An A to Z Guide for Lush Stories AuthorsPublished 23-MAR-2012
This guide is intended to assist writers in adhering to content and formatting guidelines.
Story Content GuidelinesAge — Characters must be at least 16 years old at the time the sexual situation occurs, including in flashbacks. This means that any "for as long as I can remember..." type of statements are prohibited, since most of us can remember far earlier than age 16. All stories that contain references to minors — including the author / narrator of a story told in flashback — will be removed.
Age Play — We accept age play stories. It must be clearly spelled out that all participants are actually adults engaging in role play. Such stories should be in Taboo or another appropriate category and have an "age play" tag.
ANAL — Rough or unprepared for anal sex which draws blood is unacceptable.
BDSM — All BDSM activity must be consensual, and submissives or bottoms must be able to put a stop to it. We do not allow knife play, and other forms of edge play may be considered dangerous sexual acts as well. Please see the BDSM Guidelines below for more detail.
Bestiality — We do not accept stories that include sex with animals or that paint animals in a sexual light. However, if a person becomes aroused horseback riding and it is clear that the animal is not the sexual partner, we will accept the story.
BISEXUAL — These stories need to include bisexual activity, mention a bisexual inclination, be about first time with the same sex by someone who had previously identified as hetero, or otherwise indicate that Bisexual is the proper category. Writers sometimes wrongly categorize Lesbian or Gay Male stories as Bisexual.
Blackmail, Extortion & Other Coercion — These stories are allowed. Please note that the person being blackmailed must be willing (even if the person reluctantly agrees) and must ultimately enjoy the outcome. However, blackmail stories involving the threat of physical violence, or totally unwilling participants are disallowed.
Blood — Sex or erotic acts that draw blood may be regarded as dangerous sexual practices, and stories that include such details should be returned to the author for rewriting. Examples include excessive or careless whipping / flogging and rough anal sex. Brief mention of blood may be allowed in First Time stories.
The exception to the no-blood rule is in the Supernatural category. Supernatural stories which do not have some kind of bloodletting are rather rare. Still, we don't need graphic descriptions of blood for titillation sake. Let the vampires, werewolves, et al have their fun, but keep it within reason.
Breath play -- We do accept stories that contain light choking and breath control. However, a person's breathing must not be withheld to the point were a person cannot breathe and is in danger of dying. Turning blue, drowning and suffocation are not allowed.
Celebrity Stories — We do not accept celebrity stories, or those containing famous people. The same is true of fan fiction and derivative works (see Fan Fiction entry).
Children — No one under age 16 may be depicted in a sexual situation or in a sexual manner. This means participating in sexual activity (including body exploration and masturbation), witnessing it, making mention of it, hearing references to it, or being referred to in any sexual way whatsoever. No sexual arousal, inadvertent or otherwise, or sexual activity of any sort (groping, covert touching, sly attempts at it, etc.) is allowed while children are present. Any risk that children might witness sexual activity must be excluded. Children may be included as characters in a story only if all the above stipulations are met. (See Age entry for further clarification.)
Coercion — Convincing someone to have sex is OK, whether by persuasion, cajoling, begging or other means.
Consent — Consent must be given prior to the act. We do not allow disguised rape, where the victim is forced at the outset but eventually gets into the swing of things. Initial reluctance may be overcome with persuasion, not force, and all participants must retain the ability to put a stop to the proceedings.
Prior knowledge of what may occur, in at least a general sense, is necessary in order for sex to be considered consensual. We do not accept stories in which someone signs away all rights to stop the sexual events without knowing what they may entail, and then finds out too late that some nasty stuff is involved but is powerless to do anything about it, having agreed earlier to do whatever the other party commanded.
CROSSDRESSING — Our crossdressing (cross-dressing) stories feature tales of either gender (usually male) dressing up in the clothes of the opposite sex, for reasons of sexual gratification. Crossdressers are akin to the transvestic fetishism, which is a sexual fetish for the clothing of the opposite gender. The crossdresser can be of any sexual orientation.
Dangerous Sexual Acts — We specifically prohibit knife play. We may consider a story that involves scissors. However, the blade must not touch the skin deliberately and must only be used to cut clothing. Other forms of edge play may be considered dangerous sexual acts as well. The BDSM Guidelines section that follows contains greater detail about other specific activities considered dangerous sexual practice.
