Monday, February 10, 2014

A Spank to Remember

When writing any kind of story the author is depending on a certain level of disbelief from the reader. How many times have you read a book or watched a movie and said “That would never happen!”

I am guessing a lot, because fiction is in fact fiction and not real life. Even when you know in your brain that the situation would not work in real life, you let it happen. You want it to happen.

I think as a fan of spanking fiction I let myself suspend my belief of what would work in real life. I want the unbelievable to happen. I want this man, that this girl hardly knows, to take her back to his mansion and spank her. I want him to end up being the most trustworthy person she could have ever met. I want her to fill some void he had empty within him. They complete each other, they make each other better people, they live spankily ever after! Yes! I thrive on this!

When it comes to writing I always find this a delicate issue. Now, granted, I am still a newbie writer in this genre. Even though I feel readers need to suspend their realistic expectations for a while, I still want there to be an air of believability. I find myself saying 'what would I do in this situation?'

The real answer always makes for a terrible story. Let me give you an example of my first real life spanking encounter.

I was in college. I was all of 19 or 20 years old. I was spending the weekend at my friend's college and she took me out to party hop. (Mr. McKay and I were on our three year hiatus at the time.) She introduced me to her friend and I spent the night talking, drinking, and ultimately making out with him. I don't really remember him at all. This was a long time ago. I am guessing he was nice enough and good looking enough. I have no idea what we talked about, or any other details of the night.

This is the important part. We ended up at someone's house party. This guy I was hanging out with sat on the stairs in the living room and pulled me down into his lap. We were drinking and talking and kissing admidst this crowded, loud, out of control party when he leans in close to me and says, 

“I think you need a spanking.”

I stopped breathing. How did this guy know my deepest, darkest, fantasies when I was not even comfortable with having them myself? A part of my brain cheered, this could actually happen! The rest of me was paralyzed. I forced out a very thoughtful reply,

“What??”

He circles his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

“I think you've been a very naughty girl and you need a spanking.”

I am pretty sure I soaked my panties. Even recounting this situation in my head right now I am getting all hot and bothered.

And yes, if this were a spanking romance novel the heroine would have let him spank her, right? She would have followed him up the stairs and took what was coming to her. Obviously, such a naughty girl, she needs to be taken to task right there.

Real life me: not so much. I bolted! I made some excuse to wiggle out of his grip, I found my friend and we left. I deftly ignored this guy the rest of my weekend, trying to erase the situation from my memory.

Who was this guy anyway? Who just goes around telling girls he just met he's going to spank them?? Where does he get off? But oh my, did I get off. Many times over the years, thinking about what would have happened if I said yes.

Maybe I have him to thank for my budding career in spanking romance. I have spent close to a decade now writing and rewriting the same scenario over in my head.

What would have happened if I had given in that night? The real answer is nothing. I never would have been down with that, not at that point in my life and not with some guy I just met.


But between fictional characters? Mmm, the possibilities are endless. And I will try to make it believable enough that you only yell, “That would never happen!” once or twice.

5 comments:

  1. I would be reliving that in my mind forever I'm pretty sure. And it would have the fictional scene next...but really, I think most of us would have done what you did and bolted! I wish I could pick his brain though. How bold to come out and say that!

    I think in fiction, most readers are willing to suspend their disbelief. They even want to - I know I do. This is fantasy, it is fiction - I mean, ok, if it's contemporary, don't give me a guy with 2 penises or something but nine and a half out of ten times, I'm going to go along with the fantasy.

    Romance was one of the genres I would read when I was younger and they all had their HEAs and these unbelievable men (sounds familiar). I always knew that they would have that HEA and that the hero would be this amazing, superhero almost and that's what I wanted - still do. In a way, it's nice to know those things are almost guaranteed in our genre and that's one of the reasons I read it.

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  2. I still think that, what was he thinking?? What a weird thing to lead with, LOL.

    Yes, I think the draw of reading romance is the HEA so I end up being really liberal with what I will believe because I want more than anything for that HEA to happen!

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  3. Great post, Casey. I really love the way you grapple with reality and just don't let go. ;)

    I don't know how much other BDSM fic writers' mileage varies, but one of my big problems in connecting with readers seems to be that my main motivation for writing BDSM fic is to explore exactly that boundary, and to call an unrealistic fantasy and unrealistic fantasy, and to give myself license to enjoy it for exactly that reason. A lot of readers seem to HATE that. LOL.

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  4. I can see the scenario going either way in real life and in fiction. In real life, given that there was alcohol involved, you were sitting on his lap and you were already kissing, I don't think it would have been much of a big step to be spanked.

    In fiction, I can see the opposite. I can see the heroine rushing out, and then replaying that incident and realizing afterwards how much she wished she had given in.

    So much of what is credible in fiction depends on the overall tone of the story. What else is happening? A story written to be true-to-life will have different burdens of proof than one written as a fantasy.

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  5. So awesome!
    Casey, I would have done the same thing. Bolted, and then relived it over and over in my head.

    wow!
    So do you think maybe he read some sort of spanking vibe from you?

    I have always wondered if real Dom's can do that. (I read it in fiction all the time . ) Hmmm.

    I love these discussions about reality and fiction. While I love having enough reality to not make it unbelievable; I also like having enough fantasy in it so I can actually escape for a while.

    KWIM?

    If it is too close to reality, I either end up resenting my poor hubby ("You didn't spank me for rolling my eyes at you. Again!") LOL, or it becomes less of an escape, and I can't fully enjoy it.

    Great post!
    Can you do some more of those fan fiction scenes? I like the Dirty Dancing one, and have a hankering for The Sound of Music now. :)

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