Spank You Very Much!

The masochistic heroine is tough enough to write. Delight in pain, for the endorphin “sub space” glow, or to please her Dom, can be difficult to write convincingly and sympathetically. She needs to be strong of spirit and true of heart and to meld that with submissive desires can be tricky.

But even harder? Crafting the romantic, loving, sympathetic sadist hero.

He’s the possessive guy who cherishes his lady, nut also loves inflicting pain on her. That it is “erotic pain” helps differentiate him from the sadistic villain, but in order to capture the reader’s heart, this hero must be perfectly drawn.

The author crafting such a character walks a fine line, allowing him to indulge his carnal appetites on the willing heroine’s flesh, yet be strong, loyal, loving and tender, by turns. If you don’t want to end up with a kinky Dr. Jekyll/Mr Hyde scenario, you need an exploration and deft explanation of his desires, plus exposing just how awesome it feels when the heroine is swept into the maelstrom of “pleasure/pain” (as it’s often referred to these days in BDSM erotic romances).

And on top of the issue of doling out pain, I’ve noticed of late a new and darker flavor being added to the S&M romances already being done so masterfully, and that is erotic humiliation.

Having a hero call his loving heroine a “slut”, or putting her in a position to be exposed in a position of humiliation as an aspect of the “play” – or punishment, can be a high wire act. The readers who get it are already on board (I’m one of them). But names like “slut” or edgier, and humiliation play, that can be interpreted by some in a derogatory way (as has happened in recent years when critical public statements have led to the term “slut shaming”) can be startling at best to the unwary reader, and offensive at worst.

So this is yet another element of a razor sharp sub-genre whose potential is great for the most swoon-worthy uber-alpha sadistic Dom character to ever singe the pages; but if ineffectively done, for the most cringe-worthy misogynist douche bag to ever come down the pike.

Still, edgy romance of this sort is an “eye of the beholder” thing and full-disclosure is always your best bet when talking about a character. And read, study, and craft your raw romance hero with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel.

Examples of some authors who have beautifully mastered the art of the loving sadist? Maya Banks in her “Sweet” series, Roni Loren’s “Loving On the Edge” series and Eden Bradley/Eve Berlin’s “Edge” series.

I love writing edgy, kinky heroes who love masochistic heroines beneath their hands. Of my short story "My Master's Mark" under my erotica pseudonym, Lydia Hill, [Cleis Press’ May 2014 Slave Girls: Erotic Stories of Submission], Library Journal’s starred review said “surprisingly poignant”. For free, naughty reads stop by my Lust In the Afternoon blog, http://blackrosediaries.blogspot.com/

A MUSE OF FIRE: Something Wicked This Way Comes – The Power of Villains

Thus do I ever make my fool my purse;
For I mine own gained knowledge should profane,
If I would time expend with such a snipe
But for my sport and profit. I hate the Moor,
And it is thought abroad that 'twixt my sheets
H'as done my office. I know not if't be true,
But I, for mere suspicion in that kind,
Will do, as if for surety. He holds me well;
The better shall my purpose work on him.
Cassio's a proper man. Let me see now:
To get his place, and to plume up my will
In double knavery. How? How? Let's see.
After some time, to abuse Othello's ears
That he is too familiar with his wife.
He hath a person and a smooth dispose
To be suspected--framed to make women false.
The Moor is of a free and open nature
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so;
And will as tenderly be led by th' nose
As asses are.
I have't! It is engendered! Hell and night
Must bring this monstrous birth to the world's light.

(Iago's soliloquy, "Othello," Act 1, Scene 3)

Where cerebral or martial, man or woman, William Shakespeare unleashed upon the world some of literatures most complex and chilling villains. As I discussed in my earlier column on crafting strong adversaries/antagonists, villains are a particular subset. An adversary of a different color if you will. An action of fate can be adverse to your hero, but the action is benign. A villain – black-hearted, black-souled, sociopathic, homicidal or psychopathic – acts out of personal motivation to damage, harm, kill, destroy.

Shakespeare’s villains may wound with a word or a sword. They may take action themselves or set in motion a deadly intrigue; and then sit back with a self-satisfied smirk as the blood flows.

Motivations vary, but to me the most dark and chilling villains are the ones not driven by flawed human frailties, by need, or greed, or hatred, but the ones driven by a Machiavellian need to destroy. Iago fits that bill and his cold calculation makes him a deadly adversary for Othello, whose fiery and impetuous, passionate personality serves Iago well. In the end, Othello’s beloved Desdemona is dead at his hand and he is crazed with the guilt of what he’s done.