Drinking / Drug Use — Recreational drinking or drug use is allowed.
Drugging — We do not accept stories that include drugging or other artificial means of inducing a state in which a character is unable to resist sexual advances. This includes hypnosis, supernatural mind control, or spiking someone’s drink.
Enemas — As long as no graphic description of fecal matter is given, stories that include enemas are all right.
EXHIBITIONISM — All exhibition stories are allowed. Please note that this is a complete change from our prior stance. A person does not have to consent to being watched.
Fan Fiction — We do not accept fan fiction and derivative works, even if the characters’ names have been changed. We will not publish anything recognizable as being directly based on the copyrighted work of others.
FETISH — This broad category of fetish stories covers all kinds of fetishism activities, whether they be for feet, latex, smoking, pantyhose, stockings, rubber, high heels, and even balloons!
FIRST TIME — These stories should relate to losing virginity, not to a sexually experienced person partaking in a specific activity for the first time.
GAY MALE — Stories that feature male on male action exclusively belong in this category, rather than in Anal or Oral Sex.
Golden Showers — We allow urination as an element of sexual activity.
GROUP SEX — Group sex is sexual behaviour involving more than two participants at the same time, and often referred to as swinging. Group sex where one person is penetrated by many others at the same time is often referred to as a gang bang. Gang rape is something totally different, and disallowed.
HARDCORE -- This category can contain anything from anal to fisting to rough sex and snowballing, nothing is taboo here. Consider this our most depraved category. All content must still meet guidelines even if it is extreme.
INCEST — Stories in this category must be fictional. Please do not include comments like, "this is a true story" or other similar wording. Otherwise, standard rules apply (all characters must be 16 or older and sex must be consensual).
Stories containing sex between family members must be in the Incest category, but it may be all right for depictions of other activities (such as kissing or engaging in group sex but not directly with each other) to remain in other categories.
INTERRACIAL — These stories feature sexual relationships between different ethnicities or races. They may refer to any differing race. Racial slurs are not allowed.
Lactation / Breastfeeding — These stories belong in Fetish or Taboo. Stories that focus on lactation as an erotic element are acceptable if the erotic element is exclusively between adults: no erotic nursing or touching of breasts happens when a baby is present, and NO orgasms or arousal from an infant breastfeeding is part of the story. The fact it happens in real life is a subject for breastfeeding and parenting discussion boards, and is not appropriate on an adult erotic story site.
LESBIAN — Tales of women who love other women.
LOVE POEMS — Love poems should contain elements of romance or eroticism. Poems dealing with the death of a loved one, those commemorating disasters, and those that are "downers" in every way are not acceptable here.
LOVE STORIES — This is the only category in which we accept stories that do not necessarily contain erotic elements or sex scenes. These are stories of romance and love, which are generally on a deeper relationship level than stories in other categories. This category focuses on falling in love, being in love, and developing a loving relationship.
MASTURBATION — Masturbating has been defined as the excitation of one's own or another's genital organs, usually to orgasm, by manual contact or means other than sexual intercourse.
MATURE — The participants in these stories are "of a certain age."
Member Names — Using a lush member's name in a story / poem, is permitted, provided you have written consent from that member. Any story / poem, containing heartbreak / slander etc against another member, will be rejected.
MILF STORIES — MILFs and cougars, hot older women / younger guy stories are what we serve up here.
Necrophilia — We do not allow sex with dead people.
NOVELS — Lengthy stories should be broken into shorter chapters if any part is more than 10,000 words. People are unlikely to wade through a story which is any longer.
ORAL SEX — Oral sex stories relate to the giving and receiving of oral pleasure. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females, whereas fellatio refers to oral sex performed on males. A subcategory, Analingus, refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus, either male or female.
Pet Play — We allow pet play, as long as it doesn't involve the actual family pet. Please ensure it remains strictly role play among consenting adults and does not hint at fantasizing about a real animal. Standard rules apply. These stories should probably go in BDSM or Taboo.
Piss Play — See Golden Showers entry.
Pony Play — We allow pony play. Please ensure it remains strictly role play among consenting adults and does not hint at fantasizing about an actual animal. Standard rules apply. These stories should probably go in BDSM or Taboo.
