Your Best Work

I've got one where it falls flat. A series where (for some unknowable reason) part two has many more reads than either part one or part three.

Goodgulf

I don't know which one you're referring to, Goodgulf, but I've seen that phenomenon before. My guess is that some people read the synopsis (I'm talking about validated stories, of course) and check the icon content, then read only those parts that have actual spanking or perhaps sexual content. They are not interested in plot or character.

It's only a thought, mind you. I've no proof of that. Personally, I can't imagine opening a novel and starting at chapter 5 - but hey, it takes all sorts!

That could be true. Some readers are not interested in the story per se, they want just the "good parts", the action. It's like the difference between porn and erotic literature. Porn cares little about characters or story but a work of erotic literature takes time to establish characters the reader cares about and build erotic tension. You have to be willing to invest some time to get to the payoff. Personally, I prefer the latter, but I may be in the minority.

If you are, then so am I. For me to enjoy a story or a film, spanking or otherwise, I need to have an emotional reaction to the characters. I might like, pity, detest, or be amused or infuriated by them, but the connection must be there.

An analogy can be drawn with the better 'Disaster' films. The first hour of the film is generally taken up with getting to know the characters, so that when they are eventually eaten by a shark / drowned by a tidal wave / sucked into a vortex or whatever, I can say, "Oh no! I wanted him to be reunited with his son," or "Good. Served her right!"

If a character doesn't 'live' for me, then I don't care if he or she falls into a volcano (or gets spanked or laid). And if that happens, the story or book or film, has failed for me.

This is a point I've always made about writing spanking stories or really any other kind of fiction writing. The story shouldn't be about spanking, it should be about people. In the course of the story, some of the people end up getting spanked, but story is always about the people and how they relate to each other.

Absolutely. It's always what I hope to accomplish. What writing SPANKING story does for me, as an author (beyond the obvious I mean), is that I never have to worry about where the plot is headed, because it's ALWAYS towards that one thing.

Chard is absolutely right. If the story wouldn't be interesting without the spanking then it's less of a story

That, I think, is both a strength and weakness of our stories. We enjoy them because we like to read a well-written spanking episode. But where is the eagerness to find out what happens next when even the first sentence tells us who the spankee and/or spanker are, and what follows is just filler until at last, sure enough, hand/implement strikes bottom? Give me a twist or turn along the way. Some uncertainty that piques my interest and makes me want to read on.

In my view there are "scenes" and there are "stories". Stories have a point that is about the people in them, how they relate to one another and what they do. In a story stuff happens and it's not just spanking stuff.There can be conflict, love, hate, envy, etc, but in a story these things produce action, they propel the plot.

A scene is just a description of an action. Maybe it doesn't matter who the characters are and how they got there, they are in this scene now,acting out. On this board there is always the subtext of a spanking somehow involved, but that does not have to be the point of the story. Maybe the point of the story is "I love you" or "justice was served" or "thank God you're safe now" or "mystery solved", but the characters did something to bring it to that point. If the spanking is however, the whole point of the story, it is probably a "scene" and not a story.

To go even further I would label spanking scenes described in connection with overused and cliche'd plot lines as "scenes". It's almost like the videos--girl comes in late, dad is mad, spanking ensues; or wife overspends, hubby is mad, spanking ensues. That's just a scene. I try not to write them, but I have to admit--I've been guilty of it myself. It's much better writing if you can make your characters real people with real issues that get resolved. If on the way somebody gets a spankin', then post it right here.

I like what ChardT said. That sums it up nicely for me. Unless you have interesting people that you can believe in it is going to be difficult to maintain interest. If on the other hand you have characters that your readers can empathise with and believe in you can produce a good story that will sustain the readers interest right to the end.

PS Sorry Linda, I see I am more or less repeating what you have just said! So much for original thought! Or is it great minds think alike!?