Advice on writing a spanking fic

[Karuna]

Any advice on what to do/ not do in a spanking fic?

The story I am writing involves a 15-year-old who is being raised by two witches who have been alive since the 1800s. I know some writers actually write out the sounds of the swats in like a list but to me, personally, that looks a bit sloppy.

anyway any dos or don'ts I should keep in mind?

[lonewolf86]

I'm still trying to figure the do's and don'ts myself. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of constructive criticism left on most fiction pieces.

[aka]

Brace yourself. A Massive Wall of Text is coming.

I personally believe long lists of sound effects are boring. That *doesn't* mean they can't
be used effectively though. For example, I like to use them to punctuate certain phases in
the spanking. For example, sometimes in my scenes I'll have a fairly drawn out preamble,
with the spanker getting the spankee into position, and the spankee either bratting
or getting consumed by anxiety. I'll often use a single sound effect to emphasize
that the spanking is beginning.

So, sound effects can be used effectively, if they're used sparingly. But I think
avoding them in general is a good approach, at least until you build up some more
experience writing scnees.

I find that spanking scenes are most effective when the author interweaves
both the physical experience (i.e. the pain of the spanking, how the spankee squirms,
how their bottom bounces, that sort of thing), and the mental experience. Note
that the mental experience doesn't have to be just the spanker's or spankee's
thoughts. They could also be exposed through dialogue between the spanker and
spankee.

That's another thing. Spankings are dialogues. Not necessarily with words.
There's a back and forth between the spanker and spankee usually revolving
around control. Maybe the spanker is trying to assert control, and the spankee
is trying to hold onto it. Maybe the spanker already has control, and the
spankee surrenders to it completely. Maybe the spanker fails to assert control,
and the spankee effectively dictates the spanking. By playing around with this
element, you can introduce some variety. For example, maybe an inexperienced
spanker reacts to the spankee's barbs, and spanks the spankee harder, but
fades out faster. Or maybe, they lose their temper and go a little bit too far.
On the other hand, maybe the spanker is highly experienced and recognizes
bratting for what it is: an attempt by the spankee to take control. So the
spanker just ignores the bratting and gives the spanking they'd planned from
the beginning. Maybe the spankee feels guilty about something, so they
surrender to the control, even asking the spanker (either through words or body
language) to spank them. Maybe the spankee changes over the course of the
spanking. At first they fight back, before surrendering completely.

Of course, the dialogue doesn't *have* to be about control. Maybe it's about
the spanker trying to force the spankee to listen to them, while the spankee is
trying to do the same thing. Maybe the spanker's been neglectful, and bad
attention is better than no attention. Then in their argument, and struggles
this all comes out and they have a bit of catharsis around it.

That's another thing too. Spankings are highly intimate. Not always sexual,
but almost always intimate, physically and emotionally. You can play with that
intimacy. Play it up if you want a very warm, caring spanker, or if you want to
add a bit of sexy sauce to the spanking. Play it down if you want the spanker
to come across as cold, and brutal. Maybe the spanking starts off one way,
and develops in the other direction. Maybe the spanking starts intimate, but
the spanker gets angrier and angrier, and thus grows more distant. Maybe the
spankee doesn't like the spanker very much and endures the spanking only
because they have to, but as the spanking goes, the pain drives them to seek
comfort from anyone, even the person hitting them.

Positions help with this intimacy as well. An OTK hand spanking is one of the
most intimate positions out there. A bent-over touching your toes caning is
one of the least. Again, the position gives you something to play with. Maybe
you want to emphasize how severe the spanker is by having an OTK hand spanking
that's *still* very cold and distant. Or maybe spin a caning to be very
intimate because that's just how the spanker is. Or the spanker and spankee each
have preferences for positions based on what they want/need out of a spanking.

One author that I think does an *incredible* job of this is Gloup over on the
thespankinglibrary.org. They're one of my favorite authors, both because they
have very creative situations, and because they do a good job of writing the
spanking scenes. Also, they put a lot of emphasis on clothing, and for whatever
reason clothing is an important part to me.

One final thing: I just laid out a lot of aspects interwoven into a spanking.
Each one of these aspects can be used to explore the characters involved. In my
opinion, at its core a good story is about exploring one or more characters. I
like to go into a story not knowing much of anything about the characters, and
then gradually learning more about them as the story progresses. So if you can
use some of these elements to further develop the characters, I personally
believe that's a huge win.

Not that every spanking has to be a character study (lord knows many if not
most of mine aren't). Sometimes a quick,
yank-her-under-your-arm-and-give-her-a-few-sharp-swats scene is totally sexy
and fun.

So yeah, while you're at it, please don't give a detailed block of exposition
about your characters at the very beginning of the story. Drop bits and pieces
about your characters through the story. For example, please don't do this:


Jezebel stepped into her house. She took a deep breath and looked around,
basking in the memories. She used to live on the street, fighting for scraps,
barely surviving. Then a couple of women took her in, and boy was she surprised
when she learned they were witches who'd been alive since the 1800's! Of course,
they have a rather...old-fashioned sense of discipline.


Instead, do something like this:


Jezebel creeped into the house and slowly pushed the door open.

"There you are young lady." A dark shadow in a pointy hat loomed at the top
of the stairs, her hands on her hips.

Jezebel smiled sheepishly. "Um, hi Ms. Witchington."

"Where have you been?" The shadow resolved into a rather rotund older woman in
a pointy witches hat, flowing witches cape, and black and white dress. She
swept down the stairs, her feet not even touching the steps. "Do you have any
idea what time it is?"

"Time for me to go to bed?"

"I should think so. But first..." Ms. Witchington grabbed Jezebel's ear and
dragged her towards the kitchen.

"Oh come on Ms. Witchington," said Jezebel. "It's not the 1800's anymore, you
can't just go spanking people."

"And you can't just go gallivanting through the streets in the middle of the
night. But if 'can't just' isn't going to stop you, why should it stop me?"


Note that I haven't revealed the whole background at once. I've only revealed
slightly more than the bare minimum needed for the story, and even then I tried
to do without exposition. I demonstrated that Ms. Witchington has magic, and
likes to wear witches garb, so the reader can probably surmise she's a witch. I
demonstrated that Jezebel likes to go out into the streets late at night (though
I haven't shown why just yet). I've also shown that Ms. Witchington has an old
fashioned attitude, and I've dropped a hint that she's been alive since the
1800's. Though Jezebel's comment could easily be viewed as a bit of brattiness,
accusing her guardian of being old and out of step with modern life.

Don't tell your readers about your characters, let us discover them.

[lonewolf86]

Thank you Aka for your valuable incite. There is a lot here to consider and I will do my best to put your advice to use.