How essential is first hand experience?

Sadly, I've had the same experience. It's been a good decade since I shared any stories online and the volatility and hatred from a few commentators is one of the reasons I stopped. I grew up in a small town in Texas during the 70's and 80's. Most of the spanking stories I've written draw heavily from my real life experiences or those of my wife (she grew up about 200 hundred miles from me in similar circumstances). I'm consistently amazed at how many people find incidents that I witnessed or was personally involved in as unbelievable and/or impossible. But what was most disconcerting was the personal attacks from some people as if they had a vital stake in whether the incident happened or not. Or that by sharing the story I was somehow advocating that the scenario was something that should happen in modern society.

It's almost humorous in the fact the stories I shared were of what I consider to be fairly trivial events and well deserved spankings. I should state that they were well deserved in the context of the times and what was acceptable discipline for kids in those times. Today, things would be different. I have three daughters and I have never spanked any of them nor would I.

kdpierreExcellent post KDP, thanks.
I agree that what is considered OTT can be subjective, but there is a point where the consequences of what is being described are far greater or lesser than what the writer is suggesting they are. In other words long sadistic beatings with multiple implements portrayed domestic spankings. Or mild hand spankings resulting in a week long sore bottom.

Anyone who has received a real spanking, caning or paddling understands well what they feel like during and after. Also they have a good idea what a lesser or worse punishment would feel like pro rata.

Given the considerable success of science fiction and fantasy stories and series, it seems that personal experience is not necessarily a requirement for an interesting or entertaining work of some value. That is, unless that work concerns the proper operation of a nuclear facility.

I would think it's all a matter of verisimilitude.

If it's a story about a boy spanking a magic dragon, well, you need know nothing firsthand so long as you can write something entertaining.

On the other hand, if you want to describe in detail the marks left by a domestic discipline story set in the present day, where a specific number of strokes of a specific intensity delivered by a specific implement is responsible, you'd better have some semblance of reality or anyone who has either seen or done that will find your story risible.

That has been my point all along, but I will say that based on the responses in this little debate, there is more going on than mere difference of opinion. I get the feeling that for someone with experience the need for a degree of it seems obvious for believability. But what of the person with no experience whose main motive for writing is as a substitute for that missing element in their lives? No matter how logical the argument, does that person really want to hear that, or be challenged that way? Maybe it's like the difference between debating the existence of a god with a priest, and doing so with a 12-stepper for whom that belief is all that's holding them up. The first seems like a fair fight, the second feels more like pulling the rug out from under someone already teetering.

I had not considered this aspect much before. But now that I have, I think, though I have what I feel is a solid point, I may avoid this topic in the future.

I've no experience myself, so I have to rely on books, magazines, videos and stories (many from this site) to get an idea of what is 'realistic'.

However, I've noticed that these sources vary widely - some depict 'six of the best' as a nearly unendurable ordeal, others regard a 30-stroke caning as a mere warm-up for the main punishment. I'm not so sure that what readers want is documentary-like accuracy, as much as entertainment; if the story's well-written (or well-filmed) enough, most readers, or viewers, seem willing to suspend disbelief - and a really accurate account of an OTT severe thrashing wouldn't entertain anyone but a sadist.

The fact is that in real life some regard six of the best as a "nearly unendurable ordeal" and others regard a 30-stroke caning as a "mere warm-up." It's simply that some people have a very high level of pain tolerance and others do not.

Yes, different people seem to have very different ideas about what is meant by "light", "very hard", etc. It pays to be cautious when trying out a new spanker!

As a writer, I of course get a lot of inspiration from real life experiences. Especially regarding the characters and their background stories.

Coming to the spankings: I grew up in Sweden where spankings were and still are illegal. Nevertheless, I knew friends who got spanked, both boys and girls. Few of them told much about it, but I knew that it happened and it was gold for me whenever someone actually told any detail about it. And of course the things I heard has become inspiration in writing every now and then.
For my own part I got occasional smacks, but no proper spankings. So I can't say they've ever been any bigger inspiration.

Other inspiration sources for the spankings are the many testimonies from people spanked around the world. Spankings are described in self-biographies, novels, on blogs etc. The Internet is a rich source.
Experiences from IRL adult spanking isn't really any inspiration for me since I often strive for my spanking stories/novels to be as realistic as possible, including the depiction of the spankings. But of course, if you want to make a good description of the physical feeling and pain of a spanking, it could be a good thing to at least have an idea of how it feels to get your buttocks smacked.

Interesting debate although it does seem to have moved from the original topic to a discussion of readers' perceptions of spanking descriptions and their, rather than the author's, need for hands on experience.

There has been some discussion of sci-fi as a comparator--much sci-fi is completely divorced from reality and describes situations and events that are intentionally fantastical. Provided the story is internally believable (ie in the context created by the author) it does not need to be realistic. I think the same applies to spanking fiction--if it is clearly not intended to be realistic then it doesn't matter if it is not. If it is so intended then the story (context, build-up and description of the main event) should be realistic, or it will jar.

So, back to the original question--do you have to have real CP experience to write a convincing spanking story and particularly a realistic description of the main event and its aftermath?

In my opinion it is quite unnecessary provided you do your research--read others' stories, accounts of real cp, if possible discuss actual cp events with those who have experienced them and, easiest of all, watch spanking videos, provided that you realise that the spankees in the vids are probably enthusiasts and have hides like the proverbial rhinoceros from the frequent and severe application of cp. If your research is limited to watching vids and you are writing about domestic or scholastic discipline, you should reduce the punishment to about a tenth or what you have seen.

My own writing is heavily based on personal (spanker) experience and, indeed, some of my stories are just accounts of actual events, thinly disguised as fiction. I do however often write from the female spankee perspective despite not being female and having had limited personal experience as a recipient of cp (English schools in the 50s and 60s).

That limited experience has been useful, largely because I can, fifty years later, keenly remember the pain of 3 or 6 strokes of the slipper or cane over my clothed buttocks, but not the shame, largely because there was none. It was just a fact of life.

Otherwise my female POV writing is based on others' descriptions, observations of real women being punished by me, conversations with them (particularly if they were spanked at home as teenagers) and, of course, my imagination. I hope they are none the worse for that.

So, in conclusion, I believe that whilst very helpful, actual experience is unnecessary, provided it is replaced with adequate research (and what a fun topic to research).

Geoffrey Stirling.