Spanking interview with me at ERWA

Over at the Erotica Readers & Writers Association (THE website for anyone looking to write or read erotica), Ashley Lister interviewed me about Spanked and my writing process/motivations:

Ashley Lister: Denise is an archetypical Rachel Kramer Bussel heroine in that she is self-aware and relates the story to the reader with layers of complex introspection that juxtapose cleverly against the physical aspect of the narrative. (I’m thinking archetypical here in the same mould as your unnamed heroine from Doing the Dishes, Best Women’s Erotica 04 and Mammoth Best New Erotica 4, and Marianne from Tight Squeeze in Rubber Sex). Why do you place such a strong emphasis on the psychological element of your characters?

Rachel: That’s an interesting question, one I’ve never really pondered before. Well, I think for one thing, dialogue is not my strong suit, so most of my stories are in the first person because that’s the easiest way for me to get inside the characters’ heads, and to tell the story.

But beyond that, I think at a very primal level, it’s the psychology of both my lovers and characters in stories that turns me on. The fastest way to rope me in is to share something truly intimate, and when you do it in a story, I think it creates this bond with the reader. It shows them where the character is coming from and why whatever action is happening turns them on so much. To me one of the greatest things about spanking, as a topic and activity, is there there’s such a vast range of motivations. You could watch, say, two men get spanked by two women. Both have their hands above their head, standing against a wall. Both women use the same black paddle. To an outsider, the scenes look the same, but maybe one is being “punished” by his mistress, and maybe the other has never been spanked before, and is curious. Or maybe he’s usually the top and they’ve decided to switch. You never know, and by telling the story in an engaging way, we can find out.

Tags: Ashley Lister, BDSM, erotica, ERWA, kink, kinky, sex, smut, spanked, spanking