Open Novella Journal 2024

Filling Out the Form - Mature Rating

So...

There is a question that says, "Explain the mature rating."

While we certainly won't be nixed for covering abuse in our stories, or suicidal thoughts which can be potentially triggering subject matter, we do have to let the judges know.

And sometimes this will be enough to allow them to nix the story.

Or, if you're writing Children's Fiction and marked the story as Mature, or Teen Fiction/Young Adult this is also enough to get the story nixed. I mean, true, they can look to see if it's actually New Adult, but first and foremost they'll look at the story profile to see if it's a Teen Fiction/Young Adult that's been marked as mature, for this is reason not to pursue your story any further.

And yes, someone got nixed for this last year which stemmed from a misconception that the mature rating was that it contained any mature content rather than whether or not it was suitable for the target audience, with them claiming some books with PG-13 adaptions should be marked as Mature which in turn I think stems from this misconception that there is this seperation of Young Adult into upper and lower content that some writers have, not understanding that any Young Adult story with actual mature content is actually highly criticized for having what is considered inappropriate content.

Which--yes, I do know of certain series where it's marketed towards Young Adult and shouldn't have been because of the content.

But back to the Mature rating. Be honest. And if it is something say that they wouldn't feel comfortable showcasing on their profile, it isn't actually a big whup getting eliminated. It can be quite tricky to navigate not being triggering in ones work with potentially triggering subjects.