Hi Jayna,
Thank you for the clarification, that really helps me a lot.
In fairness to yourselves, the story WAS trying to make people think it was real, so when the reader found out it was only a costume in the end they'd be like "oh ok, that's the big reveal". It was my first attempt at a type of twist (probably not a very good one, but hey, I'm still only learning here!) 🙂 So to make the story work, I felt those parts were needed, but unfortunately I can also see how those parts would skirt close to the edge of your moderation rules.
I don't know if I'd be able to edit it enough to have it un-muted for the Inkwell and still keep the core essence of the story. I might just have to accept that this 'story baby' might grow up to be a teenage delinquent and not a respectable doctor or lawyer like hopefully some of my other work will! 😁
But I totally see where the Inkwell is coming from, I was a mod for years in various groups and I know how difficult it can be to juggle all the rules. I understand the Inkwells stance on graphic violence and that's perfectly fine.
Plus now I've learned where the step over of that line is, so it's good for me to be honest, as I love the Inkwell community and want to continue to submit stories to it.
I'm learning that I'm just enjoying writing and exploring this journey of who I am as a writer, so rather than censoring myself, or over editing to the point of losing my authentic voice, any stories going forward that I might think cross any lines I'll just keep separate from my Inkwell postings, even if they were originally inspired by an inkwell prompt. It's no biggie, hopefully I'll still have plenty of stories! 🙂
I hope this didn't cause you too much drama. 😁
Thanks again for your clarification and kind words, and thanks to @samsmith1971 and @itsostylish for being so helpful and making me feel so welcomed in this community, you know how fragile us writers can be. 😁