The Pay off

After the spanking is over, an author can take one of three routes:  erotic, therapeutic, some other punch line.

And to some degree, the final route is dictated by the initial set-up.   If the set up is judicial and non-consensual, an erotic pay off is going to be difficult to pull off:  and in some scenarios totally against the grain.   But we shall leave that issue alone for now.

On the other hand, if the set up has two adults who are clearly using spanking as part of their foreplay, not to have an erotic ending is likely to annoy most readers.   So, if one has set up an expectation of human sensuality, you need to be able to deliver the goods.

It has been my experience that most main-stream spanko readers do not want find that they have been led into a porn-storm climax.   (Mainstream:  a preference for male/female relationships that do not include extremely bizarre fetishes).    There is a brand of pornographic literature that uses spanking (and other more savage forms of pain infliction) as a starting point.   Readers who want that sort of reading material know where to find it, and will not bother with more pedestrian spanking material.

If you describe the erotic ending to a spanking in too genteel a tone, you may end up parodying Fifty Shades - not a criticism per se, but possibly an outcome to avoid.

So - a middle ground is recommended where it is quite clear that sexual union takes place, but in terms that does not sound like a medical discourse on the mechanics of what happened.    Very tricky - so we shall have to return to this topic again before long.

But onto the final punch line.   Most good stories have a pay off line of one sort or another.   A surprise twist.   A hint of future action between the characters.   Or may be an epigram or adage to bring things to a close.

I shall tell you a sad truth - nearly all the good surprise endings have been used up.   If you come up with new one, cherish and use it on a piece that is publish-worthy.  And in the attempt to invent new surprise endings, some authors are straying close to Spanish-language soap opera surprises of  a "My God - He Is My Father!" sort.    Accept that surprise endings are no longer the cause celebre they used to be.   Instead, a good hint of future entanglement is fine.   Or a simple wind down back to normalcy will work as well.

The set up and the spanking were the two big things.  If you have succeeded there then putting everything away is a chore that must be done, but not too excess.