Authors: A question

I'd want to be a character in most - but definitely not all - of my stories.


Apples and oranges.

What the villain does in a drama is obviously meant to be seen as a sign of the character's evil, and gives us a reason to want the hero to beat him (or, depending on the kind of story, it shows us how much this character is in need of redemption). If a story contains a "hero" who rapes or murders and no one calls him on it, and there are no repercussions from it, and the author treats it as something totally normal, then - unless he's doing some kind of weird social commentary - I'd say that the author probably has a warped worldview.

Erotic fiction is an exception, but I think readers and writers of the rough stuff should still be very self aware when indulging the rape and abuse fantasies.

The answer to that is a very loud and clear YES, I would love to be a character in my stories. When I write in my mind I am often the male character in the story, but of course mostly do not write the story from that POV.

CS

Up until recently, I have usually received mostly encouraging comments and the occasional technical criticism (which I've always appreciated). However, my latest story prompted quite a few comments that fell into a different realm: the criticism of lifestyle choice. I found that a story written with the intention of amusing people, actually upset them instead. I was amazed since this had never happened before. (I am still processing the comments and how I feel about them since several were quite ......shall I say, "blunt"?)

Besides my shock at the story being seen in the opposite way I tried to write it, one thing that came across very clearly was that the remarks were directed at how my story ran contrary to the reader's expectations. They clearly felt each character should have behaved and been treated differently than they did and yet the opinions on what "should" have happened ran opposite to how I view this lifestyle. In fact, the suggestions, though made sincerely, actually upset me. I could not possibly "honor" the requests of my audience no matter how consistent their comments were since they clearly see things very very differently than I do.

Someone made the point of there being a lot of different "spanking genres" represented in the library. That is certainly true. There are also a lot of different tastes among readers. Personally I find the spanking of children or teens to be inappropriate and feel spanking should be relegated to consenting adults. The issues of consent and how people find themselves on the different sides of the spanking equation are key themes in my stories. There is no way I would write anything that expounded the opposite and yet that was the consensus among the comments. My story presented a situation where the adult male in a home was subject to disciplinary spankings while the kids in the house were not. In my case I lean towards male submission but fully understand this same arrangement could be M/F as well, the key being that only the consenting adult in the home is being spanked....not the kids. Several commentors wanted the opposite.

What I have been working through is my personal reaction to their personal reactions. My stories borrow heavily from actual life experiences and my characters are often plucked from the world around me or even extensions of myself. Imagine reading comments describing a character based on someone you know and love describing them as a "nasty little bitch" when the intention was to portray mischievous manipulation rather than cruel conspiracy. Or to see a character based on one's own lifestyle choices that accuse that character of being a "spineless wimp". Obviously an author has to be able to disassociate themselves and their real life inspirations from their fictional characters....but it isn't easy.

In this case, I think there is nothing to do but accept the differences and remain true to oneself....even if it pisses people off. However, it does show that comments, no matter how sincere are to be taken as such: comments, opinions. Regardless of one's audience, an author should remain true to themselves....even if it is unpopular.

Alright then, Mati! You can play Miss Stewart in "Sauce for the Goose"!! Unfortunately it is not all plain sailing for her and she ends up on the receiving end! Of course that has always been my favourite end!

I have to admit... mine too!

So what's the name of the story so that we read it and form our own opinions?

If it's the story I am thinking of (Schoolgirl's Spanking), I can see things from both sides. I'm one of the people who commented on it, and, though I can see your point, I don't think my - or MOST (maybe not all, though) of the other ones - were too off base. I liked the story quite a bit, and said so in my comments at the time.

