Musings from a budding writer

I didn't mean to alarm you - that piece was written with 'tongue in cheek'.

If realism's the goal, which is most readers' preference, then plausibility is important and worth the time taken to create the right context.

You can't control your readers' interest-levels - some will yawn and turn away, others will read avidly to the end and ask for more - so don't worry about it. But do ask yourself, when re-reading your work, "Does this passage add anything to the reader's understanding of the characters, setting, plot or themes?" If the answer's no (i.e. it's all been said before), then you could probably delete it to good effect (unless of course it's a spanking scene!). When I first began writing - for this site, back in 2010 - it felt sacrilegious to delete anything I'd written: all that effort, gone to waste! But pruning enriches the bush, and the time spent is worth it in the end.

People sometimes differentiate between a "spanking story" and a "story with spanking in it", and I wonder if the difference is really just in length and purpose. KDPierre's definition of a "spanking story" as

"a concise, tight, clever, stand-alone story that touches on something integral, poignant, or just artfully or emotionally evocative of what it means to have this predilection."

is an excellent one. The purpose of a "spanking story" is clear. A "story with spanking in it", however, probably has other purposes in addition to that evocation of what it means to be a spanko - it may seek to evoke a place or time; it may explore wider aspects of human relationships than just the spanking dynamic; it may focus on the development of characters over a longer timespan than the "concise, tight...stand-alone story" allows.

KDPierre states that "I can't think of any novel length works I consider to be 'good' spanking stories. Most are just sequential spankings scenes linked together over the course of time with little else going on." But perhaps the very definition of a 'spanking story' he uses makes this impossible?

Our predilections, I think, are rather different (mine is mostly F/Ff), so I don't expect KDP has read "Summer Term at Chesterton Court" (major plug alert, folks), which is a girls' boarding school story set in 1979 describing three months in the lives of about 12 major characters developed over 800 pages. It's a coming-of-age story, as befits the 17/18 age group, but it also explores the theme of corporal punishment itself at a time when its use was dying out in British schools. It's been well received, so I humbly plug - sorry, I mean I humbly beg... to differ with the view that something novel-length cannot also be a good "spanking story".

That seems like sound advice, thanks.


An F/f coming of age story about 17-18 year old girls in a boarding school that uses corporal punishments, you say. Do any of them secretly want to be spanked, or is that too much to hope for?

I was just about to own up to being the author of the 'pescatorial punishment' story when I realised that the one I wrote was excluded from these hallowed shelves probably for requiring too much knowledge of prior stories. To be completely fair, the kipper may not have actually struck the bottom in question, and if it did there would most likely have been flakes of fish everywhere.

However, I digress.
Yes, I get attached to my characters, so much so that they get walk on parts in other characters' stories. There is even an avatar of the author who shows up. This is important because much of my early work was about exploring the nature of the relationship between characters and authors, so much so that the stories would probably have come on the wrong side of KDP's 'is it a spanking story?' criterion.

Do the characters drive the plot? Yes again. Often the story has started with a single thought, sometimes as little as a pun, and the story forms around it.
I find that journey of exploration interesting, I know it's all come out of my own mind, but it feels like it was there to be discovered rather than invented.

One thing I would recommend though is to leave what you've written for a while and go back later to edit it. That short separation aids the objectivity which is important when writing for other people.

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I can handle F/F and have written several, but I admit to not having read this. However, the issue of school discipline is also far removed from what I see as being a modern day, real life, lifestyle spanko. So, I concede this may be a wonderful piece, but also confess it's probably 'not my thing'. And that part I wish to make abundantly clear. My "minority view" is just that. And it's personal to me. I fully realize that most people do not share my view, my criteria, nor my tastes.

I've written a lot of different kinds of stories. I have even indulged in the long, chapter-upon-chapter, endless series of one thing after another.......and that piece....which I put a lot of effort into, and is practically a novella sits, unpublished in a folder in my basement, because in my view, it's self-indulgent crap. (And I wrote it, so I should know LOL) Conversely, I think my best work is "Woman of the Well" and in it, though it is a long 'short story', I think I accomplished more than I managed in all those novella chapters.

Still, my taste is colored by my experience, which is not minimal. As such, I want to read something and feel "oh yeah! That's exactly what that's like". And I also want to hear why an adult in modern society has chosen to submit to something most others would never want. Living this lifestyle is a bit complicated. I want to read about those complications.

Good conversation BTW!

(I emboldened my response in the upper quote. I am not sure how to respond to two quotes without this happening, Sorry if it's confusing.)

Many do, of course! Being that age, the awareness of that desire isn't always immediate in most. I trace its awakening in the main character, who comes to appreciate at least the aftermath of being caned. There's also a masochistic teacher in her 20's who embraces her kink completely.


