Urgent - Is this a story within a story?

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   Help!
Currently, my object (pasta) doesn't physically appear in my 500-word story ... but does this qualify as a story within a story? Two women are being interviewed by a third. One woman briefly describes a moment to the interviewer, in which the other woman physically interacted with pasta.

“What’s Anna’s favorite food?”
“Stir-fry. It’s all she eats.”
“At least I cook! The one time she tried, Temi managed to burn pasta.”

The rules say you can't simply mention the object, but an exception would be a story within a story, e.g. "if a grandfather is telling their grandchild a story and they mention the assigned object through dialogue, it should be fine as long as the object is described as something that can be physically touched."

Thoughts?!

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beemorrow Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2025 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote beemorrow Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Urgent - Is this a story within a story? Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:19pm
	Help! Currently, my object (pasta) doesn't physically appear in my 500-word story ... but does this qualify as a story within a story? Two women are being interviewed by a third. One woman briefly describes a moment to the interviewer, in which the other woman physically interacted with pasta. “What’s Anna’s favorite food?” “Stir-fry. It’s all she eats.” “At least I cook! The one time she tried, Temi managed to burn pasta.” The rules say you can't simply mention the object, but an exception would be a story within a story, e.g. "if a grandfather is telling their grandchild a story and they mention the assigned object through dialogue, it should be fine as long as the object is described as something that can be physically touched." Thoughts?!

rpet0011 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 22 Mar 2025 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 1	Post Options Post Reply Quote rpet0011 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:37pm
	I'm not an expert by any means (this is only my 2nd 500-word!) but from my understanding, "something that can be physically touched" is more along the lines of Grandfather is telling Grandchild ex. a story about Grandma's favorite sweater and has the sweater on him. I feel like your example falls more in-line with pasta simply being mentioned rather than physically touched, unfortunately.

beemorrow Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 31 Jul 2025 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote beemorrow Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 Aug 2025 at 7:47pm
	That's what I was worried about ... but better to notice now than 5 hours from now! Thank you!