As far as how you reacted to these comments, I think there are a few things at work here. First, a lot of people feel that spankings should in some way be "justified." Not necessarily an eye for an eye kind of thing - i.e. the length and severity of the spanking doesn't have to be in line with the crime, it could be more or less than what is deserved - but that bad behavior should result in a spanking, if the individuals in the story have agreed to that form of punishment. So, in your story, Jim - the adult - gets 2 justified spankings - even though he is not completely to blame for the second one, while Cindy - the "mischievous" teenager - not only escapes a spanking, she gets to hear Jim getting his rear reddened twice, and all of Jim's burning embarrassment that goes with it.

Many of the comments (including my own) didn't have a problem with Jim getting spanked, but wondered why Cindy didn't get her due as well. She obviously baited Jim, knowing what would happen. One could argue that she was initially trying to be nice, and maybe having a little girlish fun with him, and wasn't necessarily being mean or bratty - and that Jim's curt response was what made her become a bit more than just mischievous, at least moving towards mean, looking to make Jim pay with is rear for his sullen response to her. I can see that point of view. But even if that is true, to the mind of a reader looking for "deserved" spankings, if Jim got a severe one, than Cindy deserved at least a mild one, since her teenage reaction to Jim's sullenness was not very nice.

You explained in your comments that you don't believe in children/teenagers being spanked, and that's a good explanation for why Cindy didn't get a spanking in the story. But I don't know that your beliefs are so evident in the story. The closest I can find is a reference to Jim's first spanking, in which the narrator says that anyone who heard the spanking was glad it was "reserved solely for Jim." When I first read the story, I didn't understand this to mean that the teens in the house NEVER got spanked; at most, I would have thought they never got spanked when there was anyone else around. At one point in the story, Nancy even calls up and says "one more outburst out of you two and you'll both be sorry." Since the reader already knows that Jim has been spanked, the inference drawn from Nancy's comment could be that both Jim AND Cindy will be spanked, if they don't both settle down. More than anything else, I think that is why many people so freely commented that Cindy be spanked as well; they did not understand that you as the author - and by extension, Nancy - didn't believe in teens being spanked.

The other thing I think is going on is more general, and not limited to your story. LSF members all have been asked to comment more, which I think is a good thing. But some commenters, wanting to say SOMETHING, but perhaps lacking anything better to say, (and I am sometimes guilty of this as well) simply describe plot elements, or say "I liked when such and such happened." Similarly, many also will read the story through their own filter, and suggest to the author what should have happened, or what a character should have done, but didn't. Sometimes there is a legitimate basis for this; for instance, if a character in a story is described as having certain traits, but then, all of a sudden, turns into someone who does something completely foreign to those traits, the reader might be justified to say that the character should not have done such and such, but instead should have done something else. (BTW, I don't think this was true on your story – your characters were consistent and true throughout). So, while its occasionally legitimate, I think this type of comment is more a case of the reader indicating his or her own preferences, rather than truly "commenting" on the story. So, I wouldn't take these comments too much to heart, or worry that you might have "pissed" people off with whatever lifestyle choices you prefer in your stories. Your stories are good, and if you don't find a comment helpful, or worse – if you find it somehow offensive or mean-spirited – just move on to the next one, which will likely be better.

One last thing, from my own experience as a writer here in the LSF, which may have some relevance to your posting. By design, many of my stories have an element of humor in them. I've written a couple of stories in which I wanted the (usually female) characters to come off as mischievous and fun-loving, with their worst offense (in addition to delivering rear-reddening spankings) to be teasing and embarrassing their (deserving) "victim" via the spanking. I find stories like this amusing to read, so I like to write them as well. But in a few of my stories, several commenters indicated they saw the spankers in these FFF/M stories to be sadistic and cruel instead.

These comments initially surprised me, since I didn't think I wrote my characters like that. So, I reread the story, and guess what: I could see where those commenters were coming from. If read with a certain mindset, my characters WERE a bit cruel. From MY perspective they weren't, but from another perspective - perhaps from someone who doesn't share my affinity for F/M spankings, or maybe didn't think the male in the story quite deserved what he got - the characters were cruel instead of sassy, mean instead of fun-loving, sadistic instead of mischievous.

