Amazing Grace

Many of her items are scenes rather than stories, but I wish I could capture her brisk style of writing. She has many complete stories that are under 500 words and I envy her for that.

Goodgulf

I think the "spank spank spank" thing kills a lot of my enjoyment but I do like several of her stories.

On the other hand, it fills in a vast amount of description.

Compare:
Marge looked down at the miscreant. Raising her right hand, she brought it down with blinding speed on his left bottom cheek. Then came one his left thigh, one the right near the small of his back, then one that landed in the middle of his cheeks. As he squirmed and wiggled, she knew she was getting through.

With:
Marge looked down at the miscreant.
spank spank spank
As he squirmed and wiggled, she knew she was getting through.

Which do you think took less time to write (or read)?

Goodgulf

You got that right. I am WAY too verbose in my writing and desperately need an editor. Some of Grace's stories are a little [i]too[i] short though, IMO...

Goodgulf-
On the other hand, it fills in a vast amount of description.

I appreciate that you're making an effort to cite a specific example, but you've got to be kidding. So what if something takes less time to read, especially if it adds nothing? Your example is marginally better than what we might normally come across; it can only work if used discreetly, and with some actual description to carry it along. Of course it's possible to overdo it the other way, but at least the writer would be trying. The author we've been discussing has a marked tendency to go to the SPANK SPANK SPANK SPANK SPANK well far too often. As a discerning reader of spanking fiction, I find it lazy.

p.s. I'm having trouble working the reply w/quote function here - any suggestions?

You have to highlight what you want to quote before pressing quote. That caught me out for ages and I'm guessing it is where you're going wrong. If not I apologise.

I wish I was.

Seriously, look at the word count on some of my stories. Then consider that Arizona Vacation and both County Line stories were only broken into chapters because chapters fit the format of this site better than long stories.

I write things longer than they need be. I get so caught up in detail that I add paragraph after paragraph on boring subjects (which seem vital to the story as I write it). I'll take the the time to go smack by smack only to have it hit mean that I'd fill pages during a long spanking.

Then I look at Grace and see her doing the same (or better) job in under 1000 words. Sure, some of them are
spank spank spank spank
rather than an in depth treatment of each spank, but it gets the point across without hitting the reader with a wall of text.

Many professional writers talk of "killing your babies" (meaning taking out the stuff that seems important to you but doesn't add to the story) and I fear I will never learn that art.

I think Grace and I have a similar word count. Not the same, but not off by much, but the number of stories we have is vastly different.

That said, read "tribute" (both versions) to see my attempt at writing one of her stories.

Goodgulf

The second item would take less time to read/write I would assume but for me (at least) it doesn't appeal to me.

The first spanking scene from the short story "The Moon Goddess and the Son" by Donald Kingsbury provided me with enough detail to let my imagination fill in the missing detail.

......is hardly evocative prose. It tells us very little about the action, certainly nothing about the emotional or physical effects, and gives very little for the imagination to work with.

While short may be good, I would say that is provided the prose carries with it enough essence to provide a sensory or emotional impact.

Exactly. Which is why that 500-word challenge a few years ago was so difficult! So many authors have a hard time cutting the extraneous details and prose that adds nothing to their story. I am just as guilty of doing that as other writers here, even though as a professional editor I had no problem "killing" such verbosity in my authors' manuscripts. But it's hard when it's your own work to step back and see things objectively. EVERYTHING you wrote must be important, or why else would you have included it, right?

Obviously, effective (spanking) fiction requires some balance between simply incorporating SPANK SPANK SPANK and trying to fully convey enough detail to make a lasting impression on your reader.