RS: The ‘D’ In #BDSM – Part Two, Discipline and Punishments

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

I suppose it would be kind to leave a warning here before you start. Many, if not all, of the links (and pictures) in this series of posts are totally NSFW. If you want to have a look, do, by all means, but don’t be surprised if you find naked boy bits at the other end . . . or girl bits.
Happy? Let’s go.

line break, swirling graphics, from openclipart

Last week, I defined (ish) what discilipline involves in the context of BDSM. Today, it makes sense to talk about punishments. I’ll also mention right now that this isn’t an exhaustive list. As with any other aspect of BDSM, dicipline and punishment depend wholly on those involved and what their likes and dislikes are. For me, ultimate punishment would be a shopping trip to buy high heels with pointy toes, or a trip to Tate Modern . . . just saying.

Pain

woman with whip

Credit: Sponchia

This seems like an obvious one. Pain by way of whipping, caning, spanking, slapping or even biting. More extreme examples include cutting and electrical stimulation play (E-stim). The important thing to note here is that pain, while usually something to be avoided, is closely linked to pleasure. In the right circumstances and in the right doses I believe the pair can get muddled. I’ve certainly written about that happening to characters of mine. Additionally, pain used in this manner isn’t (or shouldn’t be) for the hell of it, but related to the infraction and measured according to its severity.

Restriction of Privileges

Orgasm denial, restriction of eye contact and forbidding other smaller sexual activities also land on the punishment scale. These tools can be used to draw an unruly submissive ‘back into line.’

Forced Pleasure

black and white bra and handcuffs

Credit: Oliver Gruener

Seems like an odd ‘punishment’ but I’ve heard tell of submissives brought to multiple orgasms to the point that they become painful. It seems a curious thing to turn pleasure into a punishment— to overdose if you will—but, given that I should be working on the next ‘Slippers & Chains’ novella, it’s certainly something I’d like to explore in more detail, as the psychological aspect of all these activities (as I continue through the series) is fascinating.

Humiliation

I will touch on this more in the SM section of these posts, but sexual humiliation and degradation can be used as a punishment tool. Indeed, to someone not at all involved in the BDSM scene, it may seem like the only possible application of humiliation is punishment, but I’ll mention that to be sexually humiliated and/or degraded is a source of great arousal for some people.

Verbal Scolding

Yes, I know, putting this at the bottom of the list seems a little crazy (and out of place?) but sometimes a very simple ‘That was a naughty thing to do’ is a great punishment. No need to shout, or spank or name-call; just expressing disappointment is a powerful tool. Parents do it with the children all the time, I’m sure there are psychological similarities from a BDSM point of view.

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IY: Mah Plans 19/10/15

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Ileandra Young

I’ve had a wicked busy weekend. I won’t give you the details, but I’ve had fun out socially, had a lovely day with my family and seen writer buddies get great turn outs for their book launch for a fabulous book. All in all, a wonderful weekend. ^_^

But the week of work . . . ? Well let’s see:

Actions Last Week

~Complete the beta edits for ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ (five chapters to go!)checking off feedback
Done. HURRAAAH!
I didn’t think I’d manage it at one point, especially with The Sprogs shrieking and getting up so soon after I do, but I managed it. I’m super duper happy!
All that remains now is to give it a final run through the audio feature on Word and I’m on to the next stage!

~Complete first read of ‘Episode Three’ in preparation for deep edits
Done. Hmm. I was right the first time, there are sections that will need a complete do over. *sigh* Not looking forward to it, but it needs to be done.

~Make notes following read of ‘Episode Three’
Got a couple of notes, enough to get me going. This week will be about editing in earnest.

Activities For This Weekblank calendar from OpenClipArt

  • Edit complete deep edits on ‘Episode Three’
  • Do the audio read of ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ at least a quarter the book
  • Finalise new concept for ‘Episode Three’ cover design

Thoughts…

It’s half term this week. This means the usual 2-3 hours I have in the middle of the day is now gone. -_- However, I should have more actual day time on Tuesday and Friday to put my head down and hammer out some words. Plus DSB has a two hour round trip on the train on Friday, so that’s another two hours to get things done.

It looks rough, but with a bit of organisation and a determination to stay the hell of Facebook, I should be fine to get this done.

Let’s do this shiz!

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IY: Fantasy Creatures – Elves – In Days Gone By

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Ileandra Young

Once upon a times elves were cute little creature’s in Santa’s workshop who helped stack presents onto his sleigh. Or they were pointy eared, tiny folk who made shoes for cobblers who could no longer keep up with demand.

These days, as I discussed a couple of weeks back, elves in common public opinion have become tall, pale, long haired, feminine, graceful creatures with their own language and a secret desire to hug every tree they can find.

Interesting how the work of one man can change things so much.

But even Santa’s elves and the shoe elves are a change from what elves used to be. Santa elves and cute elves from kids tales.

Once upon a time elves were pranksters and tricksters (think Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and liable to exact terribly savage revenge on anybody who crossed them. Taking their roots in Norse mythology, these elves would steal food, babies (!) and cast spells on unsuspecting humans either for their amusement or simply their pleasure.

If you skip away from their Norse roots and look at Scottish folklore, you end up deep in the realms of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts (or the light and dark fae). Now . . . I do realises that the Seelie and Unseelie are actually faeries, but the similarities are enough that I mention them here. I’ll have to touch properly on faeries another time.