I won't say that those comments made me change how I write; I'm not sure they did. I think it' has made me a better writer, more attentive to an audience. I still write the same types of stories, but now I scan my stories for those types of character traits, and I try to imagine someone else reading them, and see how my characters sound. I think it's given me a little more insight into spanking stories in general, and not just the ones I like to read and write. My advice is to continue to write what you want, and what you like. Listen to the comments, and try to learn from the most valid ones, but don't take any of them too close to heart. Most of the people here are nice, and I don't think any of the comments are meant to be personal, even though they may sometimes feel that way.

What an interesting and illuminating discussion although it does seem to have moved off message slightly—should one make negative as well as positive comments has become to what extent does the author endorse the behaviour he/she is describing or want to emulate the fictional character.
Dealing with the last one first: one is likely to write more enthusiastically about something that appeals to one but fantasy is fantasy. Spanking fiction may allow the author to explore activity that he/she likes in theory but would never want to happen in practice. The parallel drawn by one of the commentators with rape fantasy is apt. In our area the severe chastisement of non-consenting minors is another. It may be nice to imagine such a thing but we would disapprove most strongly in reality.
There may well be authors who, if they ruled the world, would behave in the way that they describe but we should give the rest the benefit of the doubt. Anyway they will never rule the world. We write fiction; it should be judged as such. Much mainstream fiction describes characters and behaviour that any decent person would abhor. We don't assume that they want to be axe murderers merely because they write about them.
Now to criticism: I am relatively new to LSF. I have been stunned and delighted by readers' comments; some of which have contained criticism. Stephanie has been criticised because the build up was too long and she didn't get spanked until Chapter 5 (of 15). Personally I think that character and situation development are very important and, after all, the reader needs only to read that bit once. They can return to the action as often as they like already knowing why it is happening. I have however taken that on board and in Boundary have ensured that every episode includes action so no one has to wait too long.
I have received a comment request "Why no anal sex?" and responded to the person concerned that it was inappropriate at this point in the story but that I might write a follow up.
The one that really got me though was the kind (I mean it) commentator who pointed out that at the date I had Stephanie and her friends getting stoned and listening to Santana and Pink Floyd they would in reality have been listening to Johnny Rotten and his ilk. I like my background to be realistic so that was a mistake on my part and one I will try not to make again.
The erudition of the debate to which I am now adding my two pennyworth convinces me that LSF is an on line creative writing workshop as well as a source of erotic literature. The purpose of such a workshop is to allow writers to share their work and profit from constructive criticism. To my mind a little more criticism would be good.
I wouldn't want to see literary criticism of the type that is sometimes used to rubbish a book but the pointing out of internal inconsistencies (x couldn't have happened because you previously told us Y was in New York not Boston or no one would have been listening to Pink Floyd then) is extremely helpful. So too would comments on eg paragraph length, time jumping etc. Personally I am happy to receive them publicly or privately but I would like to receive them.
What I don't want, as others have said, is "Your fantasy(or storyline) doesn't hit my particular button so it is no good." I have seen no such comments on LSF but the answer should be straightforward—"Then go and find a story that appeals to your particular kink."
Incidentally I think it would be good if authors were encouraged to respond to these kinds of comments on the thread rather than privately or by the "author comment" at the top.
Love all comments including sensible criticism but then I'm no shrinking violet.

Geoffrey Stirling.

Smeple: Thank you for your response. It helped me put my reactions in a better perspective. Your observations made sense. Thanks again.

Blimp, I appreciate you honesty, but find your tone to be cynical. I was not trying to trumpet myself in anyway. I don't have a best seller yet and likely none of you would recognize any of my works. As an author, I appreciate anyone who is trying to help me to grow. What I wanted to know was if "amateur writers" shared that same passion for growth in their field. Some report that they do and others report that they do not. Overall, I have found this thread to have been most enlightening and I am sorry that you were offended by my question.