Cropping and enhancing photos.

There are a lot of spanking pictures out there - tens of thousands of them - and a group make up the heart of the photo blogs that are so beloved of the true spanko,

Each has been snapped by a photographer proud of his skills - no matter how inept the offering - and therefore often published with some sort of copyright notice.   Sometimes as innocuous as a notice of copyright on the publishing site, sometimes a simple banner in one corner, but sometimes so intrusive that it destroys all viewing pleasure of looking at the snapshot.   Each according to their own, of course - so each owner has ever right to do whatever that owner wants to the material they own.

But once on the web, we viewers have every right to download a copy onto our own pc for us to keep long after any site goes poof for one of the varied reasons that cause sites to go poof.

Now - even if you have some as simple a viewer as the one that comes with Microsoft Office, you get some editing capability.

Say, for instance, the delightful butt displayed on a picture has heavy striping on the left cheek, then the use of horizontal flip makes it seem she now has had a more traditional beating, with the heavier marks on the right one.

Over-exposed?   Turn down the brightness and up the contrast.   Or use auto-fix to let the computer enhance the scene.

Lots of empty space surrounding the area?   A model with an unrealistic look of horror, terror or lust?   Then crop off all the unwanted excess.

And you end up with a tighter, cleaner, crisper and more realistic version than the original.

Only - do take my counsel on this - don't publish the improved version on the net.

You are bound to invoke the wrath of the original publisher for daring to improve such a masterpiece:  and if your cropping has removed the watermark, your site is now laid open for instant deletion by those with the power to instantly delete your site.   Moreover, those re-blog sites that take your modified photo and repeat them again may suffer the same fate.

By all means share them with those who like modified, improved spanking pictures:  but use email and other non-public methods of distribution.   

(If you would like some examples of very simple improvements, send me an email to davids.holly@yahoo.com and I will forward some to you.)

50% off at Smashwords

For readers of my blog, I am giving 50% off the published price of any of my works when purchased from the smashwords bookstore.   I would really like to give the same discount for Amazon customers, but the way to do that is still somewhere yet to be reached on my learning curve with its publishing system.

I shall publish The Gleam in Her Eye on smashworks alone (it does have kindle and all other formats) so that all of you will be offered a 50% discount for buying that particularly heady mix of sex, sci-fi and spanking.

Profile

Now that I have two e-books published by Smashwords, I thought you might like to take a look at my profile that is posted there.

And if you don't use Kindle to read your e-books, that is a fine site for picking up your new reading material.

Smashwords

The two ebooks I have published so far were by using Amazon's self publish tool for Kindle.   Which means that if you do not have a Kindle reader, you cannot read either of them.

I was prodded to go and have a look at the Smashwords site.   They - for a small percent of the revenue - take one file and then publish it on every platform out there.   Including Amazon.

The system is a little slow and clunky:  it took me two goes to get each book accepted into its maws - and now I have to wait a week or so for humans to inspect the documents to ensure that they contain no subtle formatting errors the auto checker missed.

But still - for the results that will be achieved for the small fee charged - service well worth contemplating when going the e-book route.

Tumblr and spanking blogs

The photo blog Spanking My Babygirl on tumblr.com was not the most erudite of sites, but over the last couple of years had published over 10,000 photos, videos, gifs and artwork, all of a spanking nature.   This weekend, someone at tumblr decided enough was enough, and deleted the site.

This is not the first time that tumblr seems to have arbitrarily pulled the plug on a photo blog devoted to spanking topics.

The owner of  this photo blog is now on his third iteration.   Twice he found prior sites that he ran went poof in the night.   He states he has no idea why they went, and that he had no prior warning.   Someone at Tumblr took a dislike to his topic, one assumes, and quietly snuffed his blogs out of existence.

I suppose it is their site, and they are entitled to do whatever they want with it.  But, come on - who are they trying to protect?  Me?   You?   My Great-aunt Agatha in case she should stumble into it while wildly pressing keys to escape from a commercial porno-site she had been lured into?

Perhaps we need a new photo blog site.   One that does not decide what it will permit its members to view,   One where the innocent pleasure of watching others getting spanked is perfectly OK- without a single tut-tut of "mother-knows-best" and a gi-normous censor button.

If there is such an open minded ISP already in existence - the just need to let Chross know.   I am sure he will publicize it and much traffic will come their way.   In the meantime, the rest of us will just have to visit existing tumblr spanking sites and download all material of interest to the safety of our own pc's.   Even tumblr cannot get at any stuff safely tucked away on our hard-drives.   Not yet anyway - but I bet they wish they could.

Road Rage

Road Rage is the latest tale to appear in the Free Stories section.   The protagonist is an outright sadist who is given the opportunity to wreak havoc on a young lady. 

Free Promotion

For five days - March 21 - March 25 - my book Just Wilhelmina is available free of charge to anyone who has an e-book reader that is supported by Amazon.

