What are your essential requirements for a good story?

Well, based on those criteria there are quite a few of my stories which you wouldn't care for, even though like yours (somewhat unusual for a female spanking-oriented author) they are primarily F/M in top-bottom orientation.

The extreme embarrassment and humility involved in a hapless male having his bare behind soundly walloped by a pretty woman (or even teenage girl) with other delighted females present, either as witnesses or secondary spankers, that's a situation which I greatly enjoy both reading and writing about--however, I certainly have read and even written some one-on-one F/M (and F/F) accounts.

Also, I do tend to describe my major characters, notably the ones directly involved in the spanking action, as attractive physically (although hardly as perfect specimens), even the late-middle-aged ones. While I feature some rather strong, athletic feminine disciplinarians, the males whose bottoms they blister nonetheless are almost always presented as superior to them in a physical sense. There are plenty of real-life people who generally are in solid physical shape and are facially appealing as well, so I don't feel that it's too much of a 'logistical stretch' to feature those types as the primary characters in my writing. (I do agree that in real life, some women are stronger than some men, however I don't usually feature that situation in my stories.)

While I provide various reasons to explain my masculine spankees submitting to having their rears reddened by my corporally corrective females, in most cases their underlying motivation is quite similar to that described by KD (Pierre) for his spanked male protagonists--psychologically, they belong on the receiving end of a female-wielded hairbrush, paddle, strap, etc., although they won't always admit it openly to others, and sometimes not even entirely to themselves.

For me, some sort of emotional connection between the spanker and spankee is critical--even in a short spanking machine account I once wrote, there were two females responsible for the bare-bottomed male's discipline watching him react to his mechanical paddling and teasing him about how much it must sting. There may be 'institutional' correction shown being administered once in a while within my writing, but even in such a case I prefer some personalizing of the corporal punishment.

What I seriously dislike are unexplained significant changes in the behavior and/or mindset of characters--if those are going to happen, ideally there is suggestive 'foreshadowing' of their occurrence, while at the very least there should be an adequate explanation offered afterward. Examples of failures in this area which I find unconvincing:

{1} The assertive, independent-minded, self-confident woman who ends up being totally 'tamed' via being spanked (quite often forcibly) by a physically powerful man. This type of classic account strikes me as appealing to a belief that it's "normal" for males to be dominant and females submissive in a romantic/sexual relationship, being especially supportive of the idea that a man feeling threatened by a 'bitchy' female merely has to smack her seat soundly in order to "put that woman in her place," something she'll readily accept once he's demonstrated his 'superiority' to her. (The spanked female is generally shown retroactively accepting the male's physically punitive treatment of her, yet in reality I'm figuring that this type of situation would frequently result in the man being charged with assault and battery.)

{2} The totally spoiled, self-centered "brat" (of any age and gender) who ends up somehow being fully 'reformed' by a single spanking--at least suggest that he/she will require additional hard hiney-whackings before his/her attitude has been adequately adjusted in the long run, please.

Once I've finished, reading, rating and commenting upon the current Challenge's entries, I do intend to read a couple of your serials, my spankophile cyber-cousin...

--C.K.

I share Alef's distinction between a fetish self and a literary self, but a good spanking story needs to satisfy both selves. And I agree with Alef, too, about the need for 'internal logic', which sounds similar to saying the author/story must successfully enable me to suspend my disbelief and keep it hanging nicely (without letting it drop with a nasty bump, which is what a lapse in internal logic does). Beyond that, it just needs a female bottom being firmly attended to for the vaguest of good reasons.

I refer you, too, to the article 'Assessing a Spanking Story' in WellRed Weekly Volume 3 (scroll down from 'Sites') which covers some of the territory you're exploring.

I dearly wish I could take you to task on lapses of internal logic in your own literary productions here in the Library, and have that lively debate (the 5 minute argument, or the full half-hour?), but you're simply too good (although there are, now I think of it, two pieces I haven't checked yet, so perhaps there's hope).