QUICKIE SEX — A quickie does not require full copulation; it may be limited to oral sex or mutual masturbation.
Rape — We do not accept any stories containing rape.
Rape Fantasy — A rape fantasy suggests the idea of being “owned,” controlled and used. The fantasist is a willing participant, and proceedings can be brought to a stop at any time they choose. It isn’t rape as such, rather than a form of role playing and submission.
RELUCTANCE — A person may initially be reluctant but ultimately must be a willing participant.
Road Head — Receiving oral sex while driving. We allow this foolish and potentially dangerous activity.
Role Play — Stories featuring role play must meet our guidelines. See separate entries for Age Play, Pet Play and Rape Fantasy.
Scat — We do not accept stories with scat play. Enemas are all right as long as no graphic description of fecal matter is given.
Slapping -- This activity often occurs in BDSM and reluctance stories and is allowed. However, slaps should be open handed and not excessive. Penis slapping is allowed. Back hand slapping and excessive slapping that renders a person seriously injured is prohibited.
SPANKING — Spanking stories involve characters who like to spank or be spanked.
STRAIGHT SEX — Straight sex stories relate to aesthetic, sexual and romantic attraction exclusively between two individuals of differing genders.
SUPERNATURAL — This is a wide story category, catering for stories with a Supernatural / Non-Human theme. These are often associated with paranormal and occult ideas. Stories to be placed in here include those relating to Vampires, Fantasy Worlds, Ghosts, Aliens, Futuristic themes, Robots, Triffids or anything else the imagination may conjure. We allow a certain amount of leeway in this category, but basic guidelines must be observed. That is, it's all right for a vampire to draw blood by biting someone, but it's not OK to use mind control to force anyone into sex against their will. Please see the Supernatural Guidelines below for more detail.
TABOO — Taboo sex stories relate to the restrictions placed on sexual activities and relationships (sex outside of marriage, adultery, intermarriage).
Terms of Service — Accepted by all members upon joining Lush: "I agree not to post stories which feature underage people / minors. I also agree not to submit stories which include content pertaining to rape, abusive situations, graphic violence, totally unwilling participants, drugging, dangerous sexual acts, suicide, death, or sex with animals (bestiality)."
TOYS — The use of sex toys, vibrators, butt plugs, strapons, pumps, and other adult toys are featured in this section.
TRANS — Trans is a broad category encompassing transvestites, transsexuals, transgendered people, ftm, mtf, ts. There may be some overlap with the crossdressing section — please move to that category if the story is specifically to do with crossdressing.
Unacceptable Content Disclaimer — We do not accept stories which feature underage people / minors. Teen stories are fine providing the characters in the story are of legal age (16 years old). All stories that contain references to minors will be removed, and the submitter may be banned from the site at our discretion.
We also do not accept stories including content pertaining to rape, abusive situations, graphic violence, totally unwilling participants, drugging, dangerous sexual acts, knife play, mutilation, suicide or death.
The same is true for stories featuring sex with animals (bestiality) and scat.
Violence / death - We are accepting stories that contain graphic violence and death. However, if the action takes place during any sexual act, then the story is not allowed. If you have a question as to the story's violent content, please post in the forum for discussion.
VOYEUR — Stories involved filming a subject while they are not aware are allowed. However, all parties must be made aware of the film's existence before the story's conclusion and they must agree to the activity.
Water Sports — See Golden Showers entry.
WIFE LOVERS — These stories are specifically concerned with married women. The wife in question may not actually be making love to her husband, and the stories could involve other lovers, either men or women. Akin to this category are slut wives, hot and horny wife stories, wife swapping, and cheating wives.
BDSM GuidelinesAll BDSM activity must be consensual, and submissives or bottoms must be able to put a stop to it. Rules of safe play must be followed.
In stories about an ongoing dom / sub or master / slave relationship, consent may be implied; however, if the question arises, it must be clear that the bottom does have a choice. Such a relationship may not be established through fear or coercion. Both (all) partners must be willing participants in their respective roles.
With few exceptions, we prohibit the following activities for the reasons specified.
If done incorrectly or something goes wrong, these could result in death:
- Knife play. This applies to all sharp implements, such as letter openers and scissors. However, scissors may be used to cut away clothing, so long as the person doing the cutting keeps his or her hand between the flesh of their partner and the clothing being cut.
