User blog comment:ThatCreepyChick/Question to all experienced writers!/@comment-25052433-20140915052226

Yep, Emp sums it up pretty well in regards to how to avoid having your pasta deleted. Make sure it fits in the guidelines of the site, get advice from the Writer's Workshop, and your story should be fine. The ones that we see deleted a lot are the ones that are clearly first drafts that go straight up on the site. Avoid doing that and you should find your pasta sticking around.

As far as finding a genre or concept, I would suggest that you explore what matters to you, as stated below. If you feel good about the idea, then chances are you are on the right track.

Next it's just a matter of working out the start to finish of it. I accomplish this by walking around and telling the story to myself, as though I am telling it to a group. If I am entertained by myself, then I can safely assume that others may be equally entertained.

Finally, avoid clichés. We don't accept any spinoffs, so avoid stories that contain existing OP's that are common to this site and others like it. Avoid the cliché ideas like catch phrases, bleeding eyes, haunted media and video games, demonic emails....all of that has been done to death.

Most importantly, find your own flavor. If your story ends up having a happy ending, then roll with that. There is no rule stating that a story has to end in a disturbing fashion. Mostly it just needs to be original and you should always try and produce an emotional response from the reader.

Best of luck!