 

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RS: eBook Review – New Girl, Harper Bliss

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

new girl cover art by harper bliss

Credit: Harper Bliss

Author: Harper Bliss
Title: New Girl
Genre: F/F Erotica
ASIN: B00AJ2C50M
Length: 15 ‘pages’

Liz has to share a room with the new girl on the volleyball team. What begins as a frustrating experience, soon evolves into something very satisfying.

 

line break, swirling graphics, from openclipart

Cover:

Sweaty girl with rock-hard aaaaaaaaaaabs. ^_^ Methinks Ms Bliss has a thing for women built like spectacular athletes. They certainly feature a lot in her work.

Story:

Eeeerm . . . Liz gets smacked in the face during a game of volleyball and is made to feel (much!) better by the younger Nina with whom she is sharing a room.

More of a ‘story’ than other offerings by Ms Bliss, but again, there was still something missing. The story was designed purely to put these girls in bed and see them screw. Which . . . is great if that’s all you want, but I want need a little more than that.

Characters:

Liz: The older woman. Falls for the younger girl – which is kinda why she got hit in the face with that volleyball! – and then proceeds to show her how great it is be a lesbian. Woooo! o.O
Nina: The younger, inexperienced woman. She got a treat, let me tell you. Though I found none of the nerves I would normally associated with a young girl having a sexual encounter with an older woman for the first time. Or are you not supposed to be nervous? Is that just me? I was scared as hell when I finally got down and dirty with my first woman. It was great, but fuck me, was I terrified! I got none of that from this . . . it just didn’t feel right. Kinda stylised and buffed to pretty, but unrealistic shine.

Eroticism:

Despite my gripes, the story smoked. It really did. I love me a bit of F/F action and that is something Ms Bliss is extremely good at! I certainly enjoyed reading.

Overall experience:

Too damn short. Again. I’m not complaining about the length, as such, as I knew it was a short story, but I do think the ending was abrupt. I knew the end was nigh, but that caught even me off guard which should be the case with a short story. I do feel these things should be rounded off, not just at the end of the Big O, but to round off the actual story. There was certainly more to tell.

Final score:

Average across all scores is 3.4, which rounds out to 3.5 fireballs.

Another 3.5er. Not too surprised, though I’m starting to think I’m looking in the wrong place with these tales. I do enjoy them, don’t get me wrong, but the literary snob in me (haha!) demands more of an actual story and characters that are more than mere sex machines.

Still, as ever, a great, quickie and there’s no misleading here. The description tells you exactly what to expect and that’s what you get.

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RS: I Haz Planz 15/10/15

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

Phew! What a busy week. I like it though . . . I like it a lot.

Actions Last Week

blank calendar from OpenClipArt~Order proof for ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base’
Done. It arrived on Tuesday following my choice of super fast delivery. Oooooooooh my goodness it’s so beautiful. SO beautiful. ^_^ I could get used to seeing my words bound up in paperback form. 😉 Anyway, I haven’t finished (started) going through it yet, but that will be one of the goals. It would be nice to know that’s done.

~Write 5,000 words of ‘Slippers & Chains: Picking Out Curtains’ ^_^
Just over 3,000 and that was a deliberate decision. I’d made it into the third chapter and I could feel myself slowing down. I wasn’t sure why and for two mornings on the trot I glared at the screen and tried to figure out what was damming the flow. Answer? I didn’t know what the hell was coming next. Seems pretty easy really, but I know now that I’m not a panster at all. Not even a planster. I’m a plotter. I have to be. I need the structure and the security of knowing where I want to go and knowing that the story I have outlined is clear and consise with a strong character arc and no holes. So I stopped writing and began plotting.

Given that I have no idea of how to plot, this was quite tricky, but on a recommendation from somebody on Joanna Penn’s podcast (check it out if you haven’t the woman is a legend and my new idol!) DSB picked up ‘Take Of Your Pants‘ by Libbie Hawker.

Certainly an interesting read and encouraging as I can see how such thing can be helpful for a writer who wants to produce as much as I’d like. DSB also picked up ‘5,000 Words An Hour‘ by Chris Fox, which was equally interesting and eye opening. My average rate per hour is about 2,700 words per hour (wph)—at least when I’m in full flow—according to my spreadsheet log, and that’s before I realised I didn’t know where I was going. Imagine what I could produce with a bit more practise the way Chris describes. And if I was doing that every day? Well . . . let’s just say a combination of those books led DSB to take me to one side and spend five days outlining this new book from start to finish. I finished it yesterday and now I’m ready to go.

Wanna make a bet with me? I reckon I can finish the first draft of ‘Picking Out Curtains’ before NaNoWriMo starts. If I don’t make it, I’ll give anyone who comments on this post a free copy of it when it comes out. How’s that for a deal? 😉

~Write a fresh Smexxy Snippet
Done! First draft is at 3,649 and I’m thrilled with how it came out. I’ll edit it later.

 Activities For This Week

  1. Check proof copy of ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base’
  2. Write 10,000 words of ‘Slippers & Chains: Picking Out Curtains’ ^_^ I know, I know, but at my current wph that should be eeeeeeeeeeasy, even at half an hour a day.
  3. Edit my Smexxy Snippet.

Thoughts . . .

checking off feedbackIt’s funny what a bit of positive thinking and visible progress can do for your mood. I’m really keen to see how ‘Picking Out Curtains’ progresses what with the new outline and all the beats that go with it, as well as using my spreadsheet to log words written. I’ll be starting from the beginning again, but I’m not worried. The result should be a cleaner draft that needs less editing at the end.

As ever, I’ll check in next week and let you know how it goes. ^_^

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