- Self-bondage or unattended bondage. All participants must be able to put a stop to the scene, by employing a safe word or other means. A bound person who is alone does not have that ability, so we do not allow unattended or self-bondage. Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis, if it is clear that self-bondage is being done in a safe manner, including having a means to escape and a backup person involved. Please post in the Story Mods forum if you're unsure about a particular story.
- Electrical play (electrotorture). Stimulation with a small, battery-operated device is acceptable. Hooking someone up to the mains supply is not!
These include bloodletting or a likelihood of bodily injury / psychological damage deemed unacceptable at Lush:
- Blood sports or anything that draws blood. This includes whipping, beating or flogging to the point that blood appears.
- Skin cutting or Scarification.
- Surgical modification.
- Nailing.
- Branding.
- Fire play.
- Abuse. This does not mean standard physical discipline or humiliation within the context of a scene; it means harshly punishing everyday occurrences, using extreme discipline or never allowing any downtime from the psychological demands of a role.
Supernatural Guidelines- No apes. This is bestiality.
- No unicorns or centaurs because they are basically horses.
- We don’t allow tentacle sex with real animals like octopuses, as this is basically a form of bestiality too. A supernatural story featuring sex with plant tentacles or fantasy creatures would be ok.
- Blood-letting in vampire themed stories is ok.
- We don’t allow snuff as part of a supernatural storyline. Death may be used as a back story but not as part of the actual supernatural storyline.
- We don’t allow mind control through supernatural powers, as all sex (even supernatural sex) needs to be consensual.
Story Submission GuidelinesCategories — Since many stories fit into multiple categories, we recognize that it might be difficult to choose the correct one. Please keep the following in mind when selecting a category: Stories with sex between or among family members must go in
Incest; stories featuring any magical entity or occurrence belong in
Supernatural; stories about dominance and submission need to be in
BDSM; and stories in which any party is hesitant should go in
Reluctance. Other fitting categories may be used as tags. We reserve the right to move any story into a different category if we see fit.
"Do Not Resubmit" — If you receive this message from a moderator along with a rejection notice, please do not resubmit the story, either by editing the existing file or as a new submission. We track submissions and know which are not to be accepted.
Formatting — A story may be rejected for improper formatting (hard returns at the end of each line, no blank space between paragraphs, etc.). It is the writer's responsibility to make sure the submission is formatted according to our specifications; we will not publish stories that are improperly formatted.
Grammar — Proper grammar is essential. Please use the pull-down menus in the highly useful
Guide to Grammar & Writing to learn about the specific items that may be troubling you. Some of the more common mistakes involve
sentence fragments,
run-on sentences,
subject-verb agreement and
tense shifts.
One-Liner — The one-liner (a short sentence describing the story) is not required. If included, it should pertain to the story.
Punctuation — Stories must include correct punctuation. Please refer to our
User Friendly Guide to Punctuation if you have questions. When using quotation marks, either American or British punctuation is acceptable, but it should be consistent throughout the story.
Spelling — Both American English and British English are acceptable.
Story Length — Stories should be between 600 and 10,000 words. Except for Love Poems, submissions shorter than 3,000 characters (about 600 words) are kicked back programatically. Story verifiers may, at their discretion, either verify or return stories of slightly more than 10,000 words. Stories longer than 10,500 words will be removed with a request they either be trimmed to 10,000 words or submitted as chapters.
Suspension of Your Account — Submitting a story that egregiously violates our rules will result in immediate account suspension. This includes (but is not necessarily limited to) stories that depict rape, mutilation, excessive violence, bestiality, necrophilia or pedophilia. In most cases, submitting such a story will also result in account deletion, and in extreme situations the offender will be reported to the appropriate authorities.
If any story is submitted multiple times without the necessary corrections being made, the writer will first be given a warning and then may be suspended upon any subsequent resubmission of the same story. Please heed the instructions of the story verifiers to avoid this outcome.
Tags — Tags are required and should always relate to the story.
Titles — Please adhere to the following standards: Titles should be in Title Case, not in ALL CAPS; do not place a period (full stop) at the end of the title; do not use any emoticons in the title; and check the spelling. "Untitled" is not an acceptable title.
Maggie Rascal(Please note, I am no longer active on Lush and will not be responding to messages or friend requests.)