[Kitten]

Originally Posted by Butterfly

However, please do not submit stories about bondage, being trapped, etc. and struggling. That is not the theme of the month.

Does this mean stories that stories using bondage, being trapped and struggling as a metaphor are excluded from this competition?

I think that being able to share something you struggled with is great, but I don't feel that you have to name and describe specific struggles to meet the theme of struggling. For example, my story involves exactly this kind of metaphor but a careful reader might discern that it is actually discussing struggles like self-love and reflection, and feelings of being trapped, desperate, confused, helpless and alone. I respect how everyone writes and a very straight-forward story can be very engaging and well-written.
However, I would like it if other styles of writing and expressing feelings and issues could be considered as well.

Not to mention that if I would write about my struggles in clear terms, it would violate the ToS as they are too graphic and the things that happened to me are illegal in all of the developed world.

Edit; would it be OK for the voters to decide in their votes if they feel the story they read meets the theme? I would imagine if the theme was "littles" and someone wrote a story about how to wire your electric, the story simply would not receive any votes. (: In the end, not everyone takes the same meaning out of the same story, but it would be nice if people/stories weren't excluded simply because they were not understood.