How to judge a story

I agree with...pretty much everything in this paragraph. I will say, however, that those two are not at all mutually exclusive. Its a rare find, but I will occasionally be fortunate enough to find a well-written story with an interesting plot, psychologically realistic characters that develop throughout the story, and really hot scenes that fit my fetish perfectly.

Now, granted, the fact that these ARE spanking stories makes it somewhat less than likely for this library to produce Great Literature, and we all know that there are plenty of better places to look for that. But I don't think that good writing, story, and characters are too much to ask for, even from a smut story; those are things you should be able to expect from ANY story, regardless of genre.


Most of my favorite stories are erotic, whether overtly or otherwise. While I try to write good characters and entertaining plotlines, I consider my work to be just plain erotica, and I don't expect others to see it as anything else. As I said, that's not mutually exclusive with exploring new themes and possibilities.

I have an objective when writing in this genre and that is to first write a STORY. I usually try to have what I call an external plot. That is a plot that exists exclusive of any spanking scene that might occur, e.g. Menace from Mongo, Friday Night Bridge Club. Then I take that plot and layer in spanking scenes as the result of the action--consequences for behavior, judicial punishment in that culture, resolution of conflict, etc. Like in Poker Lesson, now on the board, I could have had the marker say "do a strip tease". The plot, characters, everything would have been the same. In this way the story is not "about" spanking per se, usually. It is about something else--solving a mystery, boy-meets-girl, wives gone wild, etc. It's not great literature--mostly it's erotica. I write about adults. And sometimes I violate my own rule deliberately and it is all about the spanking, but I ususally have a reason--like in After the CP Act. That is a what if? scenario that I wanted to explore. And even there it's really about the characters' thoughts and feelings. That is now, however. Ten years ago I was just writing spanko porn, e.g. Guy at Girls Poker Night. Maybe that's what I'm still doing, LOL.

And what, pray tell, is wrong with that? Whatever it is you're writing, you're writing it well. Keep it up! I agree, though, that employing a good plot, beyond simply the spanking, is what makes the most interesting reading. I try to do the same.

Hmm. Not sure if I could say the same of any of my stories. But at the same time, there is more to them than just spanking.

Take my Backfire serial, for instance. Sure, its about a girl who gets spanked and molested by an ever-growing number of her peers, and that's where the crux of the action is. But the story is also really about a group of young people learning about themselves, growing into their sexuality, and asserting their adult identities. Sara is probably the most developed and well-rounded character I've ever written about, in any genre; she's a living, breathing person who grows and changes in a realistic manner. The story wouldn't work without the spankings, but I don't think the spankings would be nearly as enjoyable without the character arcs.

Is my writing just "spanko porn?" Probably. If so, I'm not ashamed of it, as that's what I was setting out to write in the first place. I'm just curious about where you think I fall on the spectrum.

I spoke to another author about what we write one time and she said that she wrote stories that interested her about concepts she hadn't see anyone else do. That's largely what I try to do. The Spank Shop series was born out of a liking for someone actually asking for their spanking. It's developed beyond that, but at the heart of everything I do is the desire to write something I enjoy and hope someone else may as well, at the same time I set out to write a decent story.

I think that the simplistic answer is that a good story is one that you personally enjoy.
If it fits your kink then a degree of bad writing is acceptable.
But it is also possible to admire good writing in a genre that you don't follow.
Strangely enough, I find the standards of literacy on this unpaid board far higher than on many of the samples I download on my Kindle!
There are many authors I admire on this board, some for their ability to produce a good short story, some for their detail, background and characterisation, some for their serials, some for their light-heartedness, some for their eroticism (very individualistic) and most difficult of all imo originality.
I do though regret that at times an element of competitiveness seems to creep onto this board, and above we should all remember that those of us who write are not writing for profit but for our enjoyment and hopefully to entertain others.

In answering the important question, why does one like a spanking story, has to do with a persons taste. These are the some of the reasons why I like a certain story. The person spanked must be a women. If possible a mature woman. When its family, she can be a wife, mother, or mother-in-law. In the business world, she can be a secretary, airline hostess, waitress, maid, etc. World Wide, she can be from any part of the world. Spankings must be given to this woman by a man. Her bottom must be bared. I would like her to wear garter-belt and stockings, before her knickers, panties, or bloomers are taken down. And I would prefer that she should be caned or birched on her voluptous naked rear end. Yes, the more a story depicts these wish'es of mine. The more these spanking stories turn me on.

Any spanking story should be judged, by what turns on the reader.

First off I look at the title of the work. I sometimes look at the orientation of a story, then I read the validation synopsis. I do this mostly with the longer stories of say, 3,000 and beyond. It's not that I want to overlook them period, but perhaps come back to them at another time. e.g., I'm getting tired, and that sort of thing.

I judge a story by the way it's told. I like to read an author's work and be able to get what I like to call, "A Mind's Eye View" of what's happening. Not only in the dialogue, but also in the descriptive data such as the setting and the actual punishment. I want to be able to picture a person having to lower their pants or panties in front of their disciplinarian, whoever that may be, which may include other onlookers. I want to be able to feel the shame. I want it to make me angry sometimes. I want to feel sorry sometimes.

We have authors here who do that so well. I try to do that in every story I write. I want it to be well worth the readers time. If readers and other authors read my stories and other authors stories at the library for two hours a day, they can never get that time back. It's gone. I want to make it well worth it. It sounds corny, I know, but that's the way I feel.

For instance, ever read a review of a movie on Amazon and see where the reviewer says, "I Want 90 minutes of my life back?"

I feel the same way. I also like to play games with my readers. That's why my first four pieces here were M/F, F/M, F/F and M/M. My favourite of the six I have shared here is the least popular with the readers, although it attracted some appreciative and thoughtful comments, for which I am truly grateful. Moreover, the same story was rejected by another story site! What a cheek!

My stories originated on my blog which gets a satisfactory number of hits but I decided to start sharing them elsewhere, not to publicise the blog but because I wanted more comments. I wanted my stories to be loved, adulated, appreciated and used as wank fodder. Is that really so strange?