Yes, schoolgirl fictions are at a significant remove from reality, even that of the times in which they're set, in that most girls' schools never used CP at all. But without the allowance of that one unrealistic premise, there'd be no schoolgirl spanking fiction at all, and hey, it's my fantasy and I'll try if I want to! (I know you're not suggesting any of us shouldn't, and I do appreciate the standard you set for yourself in writing, and wanting to read, real-world stories set in genuine adult spanking relationships where you can recognise yourself.

Sounds like a good basis for an interesting (and arousing) story. You haven't described any element that I fear LSF might reject--right up our street.

Geoffrey Stirling.

Interesting idea. How long a while do you suggest?

Thanks for replying and kudos on using the fish motif!

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Nice! I'll definitely check it out!

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Thanks!! I must say, I'm starting to like you more and more (in a platonic way, I should emphasize).

OPB: Take a break and come back to edit.

Interesting idea. How long a while do you suggest?

When I have finished a story, I re-read it at my leisure several times, with my yellow highlighter at my elbow. If anything grates, or needs improvement, I highlight it. After several read-throughs, I go back to all those highlighted bit and adjust the story.

The whole process takes several days, but there is no big gap between "finishing" and marking-up.

Geoffrey Stirling.

Good idea. I would probably do that if my printer was working. Another thing I do is I sometimes convert the story to audio, which gives a different perspective.

I tend to review and rewrite several times a day, but I have also become a little obsessed, as I've hinted.

Going back to what TheEnglishMaster said:


It is very true. You must not only rewrite but delete with a firm hand(!). I have noticed I have a tendency to write very long, complicated sentences with unnecessary details, and I have spent the last day shortening some of them.

I'm a bit late to the party, but I hope I may still answer the questions, for what it's worth.

Authors, have you ever experienced this phenomenon where your story seemed to take on a life of its own and you began to feel a certain attachment to the characters?
Frequently. I love it when characters take over and help write the story. It usually becomes better that way. I've had the tops in my stories take over the scolding part a few times, which was immensely helpful to me.

Authors and readers alike, what exactly is a good spanking story in your opinion? Or more philosophically, what is a spanking story even?
A story that has spanking in it. It can either contain the event (or multiple events) themselves, or be only described or hinted at. There are stories that have 'no actual spanking' in them that are really good. Of course, they do have to be, at least in part, about spanking.
Whether I consider them good depends on many factors, including what I'm in the mood for when I read. If a story is very lengthy and descriptive, I tend to be disappointed when the spanking parts are quickly glossed over, although I've still enjoyed such stories on occasion when they were otherwise very good (well written, interesting story line, engaging characters etc.)


Is it a tool to get the job done quickly (if you know what I mean)? Or is it a piece of literature that you enjoy for its artistic qualities? Or maybe some combination of the two?
That's one of those things that depend on my mood. I enjoy some stories for their wank fodder quality (great term, KDPierre, hahah!), others for their literary quality. I find that I enjoy the stories from different authors for different reasons. Some are very sexy, others have amazingly realistic and lovable 'real' characters, others are fantastic over the top crazy fantasy stories which are guaranteed to make me laugh. I choose whatever I'm on the mood for. Sometimes I read out of my direct comfort zone because the topic of the story interests me or because it's written by an author I admire for their writing style, and I can still really enjoy it, even if it won't turn me on ;)
And some content I'll always avoid, even if it might be the best literary piece ever written, because it's too much of a turn-off for me. Different people, different interests.

When I write, I write whatever I have the inspiration for. I know I'll never please every reader so I won't try to do that either (not saying views and comments aren't important to me, though. I still enjoy receiving those very, very much :D). I've got a story published on this site which I knew beforehand wasn't going to be popular. I wrote it as part of a challenge, and that's what it was. Challenging and amazingly fun to write. It might not appeal to the masses, but the few comments I did get were very flattering and I cherish that.

So far I've only written short stories (I'm a little envious of those who can keep going for 30+ pages, I admit!). Some have the same characters which featured in another story, but they're stand-alone stories. I have this annoying habit of becoming very insecure at times, so if I keep a story going for too long, I become convinced it's terrible, start hating it, and delete everything.

For that reason I also can't let a finished story sit for too long before editing it. I do reread it several times, however, to try to take out as many mistakes as I can and remove redundant adjectives, break up overly lengthy sentences etc.
However long you want to let your story sit between writing and editing, it is wise to do the writing and editing at different times, because those activities require different areas of your brain. When I can't think of the right words to describe something or what I've written sounds off, I highlight it and come back to it later, to not disturb my writing flow.

Your story idea definitely sounds interesting so far, Astrosmurf, go for it!
(and sorry for my long response)