anyone who wants to skip it can still follow along.

But if someone reads a chapter in which a rapist is brutally killed in the attempt and described as a 'slavering beast' and 'vile creature' to the extent that their soul is stated to be 'mindless hunger' like 'sickly-sweet decay', and generally is treated exclusively as subhuman, and somehow got the impression that they were to be emulated... I... I don't even know what to say to that honestly.
Thanks for the input, I guess..?

You're not alone in creating a narrative of judgment against perpetrators of sexual violence. I've written two different novels that share a similar theme: judgment against perpetrators of violence. Consider the following chapter:

Blood Rose Princess Just Wants to Live in Peace with Her Little Daughter - Vol 2 Chapter 24: Shadowmists Prepare! | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

I highlight the victim from a historical, psychological, and structural perspective as a victim of a corrupt, tyrannical system. In this narrative, the victim is depicted suffering at the hands of the perpetrator (scenes are shown from the victim's perspective to emphasise empathy) before the protagonist brutally punishes the perpetrator.

In another novel, I go even further, presenting systemic punishment to perpetrators of sexual violence as a symbol of the corrupt power of the "brothel," by presenting the Iron Lady as an entity that judges criminals through an iron court where the victim punishes the perpetrators by killing them one by one.

Legion Empress: Iron Lady and Moonlight Princess - Vol 1 Chapter 16: When Heaven Turns into Hell | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com

The moral message is similar: that sexual violence is a systemic crime against humanity, and perpetrators must be judged brutally, mercilessly, and without compromise, as justice for the victims.