The sound of silence

Silence?   In a spanking tale?   You have got to be joking.   And I am - the title of a classic Simon and Garfunkel platter has only the tiniest inkling towards today's topic:  which is more accurately entitled "The Sound of Spanking."

When a hand, implement or toy makes a sudden halt by coming into contact with a bottom, one effect of the impact is that a sound is made.   And in describing the sound, we can often imply what is simultaneously happening to the flesh side of the equation of the strike.  There is a group of words known as onomatopoeic words - they try to describe the sound made.   "Whoosh" is such a word, trying to impersonate the sound of something moving quickly through the air so as to cause a rushing sound.

Some people opine that "spank" itself is one of these words - not a full onomatopoeia, but a subset known as "imitative" words.    The word is not completely unlike the sound made by an actual spank.   Which is why newbies to the spanking genre often have the "There is a spanking" part of the plot reduced to repeating the word 'spank' over and over.   Sometimes, to show how hard the spanking is, the word is capitalized and exclamation points added as in "SPANK!!  SPANK!!  SPANK!!"

Now, while you and I might smile at the ineptitude of such a way of describing a spanking, there is an important lesson to be learned.   We may be more verbose, we may add all manner of explanatory text, and we may use more evocative onomatopoeic words - but we are, in essence, doing the exact same thing.   We are trying to describe a spanking by the sounds that the spanks make.

For instance, words like "Swissssh", and "cra-aa-aack" can be used try to add the impression of a long swoosh of implement moving rapidly through the air prior to landing.   

Even so, you should note that this area is one of those where "more is less".    In the way that repeating the word "spank" over and over quickly loses any element of narrative tension, the same is true of any onomatopoeic word.   You get far more bang for the buck by saying something like "Six times the cane swished and cracked into her defenseless bottom" than by writing "Swish - Crack!!" six times.    Letting the reader fill in the gaps sometimes is far better - for the reader may add extra color that enhances the personal reading experience (and give you all the credit for setting up the scene).

And - something you might like to try as homework - it is a very interesting exercise to create your own onomatopoeic word to describe the sound heard during a spanking.   "Ssw-i-i-itt!" is one I once came up with when the disciplinarian was using a crop.   I am sure you can do much better.