Creating a great villain requires finesse. A villain must be a worthy adversary for your protagonist: Smart and dangerous enough to challenge, but not superior enough to best your protagonist(s).

The best villains are crafted with enough complexity to intrigue the reader, but to avoid caricature or stereotype. Surprise your reader: The baby-faced torturer, the suave serial killer, the grandmotherly ax murder. Likewise, their psychological makeup must be a canny blend of psychology and motivation. We must understand what drives them, what their triggers are (the better to create an atmosphere of suspense as we see them driven forward on their evil journey, just as we see our hero and heroine compelled on their heroic and romantic journey), what their motivations are, and what conflicts may thwart them.

The caliber of villain you craft will depend on your story. Do you want the blackest-hearted blackguard ever written – whose demise will leave your reader standing and cheering? Or a tortured soul for whom the reader may feel a bit of pity? Is your villain the MacBeth type, or the Iago type? The first driven by human emotion, the other enjoying the murderous outcome with cold satisfaction?

Also, what is the villain’s ROLE in your story? How is he to be the foil, the human embodiment of conflict, for your heroic pair? That question, too, will determine how you need to mold him or her with greatest effectiveness.

To help you craft these characters, you have a wonderful array of resources: Study contemporary villains – sadly, the news on any given day provides a despicable perp walk of villainous types, all of whose characters, backgrounds, motivations and actions are dissected in minute detail.

There are also innumerable non-fiction titles written about every high profile villain, from Jack the Ripper to Charlie Starkweather to Bernie Madoff. Written by forensic specialists, law enforcement, psychiatric professionals and reporters.

There are, too, countless research titles available. You can research abnormal psychology and crime scene investigations. Types of killing and murder, and overviews of demographics of who murders who, how and why (One reason why the Aileen Wournos case was so sensational? Women were not expected to be serial killers, and when the “black widow” murderess invariably showed up, they used not guns or weapons of overt violence, but the “kinder, gentler” weapon of poison.)

And there are books specific for writers: Some simply help you understand different character types. Some help you understand the purpose of your villainous character in the context of your story and how he or she plays against your hero/heroine. Some go into the details about writing different kinds of villainous characters in fiction.

Once you have chosen your villain, read enough to understand the psychology so you can create an intense villain, with layers of human complexity. Set up the character biography so you are clear on what has set them on this path, what their motivation is; what they seek to gain by committing their criminal act, and how they feel in the aftermath. And do enough forensic research that the acts they commit ring true and your reader will shiver at the thought of being prey to the heinous character. Of course, read the best in the genre to see how other capable authors handle these subjects.

As always, there are legions of films and television shows with great evil doers to study. And likewise, in dramatic literature, there are some great villains: Ms. Venable in “Suddenly Last Summer” is a chilling character who’d give Iago a run for his money. Regina, in Lillian Hellman’s “Little Foxes”, Mme de Merteuil in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Christopher Hampton, and of course Sondheim’s bloody “demon barber of Fleet Street”, Sweeney Todd in the play of the same name.

In point of fact, there is no end to the number of dastardly types you can study in order to give your readers the fright of their life: The fear that the hero and heroine may succumb to the marvelously complex and dangerous villain in their midst.

“Do it not with poison, strangle her in her bed, even
the bed she hath contaminated.”

Iago, “Othello”, Act IV, Scene 1

A Muse of Fire: If Shakespeare Knew Then What We Know Now - Science & Writing Romance

Have you ever found yourself reading a romance and experienced one or more of the following: Teariness? Knots in your stomach? Smiling? Arousal? Heartbreak? It could be that the author of that novel was just THAT GOOD. Or it could be partly because of the physical experience of being a reader. It may seem odd, but science and fiction go hand in hand and romance fiction, in particular, in understanding the way people read; which can in turn guide us in how we write.

In Shakespeare’s day science was ruled in large part by superstition. Yet even without a Sigmund Freud to parse the human psyche, he wrote complex characters and timeless stories that continue to be beloved the world over. But what would he have created if he’d had access to the information we have today? Information provided by constantly advancing technology which has uncovered wondrous information about people, the human sexual and romantic experience, and how readers read?

