Author Neil Gaiman explains how to write a spanking story

Some of the advice I've read on how to write has been totally ridiculous. One writer's advice included:

"You must carry with you at all times [i] three notebooks with pens of different colours - one for writing down overheard dialogue, one for descriptions of places and things, and one for your own ideas" (This also included the command that you spend your day following people to eavesdrop on their conversations)

"You [i]must spend at least two hours each morning and each afternoon at your desk, typing - whether you can think of anything to write about or not" (And, presumably, whatever your employer thinks about you taking four hours off from each day's work)

"At the end of each day, discard 90% of everything you've written, and condense the ideas in the rest onto one sheet of paper. At the end of each week read over the condensed sheets, and condense them" (This must get pretty complicated when you reach the stage of trying to condense one week's musical horror oriental western thriller sonnet comedy serial with the following week's gritty romantic historical sci-fi mystery warfare literary three-volume haiku)

And his final piece of advice, after the would-be writer has (presumably) lost his job, spent his life savings, ruined his sanity and been served with a selection of restraining orders?
"First books never sell"

The definition of insanity for real. I so agree with it, Myrkassi.

Read "On Writing."

Invest in character.

Be honest.

Write what you like.

The more conflict, the better.

The "genre" of spanking is pretty forgiving in regards to the format of storytelling. When writing a novel, novella or script, there are some structural requirements that can be hard to adjust to for some people. With a spanking story, you can let your perspective dictate the format. You feel a certain way about the spanking dynamic in regards to power, sex, societal dynamics or gender. Exploring those feels will lead to entertainment for like minded people, even if the story is only a 15 line exchange or description.


I like Gaiman. He was taking the piss, but he was also showing how easy and fun it can be to spin a yarn, because damn if I didn't read all of that drivel.

In terms of writing, it's hard to recommend advice, other than that which is fairly broad. The reason being we're all different and we all write differently. There's no easy one size fits all set of advice for it.

myrkassi, when I see the words "you must", I stop reading. That person has no advice for me!

The best advice I've seen is to write. I know a few people who plan to write so read books on writing, but don't write because they aren't "good enough" yet.

That makes as little sense as saying "I'm going to read these books on carpentry until I'm good enough to build a dinning room table with custom chairs that look great." - no one thinks that you can get good at woodworking without doing it. Writing is a craft - you improve a craft by working at it. You need to know the basics (grammar, punctuation, etc) but once you start writing you learn how to improve your craft.

I have generally avoided reading advice about good writing (my reader must realize this regularly with head in hands), but one useful suggestion I culled from a book about common errors in writing was to always be careful about the point of view.
It is important to be aware that changing this is disrupting for the reader because it is natural to experience life from a single POV, moreover the reader is inhabiting the story first time and doesn't have the author's knowledge of what is to come. That's not to say you can't change POV, you just need to be careful when you do so.

I agree that each of us uses different methods to write - some jot down a few lines wherever they happen to be, (the first line of 'The Hobbit' was scribbled in the margin of an essay that Tolkein was supposed to be marking) others require a regular schedule and a special writing place free of distractions.

P. G. Wodehouse used to pin his completed pages around the walls of his room at differing heights depending on how good he thought they were, and wouldn't send the manuscript to his publishers until he'd got all the pages up to the level of the picture-rail, and one famous author always wore a red cap while writing, so his friends and family could tell whether he was staring blankly out of the window because he was bored and would welcome some company, or whether he was staring blankly out of the window because he was hard at work on his plot and mustn't be disturbed.

Some advice that works for me is to write the sort of story you want to read, and not to spend too much time making notes of your ideas and discussing them with other people - the original impetus and enthusiasm for the idea tends to get used up, so by the time you come to write it you're bored with it.
I prefer to start knowing how the story ends, so I have something to aim for, although the ending can change by the time I get there.

As we write for pleasure, rather than as a living, we have the advantage of being able to write only when we feel like it.

If you want to write, you will. If it's a passion you simply can't not do it. I may never be published, although I am still trying, but even if I'm not, it's not a case of me not writing. I simply can't. You may as well tell me to stop breathing.

bendover, I liked your list of items to consider for story writing. They give a definite structure to a narrative.
For a spanking story I would add a "twist" and perhaps some humour. I like to surprise the reader and (hopefully) make them smile. Not that I'm an expert -- I've only posted four stories in all!