CK: the independent woman who gets 'tamed' by a spanking: yeah that sucks, blech (wait, isn't that the plot of some Shakespeare play or other (yes you guys, I do know which one) - which leads me to, I would read anything by Shakespeare, even if the plot sucked, and that goes for any good writing, which is why I've read all of Margaret Atwood's children's books in addition to her adult books, because I just love her so much, and holy cow am I the boss of run-on sentences or what?)

Also, I think men and women like very different things in F/M stories, and the ones I write are what I like, and I'm a woman, so. I'm told by several women that they really, really like them, both in public comments and private messages (according to the private messagers, they were too embarrassed to admit in public to liking them). I don't know what sort of unfulfilled need I stumbled on, but I seem to have stumbled on something...


TEM: thanks for the article! I shoulda known you would have pre-empted me on the answers to these questions by, what, 5 years?? And said it much more eloquently, too, you bastard. OK, I change my requirement to: "It must also avoid the kind of implausibility that spoils whatever illusion it has set out to create."

And aw, you're making me blush again! (It must be your English accent, I can cyber-smell it.) I know you don't like F/M, so don't bother, there is no hope

I really like M/F too, but it has a two-decade long 'been-there-done-that' feel to me.

The emotional pain I was referring to was within myself as some stories bring up way too many memories. Emotions, whether painful or not, are good in stories as they can illicit a reaction of some type and I handle most of it very well.

I think if the reader ever could be polled (and that is not possible at this stage of the game) there would be as many different ways of looking at things as there are readers. We all write and read stories looking for something in the story that connects to us as a person and when we find it, we generally rate the story as a great one.

That difference is why the KLSF can have such a wide variety of stories and keep on going strong. Thankfully the differences in all of us is a asset we should never stop appreciating. If we read a story that does not appeal to us as an individual we know that there will be many others who think the story is great.

Most important is that I excite me a story. In ideal case with an original Storie and interesting characters. What I do not like, ageplay Stories or where parents spank their children.

CS, you know, it occurred to me after I posted it that my reply to you about that was really insensitive. Here you are telling me some stories make you feel bad, and I'm so eager to tell you about my own tastes, I just skipped right over it. I'm sorry And you're right, if a story happened to mirror something that brought back bad memories, I would probably not want to read it either.

Erdling: I agree, I don't like ageplay stories either, they're on my blacklist (But I always have to remember that I'm sure many things in my own stories make lots of people cringe and walk away and never look back. On a site like this, especially, whatever floats your boat...)

How about if the kids spank the parents?

In the versions of The Taming of the Shrew which I recollect having seen, Petruchio doesn't actually spank Katherina, although he does things which are actually worse (albeit done to himself as well), such as sleep deprivation and denying her access to food, to break her defiant spirit.

However, in the musical comedy Kiss Me, Kate by Cole porter, which features within it a performance of The Taming of the Shrew, the leading male character (portraying Petruchio in the 'play-within-a-play') does end up spanking the female lead (playing Katherina) on stage, passing off the woman's audience-viewed seat-smacking as part of the Shakespearian comedy which they're performing.

Getting back to the "truly important stuff," that is F/M spanking literature, I'd certainly be interested to know what both you and the females who've responded to your F/M stories (in general) found to be the most compelling aspects of them.

Perhaps I'll check out the public comments on your serials...

--C.K.

To me the best stories have to have some kind of plausibility and logic to them. I do enjoy some of the more light-hearted ones, of course. There's nothing wrong with a bit of slap and tickle.
When the story shows why one party submits to another and shows something about what's going on inside their heads it's even better.
In an F/m or F/f story, there should be something to show how she is in control.
A good stand alone story is fine, though others want me hoping for another chapter.

Hm, would at least something else. If it were well written. I'd read it. ;)

What I still like are credible dialogues. Those without stereotypes get along. Dialogues such as "you were a naughty boy / girl, it's time for your lesson". I do not like them.