How much time do you devote to the study of human physiology, neurobiology, psychology and sociology when you craft your stories? It is not as far-fetched a question as it sounds. We research sex and relationships, certainly, to ensure honest portrayals of what we write: love. But there is so much more to be discovered; discoveries that can add richness and astute detail and at the same time, be created to be read with the greatest impact.

How much thought do you give to the experience of a reader’s reading of your novel when writing? Not just the craft questions like plot, pacing, grammar and myriad other details: Do you think of how readers read? How the physical act of viewing words becomes recognition and how they engage, and are translated in, a reader’s mind?

In past workshops I’ve discussed the fact that the average reader “hears” the words she is reading, and how that knowledge can help author craft successful passages by choosing and arranging words to maximum effect. In another workshop on the five senses, I pointed out the difference in the way scent is interpreted by our brains from touch, sound and sight; scent is translated in a combination of brain activity, one linking the sensory experience with memory and feelings, making scent an exceptionally powerful sensory detail to use. I am purely fascinated by this kind of revelatory reading, not just for the science but for how I can apply this information to my writing.

Two recent articles in The New York Times, “Your Brain On Fiction” by Anne Murphy Paul (Sunday Review sec., 3/18/12) and “The Brain On Love” by Diane Ackerman (Sunday Review sec., 3/25/12) offer amazing theory and research.

In Paul’s article, fascinating details are revealed. For example, the choice of descriptive words being read alters the neurological response in a reader. Words that invoke touch sensations, “rouse the sensory cortex”. So a choice such as “the singer had a velvet voice” evokes a more potent response than does “the singer had a pleasing voice”. Further, words like lavender and cinnamon and other scent descriptors, elicit a response not just from the expected areas where language is processed, but other areas devoted to scent interpretation. Additionally, words describing motion “stimulate regions of the brain distinct from language-processing areas”, leading to revelations that these words incite activity in the motor cortex – the area of the brain involved with movement. Final observations indicate that the brain “does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life”.

In addition to the physical, there are the social implications. One psychologist uncovered that “there was substantial overlap in the brain networks used to understand stories and the networks used to navigate interactions with other individuals”, and as readers we “identify with characters’ longings and frustrations, guess at their hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies, neighbors and lovers”. Other scientists have shown that readers learn from their reading and, particularly in social situations, put this learned experience into play in real life (the “theory of mind”). Contrary to the British doctor who was certain that reading romance would make women have unreal expectations, could it be romance novels actually lead to healthier and more successful loving relationships?

Beyond the understanding of a reader’s physical perception, there is also the psychology and sociology of love, sex, romance and human relationships to explore.

Esquire magazine’s April sex survey issue revealed some startling (to me, at least) results: Men actually prefer smaller (albeit “perky”) breasts to more bountiful bosoms. And the preferred sexual position with 30% of the vote is cowgirl (or woman on top) which beat out the old standard missionary position by 2% points. The author’s own informal survey showed that 8 out of 10 men prefer giving oral sex to receiving it.

Another source’s study showed that the first thing a man notices about a woman is a gorgeous head of hair (legs, lips, face and body lag behind). And yet another study showed men react most strongly to women in red.

A past NY Times article discussed studies which provided new information about men, women and physical attraction; information that challenged commonly held thoughts about attraction and desire. Science continues to uncover challenges to long-held beliefs in numerous areas, which shed light not just on human physiology, but on the human experience itself – and how the two are interconnected.

In Ackerman’s article she delves into the new field of “interpersonal neurobiology”, in which studies have shown that people are actually neurologically changed in the course of relationships. Lovers bond in a fashion similar to the bonding of mother and child, and literal physical changes occur in the brain. Science, too, has actually explained the “whys” of the feelings following break-ups that our heart is “breaking”, or you can feel physically ill. Just as a disastrous romance can do that, being in a happy relationship changes the partners’ stress levels, fear reactions and actual physical perceptions. Women in happy relationships were given shocks to the ankles while alone, and their physical reactions gauged. They were then put together with their partner, holding hands and this time the shocks produced much reduced pain responses in the women. In another study, partners viewing a picture of a loved one experienced a “lighting up” of the reward centers in their brains. Ackerman concludes that “Loving relationships alter the brain the most significantly”.

Articles and books on these subjects can prove wonderfully enlightening for a writer who seeks to imbue her human characters with as much complex subtlety as possible, while engaging her readers on every level, from the conscious to the subconscious. So the next time you spy an article on science – don’t automatically pass it by. You never know what you’ll learn!