Making a good spanking video is not that easy.

At first sight, a spanking video has a much easier time than the written word when it comes to spanking fiction.    If nothing else, a film maker doesn't spend hours at the thesaurus searching for suitable synonyms for "buttocks" that won't make the reader chortle at such an odd choice.

But if you watch many videos, you see that they have their own particular problems.

If the piece is scripted, your average spanking actor/actress often has less than perfect acting skills.   If the director decides to get over this by letting them create their own lines as the story unfolds, they come up with words and phrases that totally jar on the average ear:  "I don't know.. I think I shall give you another six, just to be sure..."   Really?

So we seem to have evolved three main styles:

• American - where the emphasis is on hard strokes delivered hard:  set up is usually at a minimum and aftermath often is just a long still of a very bruised bottom.
• English - a great deal of explanation of why the action is taking place, complete with dialogues with the victim to check on how painful the experience is turning out.
• European:  two main schools.   First are those that have no real set-up, just straight into a major blistering of rumps owned by ladies who really, really do not seem to be enjoying themselves.   And second, carefully staged set ups that result in major blistering of rumps owned by ladies who also do not seem to be enjoying themselves.

I think the biggest difficulty film producers face is that they need to fill up to an hour of material, or just produce short clips with higher overheads.

Filling an hour with nothing but spanking is not easy.   You can try the tested and true script of giving her an over the knee spanking, followed by a strapping followed by a caning:  and you still have more than half an hour left.   So we can repeat the exercise with a second schoolgirl (or similar).   Still not there?   How about this for a unique twist:  the person carrying out the discipline is not authorized to do so, and gets the make weight to fill all the time.

And that seems, to me, to be the biggest single problem of video production.   In the majority of productions, the cost of decent scripting is seen to be too much:  people watching "real" spankings don't need a decent set up, setting or aftermath:  all they want is bottoms to be filled with pain.   If you are going to invest in a one hour film, having a good script is - by my way of thinking - absolutely essential.   And even if you are producing 3 minute clips, wrapping them up in plausible stories would mean a lot to your average viewer.

Enough for now.   We shall return to this topic again for a more detailed look as specific areas.

The latest results from the LSF Spanking Survey are given here.

 

The Lure of the Unwilling Victim

Through fiction, we can explore the dark sides of human character without condoning or encouraging such traits.

In spanking fiction, we have a head start in that pleasure from pain is pretty much seen to be on the dark side of our personalities.   But it goes deeper than that for most spankos.

In real life, I would hazard a guess that all participants in all adult spankings are willing volunteers.   Some may be suppressing a natural aversion to the activity, but are willing to undergo the ordeal because it gives their partner so much pleasure.   The willingness is not because of a liking of spankings per se, but the liking of a person who does.

And yet in fiction, over and again the person who gets spanked is very much against the idea.   Blackmail, duty or some newly invented disciplinary regimen makes the hapless lady (sometimes a gent, but usually a lady) accept a non-consensual beating that in real life would surely lead to very serious consequences for the person dishing out the good hiding.  But because she wants to keep her job, or has maxed out her credit cared, or what other non-consensual set up is in play - she reluctantly allows her bottom to be given a good thrashing.

Not only do authors turn to such devices as a standard plotting technique, when the author has the ability to track how many readers read his or her tales - the non-consensual ones have a far higher number of reads.

Which, I think, reveals a well kept secret for those who are tops, doms or whatever name we use to describe a person who enjoys delivering the spanking.    Knowing that the victim, willing or otherwise, is not enjoying the pain their bottom is feeling gives the scene a tighter "edge".   The top lives off the echo of the pain felt by the partner:  the sharper the pain, the stronger the echo.   Unwelcome pain is far sharper than one that is acting as a turn on.  

So - in real life, we strive to make the spanking to be exactly the one that our partner wishes to receive.   But when between book covers rather than bed covers - the more she hates it, the more satisfactory we find it.

After all, it is only pretend.   Except that sometimes our partner may try to act as if she really is not enjoying herself, just to add to our buzz.   We humans are very complex people.

Another new tale.  This one An Abuse of Power is based on a real life account told to me by a lady correspondent:  so it is as true to life as I can make it. 

Thoughts on thoughts

Although it is not necessary for a science fiction writer to be an astronaut, nor a western author to be able to ride horses and fire a six shooter, it pretty much goes with the turf that a writer of spanking fiction has some affinity with the practice.

This is probably true of all writers who dabble in erotica of one kind or another - if the subject matter does not turn you on, your stories will be groan-worthy among those who are turned on by it.

Which leads to a very tempting trap for the writer of spanking fiction:  an unhealthy desire to explain what, exactly, the protagonists are getting out of the experience.

Very few readers of spanking fiction are without spanko urges of their own.   So the vast majority already know exactly what the protagonists are getting out of the experience, and any explanation is open to being less than satisfactory.   On the one hand, it is not necessary, on the other it may not right true, and on the third one, it requires you to tell the reader what people are thinking.

