Is it okay to have religious content?

For example, the main character recalls an event in his/her past, when they were hated for being a Jew/Muslim/Atheist.

Is that okay to mention, or should it be better to avoid and make a story where the main character recalls an event in his/her past, when they rejected because of their bad teeth?

Depends how you handle it. If your story is about Jews finding love with each other while being persecuted during world war 2, for example, that's one thing. If you're writing about Jews discovering their submissive sexuality in a Nazi concentration camp, I would think that crosses a very obvious line. Acknowledging that racism, prejudice and oppression exist is not a problem in most stories. Centering and glorifying it is. So, use some good sense and try not to be an 'edge-lord' intentionally being provocative and controversial for the shock value (it often comes off as desperate for attention rather than challenging the status quo). Also, if you use any racial epithets like the "N-word" etc., you'll probably see your story returned by the mods with at least a strong warning not to do it again, so try to avoid those. If that all sounds challenging and restrictive, then yeah, maybe write about bad teeth instead.

Religious content per se is not a problem. I wrote a trilogy of stories, which may get expanded eventually, about a teen couple from a conservative Christian church dealing with the ramifications of their faith for their rather steamy relationship and vice versa.

However, dealing with prejudice and the politics of hate is a bit of a different beast than just having religion as part of the character's lives and stories. It is a potential minefield. Just A Guy has some good thoughts.

The two comments above are right on point. Before you take on a story that somehow includes prejudice/hate or other such subjects, I suggest checking with a Story Mod to see if it's appropriate for Lush.

Dealing with religious persecution can be a very heavy and impactful, but proceed with caution. It’s a minefield that requires careful navigating.

As an extreme example I’ll point to an English author getting dropped by her publisher after releasing a story on a romance between the son of a KKK leader and a daughter of a Mexican drug kingpin. Surface level, this is a weighted story that could be a very meaningful delve in overcoming prejudice with a tale of star crossed lovers. Instead it was so incredibly fetishized and handled so clumsily it was just an offensive mess.

If you are delving into a religious theme, I would also advise either drawing from your own personal religious experiences. If you want to explore others than research, research, research. In the above example, the Latina female lead’s offensive behavior was made so much worse since it was written by a White woman in England. It showed no respect to the cultures she was drawing from and full of stereotypes.

If you have a story to tell, please do. I wrote a story I was very proud of who’s main character was a Black lesbian during the 40’s for the noir competition last year. I had a few female friends and Black friends consult as I wrote and read my drafts. I took notes from them extremely seriously and made a few changes along the way. Tell your story, be respectful, do your research.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

Depends how you handle it. If your story is about Jews finding love with each other while being persecuted during world war 2, for example, that's one thing. If you're writing about Jews discovering their submissive sexuality in a Nazi concentration camp, I would think that crosses a very obvious line. Acknowledging that racism, prejudice and oppression exist is not a problem in most stories. Centering and glorifying it is. So, use some good sense and try not to be an 'edge-lord' intentionally being provocative and controversial for the shock value (it often comes off as desperate for attention rather than challenging the status quo). Also, if you use any racial epithets like the "N-word" etc., you'll probably see your story returned by the mods with at least a strong warning not to do it again, so try to avoid those. If that all sounds challenging and restrictive, then yeah, maybe write about bad teeth instead.

...well that's two of my stories that'll be exclusive to Lit. One would think writing sites would be warriors of expression and anti censorship, at least context depending. I found RoyalRoad to be the worst.

Quote by M_K_Babalon

...well that's two of my stories that'll be exclusive to Lit. One would think writing sites would be warriors of expression and anti censorship, at least context depending. I found RoyalRoad to be the worst.

Just like literary magazines, the Lush team sets whatever standards they feel necessary to create the site they are aiming for. If you don't like those standards then, yeah, submit elsewhere. As you apparently have done.

Quote by M_K_Babalon
...well that's two of my stories that'll be exclusive to Lit.

If they don't adhere to our standards, then it's unlikely that they'll be missed here. I also know that many publishers frown on dual submissions or 'double-dipping.' It's essentially self-plagiarism. All content should be 'exclusive.'

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know
many publishers frown on dual submissions or 'double-dipping.' It's essentially self-plagiarism. All content should be 'exclusive.'

We don't mind it here. If someone wants to republish their own content from this site elsewhere, or vice versa, that's cool as long as they're definitely the same person (cloning someone else's stuff is not cool and will get a member banned).

The only exception are competition entries. They must be exclusive to this site, and be new submissions. After the results are published, authors are free to post them elsewhere but we retain the rights for 12 months to keep the winning entries on the competitions page.

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

If they don't adhere to our standards, then it's unlikely that they'll be missed here. I also know that many publishers frown on dual submissions or 'double-dipping.' It's essentially self-plagiarism. All content should be 'exclusive.'

Yeah, that's usually traditional publishers, not sites like this one. I have seen, maybe two sites that want exclusive content. But every site I publish on, doesn't care. They're concern is actual plagiarism. I'm on several. Fanfic sites, for example, do not. I read submission guidelines, tos, and the faq of every writing site before I join. If I recall; even KDP and Smash doesn't mind it.

I'm not really concerned if they'd be missed or not. I don't get snide comments like this. I'm not complaining that I can't post them here, or about the site specifically. It was a general grievance about censorship one has to deal with, in general. With the number of sites that employ socially left thought police, like TikTok, YouTube, NextDoor, and especially Facebook, one would think sites like these would be the last bastion of freedom of expression, at least to a reasonable point. Especially with the way people attack books. I've been seeing the Demolition Man landscape creeping up for years now, and one day we won't have a place to outwardly express ourselves. It'll be a digital Ferenheit 451, where we'll have to risk even the most vanilla of erotica on the dark web, and possibly incure some sort of punishment and social demerits.

It's not like the two stories are something heinous, like snuff, or . They'll find a home, and one that isn't like buying a Jay-Z CD at Walmart. That's why I'm on more than one erotica site.

Quote by Seeker4

Just like literary magazines, the Lush team sets whatever standards they feel necessary to create the site they are aiming for. If you don't like those standards then, yeah, submit elsewhere. As you apparently have done.

That's why I'm on more than one site. I ain't new to this game. I've been writing on Lit, since 2011, and have a FFN account, I know how to write within guidlines. FFN doesn't even allow sex. I'm on, like ten sites.