Can you imagine what amazing use Bill S. would have made with this knowledge?

O, For A Muse of Fire: Shakespeare’s Inspiring Love Scenes

Like a Costco of love scenes, Shakespeare has something for everyone. While there is no sex on the page, there is plenty of innuendo. Some rowdy, some sly, some witty, love scenes of every flavor abound from passionate, lusty, or dark, to outrageously funny, poignant, or earnest.


Shakespeare’s lovers are virginal youths, gods and goddesses, attractive opposites, and murderous spouses. The wonder of Shakespeare’s characters in love, coupled with his brilliant language – that can be bawdy, or transcendent – is something you will be struck by again and again. You’ll never fail to find gems within his work that will inspire your own creation of both evocative love scenes and rich characters.

Revisit the most famous, and oft-quoted, of his plays – “Romeo and Juliet” – and you’ll be wallowing in romance, love, desire, and rapturous words of love. He captures with eloquence the youthful energy and passion of the pair. Witness the speeches of Romeo and his Juliet where their impatience and lust are so evident. Romeo’s famous Act II, Scene II speech “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks, It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.”, conveys his emotions and hormones running amuck. And Juliet, as she awaits the return of Nurse, her agitation blatantly clear, bemoans, “O, she is lame! . . . Had she affections and warm youthful blood, She would be as swift in motion as a ball;”. Later, the all-encompassing power of her love is laid out for the reader in Act II, Scene II with its stunning conclusion:


“…Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
O, I have bought the mansion of a love,
But not possess’d it; and though I am sold,
Not yet enjoy’d. …”


On the opposite end of the love scene spectrum, you have the witty adult banter replete with sexual innuendo, foreplay if you will, between Kate and Petruchio, in “The Taming of the Shrew”. This famous meeting is a terrific example of Shakespeare’s bawdy bent (Act II, Scene I):


Kate: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruchio: My remedy is then to pluck it out.
Kate: Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
Petruchio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?
In his tail!
Kate: In his tongue
Petruchio: Whose tongue?
Kate: Yours, if you talk of tales; and so farewell.
Petruchio: What, with my tongue in your tail?
Nay, come again,
Good Kate, I am a gentleman.
Kate: That I’ll try


For the author crafting love scenes reading the plays of Shakespeare provides a bountiful wealth of inspiration.

In addition to his plays, there is also the breathtaking beauty of his poems and sonnets – rife with intense romantic emotions. The most famous, perhaps, Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”), presents a lover’s litany to his lady of all her beloved characteristics. But my personal favorite literally chokes me up. In a few short lines it expresses the all-encompassing power of love:


When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.


To paraphrase Portia, I rest my case.


P.S. Of course, among the canon of dramatic literature, lovers and love scenes abound. For other tastes, you might try:


“Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” – a great exploration of post-coital emotions by John Patrick Shanley


“Talk To Me Like The Rain and Let Me Listen” – a lyrical outpouring between 2 lovers exposing their deepest longings, by the master, Tennessee Williams.


“Frankie and Johnny In The Claire du Lune” - Terence McNally’s quiet exploration between two strangers, hesitate, ordinary, who succumb to loneliness and longing. This is an exquisite, passionate play, as lilting as the song the title it references.


“Fool For Love” – Again, this Sam Shepard play is sizzling with erotic tension and action between the two incestuous sibling lovers.


“Desire Under the Elms” – Like some other plays of Eugene O’Neill, “Anna Christie” and “A Moon For the Misbegotten”, “Desire”, with its theme of forbidden lust and love, is a deep and dark exploration of the human heart.


One of the most tortured pair of lovers in all of dramatic literature is Tennessee Williams’ very own Maggie the Cat and her husband Brick. The dynamics of familial pressures on a couple, Brick’s tormented secrets, and Maggie’s unrequited lust for her handsome husband are brilliantly explored. And perhaps the universal desperation of lovers’ can be summed up in Maggie’s classic speech:


“You know, if I thought you would never, never, never make love to me again – I would go downstairs to the kitchen and pick out the longest and sharpest knife I could find and stick it straight into my heart, I swear that I would! But the one thing I don’t have is the charm of the defeated, my hat is still I the ring and I am determined to win! What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? I wish I knew . . . Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can . . . Later tonight I’m going to tell you I love you an’ maybe by that time you’ll be drunk enough to believe me…”