That third one is the real killer.    If you have to use a sentence like "She was confused by the emotions running through her mind" - you have blow it.    It is modern school, but becoming ever more widely accepted - you don't tell the reader what a person thinks or feels:  you describe what happens so that the reader can decide for themselves.

I have lifted this from Literactor to show the point.   Don't write:  "Adam knew Gwyn liked him."  For although that might set out the stall, consider how much better the stall is set out with words like """Between classes, Gwen was always leaning on his locker when he'd go to open it. She'd roll her eyes and shove off with one foot, leaving a black-heel mark on the painted metal, but she also left the smell of her perfume. The combination lock would still be warm from her ass. And the next break, Gwen would be leaned there, again."

Back to spanko fiction.   A ploy used by more than one author is to have an adult getting a spanking for the first time and - much to his/her surprise thoroughly enjoys the experience.   Assuming we have a non-spanko reader, we can now spend several pages explaining how this paradox has arisen.   Right inside the spankee's head, to relate history, current emotion and raging sex drive in as much detail as it takes to get a non-spanko to understand why something as unpleasant as pain is causing our hero/heroine such unbridled lust.

That is assuming we have a non-spanko reader.    Which is not very likely.    And if it should happen, we have deserted out prime audience of fellow spankos to explore something they already have explored to the fullest extent.

In sum, we spanking authors should not get inside the heads of our creations too often:  and when we do, it should not be to explain why spankos like spankings.

Surveys need participants

How do you get someone who is vanilla to take part in a spanking survey?

That is not a rhetorical question, put a practical problem for the people conducting the LSF spanking survey.  If you have not yet taken part, there is a link to it over on the links list.

One of the very early indicators is that spankos are extremely secretive about their predilection - and when asked what spankos think vanillas think about spankos, the most common combination (so far) is that we think vanillas look on spankos as perverts who are a danger to children.  No wonder we are secretive if revealing what we are is likely to get us run out of town on a rail.

But.   An important but.   But what do vanillas really think about spankos?   And the answer is: we have no idea.

Not one person taking the survey has, of now, has completed the vanilla section of the survey.

So, dear reader, how do we get vanillas to participate?    Perhaps you could lean on a vanilla friend to take part?    Or you could  Send me an email  (And should you be a spammer, this is a zombie email account).   Or perhaps leave a comment.

Anyway, any ideas will be very gratefully received.

Thanks

Another new tale in the Free section.   All Around the House demonstrates how futile it is to try to avoid the vengeful retribution that is coming your way.   A little lighter hearted than some of my previous postings, but still quite effective.     Enjoy.

Spanking Survey

A mainly for-fun survey into what makes a Spanko tick is being run by my good buddies at LSF - the Library of Spanking Fiction.    It is totally anonymous.   No - honest - absolutely totally anonymous.

If you want to participate, here is the link

And I shall post survey statistics here from time to time, in case you would like to know what they reveal.

Another free story has been added to the Free Stories stock - but this time, one that is special:  at least to me.

The Gleam in Her Eye combines futuristic elements with erotic ones with spanking.   A heady mix.   And it is a shortened version of the first chapter of a novel that is currently work in progress.    I thought you might like to get a sneak preview:  and any comments you would like to share could be very useful for me.

Laying on the agony

If reading that a spankee has received a dozen slaps is titillating, then getting two dozen must be twice as titillating, right?

That is a trap a fair number of new-comers to writing spanking fiction fall into.  And it leads to several potential problems.

The first, and possibly most significant, is the believability of the set up.  Let us suppose you, as an author, have decided that petite six-former Carol Higgins is going to get twelve of the best for smoking (poor set up, but passable), on the bare (believability dropping) and gets six extra for squirming too much (index way down) and goes home to get another 18 from mom (oh dear) and then finally another 18 when dad gets home... Well, the count was achieved but in such an unconvincing manner, most readers might have moved on before learning how really, really painful the last half dozen were.

But suppose a really plausible set up was made in which someone gets more and more spanks, slaps, cane strokes - whatever?   The sheer volume can overwhelm the tale - and although it is supposed to be fantasy, it is still supposed to be rooted in reality.

There is, elsewhere, the law of diminishing returns.   And in spank fiction, that law may be recast as telling us that once the reader's saturation point has been reached, anything extra now diminishes from reading any more.   In real life, 5 from a paddle is bad, and 10 is about as much as a buttock can readily withstand.

Any spanking story that goes beyond 10 of a paddle is moving from real life discipline into an endurance test of just how much some people can absorb.   Not that endurance tests should never be the subject matter of spanking fiction, just that the set up should be one in which such an endurance test is feasible to the reader and within the motivations of both the giver and taker of what, in any other circumstances, would be abuse for abuse's sake.