The Set Up

Most spanking stories have three stages:  there is going to be a spanking - there is a spanking - there was a spanking.

Once you get started, the rest just sort of flows along.

But getting the set up "right" is the second biggest problem spank-fiction authors face: unless the spankee has done something worthy of a spanking, the story is not going to get very far.   (We shall discuss the biggest problem in a future post).

It would seem to me that there are only three basic events that can trigger a spanking:  the rules (domestic or judicial) demand it, the spanker demands it or the spankee demands it.   The author can set out a rule that is to be followed, the spankee does not follow that rule:  the set up is complete.   Or someone is on the prowl and wishes to spank someone for their own gratification:  well, perhaps in some forms of erotica maybe, or we are hell bent on having an abusive outcome - rarely used.   And the spankee wanting to be spanked can also lead us into dark erotica or frothy farce.

Over and again, we find the opening plot device is that a rule has been broken, and the consequence is corporal punishment.   The number of "rules" that can be devised are not that extensive.   A credit card has been maxed out, a curfew broken, a cigarette smoked.   The sum total is not that big:  so over and over we read about some hapless housewife who has over-spent her budget...   To such an extent, eventually, when we read in the opening paragraphs that the hapless housewife has overspent her budget, our heart may sink and we yearn to read of some other, realistic, reason for us to get to the next stage.

Some writers have taken to simply ignoring the set-up, per se.   The action starts just before the onset of spanking action, and the "crime" is alluded to do but never spelt out.   I suppose this is sort of ok-ish:  it largely depends upon the quality of the writing; if it is good enough, you might readily ignore the lack of a set up.

Which means that those of us who really want to bring the reader original and entertaining fiction spend large amounts of creative time on the set up.   If we get that right, the rest will flow almost of its own accord.  Well, almost.   We still have to tackle the biggest problem next.