How much of an 'actual' spanking do you want in a story?

I suspect I may have sparked this discussion by the comment I posted on Brosse's story 'Not So Kosher Barbie - Part 2', where we get some 2,000 words of elaborate - and very well-written - build-up, and then the spanking's all over in just four lines.

I wholly agree with curioserto when he says:


In my stories I always try to set up the characters and the situation in some detail - you obviously need to know who's involved and why - but at the same time I'd feel I was selling my readers short if I didn't give them a good thorough account of the spanking, since I imagine that's what most of us are here for. And of course I try to provide something a lot better than crude "Thwack" "ow" "Thud" "ouch" type descriptions - something vivid, detailed, sensual and (I hope) arousing.

But as Severin Brosse rightly said in his courteous reply to me, "Luckily for us there is no one size fits all." So true.

Not really Phil, I have been mulling this over for a while now in my attempts to unsuccessfully put together a novelette over the last few years.

Tales of spanking are more conducive to short stories and 'letters to the editor', largely I suspect because spankings themselves are in reality not long drawn out affairs, unless you are in the sort of relationship where you engage long warm up and punishment sessions.

What I liked about Avalon's Amira Halabi story as an example, was that it was a new situation set in a classic context. The SMACK & OWCH bits were necessary but subservient to the whole plot. Avalon could have even reduced the paddling description by half and it would have still been a great tale.

I think quite a few people fast forward from the first smack to the last one in stories because they enjoy the build up and after effects more. Having been on the receiving end of quite a few (consensual) 'good hidings' it is the anticipation and the afterglow that are far better than the punishment itself.

Cheers Phil and thanks for your comments - Séverin

I, too, find the actual spanking part of a 'spanking story' difficult to write, and I suspect that I'm often guilty of 'wearisome phrases' - there's only so many words that evoke the sensations of a spanking. I'm not sure leaving the spanking mostly or entirely to the reader's imagination is the right course either.

Ideally, the story I'd like to read (or better, write) would contain (as well as an original plot and engaging characters, of course) a description of the spanking that may not detail every swat or stroke, but has the sort of telling details that spark the reader's imagination. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done...!

I notice even with highly respected authors of non-spanking fiction they tend to regularly repeat the same phrases and words across all their novels.

The moment you restrict your writing to a narrow genre like spanking it becomes almost impossible to avoid phrases that have become clichés when you get to the nitty-gritty.

For me personally I get fed up if there is too much build-up and background description before starting to develop the scene (though I am sure others will disagree). A cogent background and build-up lets me use my imagination so I can immerse myself in the story.

I agree that the SMACK! OUCH! repeated ad nauseum is.. errr. nauseating! A paragraph or so of description again allows me to use my imagination.

Some stories have very similar build-ups and scenes, just using different characters, which gets rather boring. I guess that's one reason I have not posted much recently as I much prefer to make each story different and unique.

As the saying goes, though, different strokes (of a cane?!) for different folk.

Spanking scenes are, by their nature repetitive, and so the onus is on the author to make it keep the interest. I am in the school which solves this by keeping the actual spanking to a minimum. I will admit to playing outside school occasionally though.
For me, a spanking story is first and foremost a story. It should work as a story even if there was no spanking described. Take out the spanking, perhaps replace it with some other punishment or foreplay or initiation rite, does it make sense?
I have even had stories rejected for not having any spanking in them, and certainly my reader feels cheated from time to time.
Some of the most interesting stories in my opinion are those which deal with the fear and anticipation of the act, and if there were an actual description of the spanking, it might well have spoiled the story.

As a writer, when I'm composing, the spanking, however brief or detailed, has to fit the story & circumstances itself. Currently I'm trying to finish at least two of the 4 CP novellas I've been working off and on for the past couple of years. Part of the reason they're long is that I try and make them realistic &, also, people in the comments section have wanted my world explained to them. So with these, I'm trying to flesh it out. That being said, way back when, the stories published herein that got several comments were the ones I wrote shortly after getting Disciplined. I could feel the sorness in my posterior and could recall, with perfect clarity, how each implement felt when it impacted my backside. How I felt and so on. So basically, I beleive the answer is simple: if the work is more than the simple Wack Smack variety; how close is the story's completion to when the author was Disciplined or Disciplined a charge?

For me, a story usually has to have a plot, a buildup leading to the spanking, however I don't want the main event cut too short. After all, here the main focus is about spanking.
I agree with several others who commented, brutality isn't my thing, and that is more properly a BDSM story.

For me, it depends on the story, the characters, their ages, maturity levels. If a teen aged girl is descriving a spanking she received, she will do it differently using different language than will a mature woman.

I like to explore matters of conscience, how someone feels, how the spanking or what led to the spanking affected them emotionally, also maybe how giving the spanking affected the spanker. I like to get to know characters over the long haul, so many of my stories have some of the same characters in them, so I get to explore different parts of their mental makeup.

I also like for my characters to be real, so I try to put kids into situations you'll find kids in. The same thing with adults and teens.. I don't think I've done any role play stories yet, I like to deal in reality. The closest I've come to something not being real or truly made up was a series dealing with corporate office discipline.

So, how much detail I put into the spanking itself, depends on who is being spanked and why, it depends on the context of the story. I had one story where a girl did something she was truly sorry for, she mentally beat herself up over her stupidity. The belt whipping she got from her parents was covered in just a few sentences, as if the spanking was anticlimactic. I got a few comments about how I shorted readers on describing the spanking. For me the meat of the story was the daughter, her parents and how they reacted to her actions, not on how red her caboose got.

It depends on the story but in general I tend to go with more of the plot and let things build up in the recipient's mind, and less on the actual spanking. As others have noted, there are only so many ways to describe the action and the results. Sometimes I'll give several WHACKS! (or whatever the appropriate sound would be) along with the recipient's reaction and anything the spanker is saying. Then I'll break away and rejoin once it's over, describing the results rather than subjecting everyone to the whole thing.

I have a cheat sheet that I use to avoid being repetitive and saying 'butt' 40 times: butt, bottom, ass, backside, hindquarters, hiney, rear end, rump, derriere, cheeks, etc. and make sure I spread the wealth around. And, frankly, I also have a list of hackneyed cliches and phrases like blistered bottom, molten lava, red as a fire truck/stop sign or colored like cherries/strawberries/wine, tears flowing/rolling/streaming, howling/yowling/screeching, wailing/bawling/sobbing, you get the picture. I started the list after I proofread a story and realized I'd used a variant of 'blistered bottom' 4 different times. So there will still be cliches but hopefully they won't be repetitive.