Looking through some of the most recent posts here on the forum (and yes, I do look at all of them), I came up with yet another of my strange questions for writers. Do you prefer to write using male or female characters, and why? For myself, I prefer to use female characters. My main characters are usually female for the simple reason that I'm not. My stories come from my imagination, and, personally, I prefer to imagine women in bondage. The other reason is the challenge. Being a guy, I'm fairly well familiar with the male thought process, how a guy might act or react in a given situation. But if I can create a believable female character, describe her actions, thoughts and feelings in a way other people, especially women, can find realistic and believable, then I feel I've definitely accomplished something. So, which do you prefer, why, and have you ever considered trying a story from the other side of the gender divide? Any and all thoughts welcome.
Hi Lobo,
An interesting question.
Most of my stories have a male central character called Daffy (Boring ! Its me !).
But I also like trying to write stories with multiple characters, i.e. from both a submissive male and a dominant female perspective, so hopefully, the reader understands the feelings of both.
I have also written a small percentage of stories with a female character lead. As a male writer, I worry if I understand a female perspective enough to do this credit.
Whether I succeed or not, I leave this up to the views of my fans and critics.
But I do feel we writers should write more female friendly stories to hopefully appeal to the needs and desires of the fairer sex. This website has predominately male writers and male readers, with a few notable exceptions. If we want to encourage women in this interest, then we need to do more for their enjoyment. Says submissive slave, Daffy!
Hey Daffy,
Thanks for your comments. I can fully understand your worries when it comes to writing a female character. It is a challenge, one I constantly hope I'm equal to. I've always said, if there's one thing a man can know for sure about women, it's that he'll never know for sure about women. Hence the challenge.
As to the part about boring, I'd venture to guess there are some readers here who would happily dispute that description.
Cheers Lobo for your kind comments.
I wish all writers well in this endeavour.
I've written from both male and female, as well as submissive and dominant, perspectives. Sometimes within the same story
For me it more depends on the story length and intended narrative.
For my longer stories I try to get the story from both (or all three) sides as it tends to paint a fuller picture. Occasionally adding narrative from a secondary charachter's perspective.
My shorter stories I decide which character has the most important narrative and try to focus strictly on that person unless the secondary character's view is needed to add to reader's understanding of events outside the primary narrator's awareness.
Thanks for your comments, Loras. Multiple perspectives can add greatly to the complexities of writing a story. At the same time, as you said, they help create a fuller, more vibrant image of the world you're creating with your words. The story can make the character just as much as the character makes the story.
Great question Lobo. I mostly write from the female POV. Weather male or female, my POV character is always the submissive. I think that comes from a desire to make sure everyone is getting what they want. A lot easier to do in fiction than real life.
Hey Lobo,
Great Question! I pretty much
mirror you as to why I mainly write with a female protagonist. Being male, I enjoy imagining female's in bondage and the predicaments they may find themselves in while bound. My mind is not wired to picture other (than myself) men in bondage. I will be writing about some of my mishaps soon but, it is difficult for me write about men.
Quote from: Daffy Duck on August 09, 2016, 09:37:46 AM
But I do feel we writers should write more female friendly stories to hopefully appeal to the needs and desires of the fairer sex. This website has predominately male writers and male readers, with a few notable exceptions. If we want to encourage women in this interest, then we need to do more for their enjoyment. Says submissive slave, Daffy!
Great point Daffy! I will try to write some stories which will help; as you say, and I fully believe "the fairer sex"; pen some stories with their interests (and wishes) in mind, and try to set aside my bias. As I thought about your statement, I thought I could view it from what I would like to have happen to me and write my desires as a story.
EPL
Hi EPL,
As a mere willing slave, I'll do anything thing to please a woman..... Thanks for supporting 'the cause'.
Hi Loras,
Also some excellent points. I agree. In a shorter story, I tend to stick to one POV, but in a more complex and longer story, I can have multiple POVs.
Daffy
Quote from: ElectroPainLover on August 09, 2016, 03:42:59 PM
My mind is not wired to picture other (than myself) men in bondage. I will be writing about some of my mishaps soon but, it is difficult for me write about men.
I tend to think of my male submissive characters as aspects of myself, and indeed some share my background. Perhaps this would help you past that way of thinking EPL
Quote from: Loras Pa6 on August 09, 2016, 04:10:13 PM
I tend to think of my male submissive characters as aspects of myself, and indeed some share my background. Perhaps this would help you past that way of thinking EPL
Thank you Loras Pa. That was what I was thinking...I was fairly deep in thought at the time I refreshed the webpage, in fact...about what kind of perils I would like to find myself facing.
Thinking in this way...crap, I could have story fodder for the next twenty years or so. ;D :D
Thank you for the insight. I believe I can write plenty of stories about men being
run through their paces now.
EPL
Following the old saw "write what you know", I generally write from the male perspective. Many of the first person stories written from the female perspective are so obviously written by men that I've chosen to avoid that trap.
Lobo is of course an exception and I've had no problem believing in his females. There are others here who do a good job of writing from the distaff side but my attempts have not passed my believability test and have been abandoned.
Again Lobo has presented us with an interesting question. I may give my female side another go now that I've been challenged to do so.
Max
Quote from: Lobo De la Sombra on August 09, 2016, 09:20:18 AM
Looking through some of the most recent posts here on the forum (and yes, I do look at all of them), I came up with yet another of my strange questions for writers. Do you prefer to write using male or female characters, and why?
I prefer female characters in the dominant role. Somehow I think it's more appealing.
Thanks for the comment, Fordman. There are two genders, with two specific mind sets, which means there are at least two sets of preferences for which gender a given story spotlights. At least two, but probably many more than that. We're fortunate here in that we have writers with the skill and confidence to write using either gender, sometimes both. As to making sure others get what they want, just do us all a favor and never lose track of what you want when it comes to your stories. If you were to find the joy going out of writing, it would be a major loss for the rest of us.
Thanks for you comments, ELP. I definitely agree on the imagination question. I much prefer to imagine a woman in bondage. Some might call that sexist, but I consider it the honest appreciation due to beauty at its most helpless. As to the part about writing male characters, I have to agree with Loras there. You could even take it a little bit further, at least mentally. Picture yourself in the situation, work out all the details of how you find yourself there and what you do, then change the name, the look, kind of like it's you, in your mind, just using an alias (and enough plastic surgery to make any Hollywood starlet green with envy).
Thanks for the comment, Max, and thanks for your kind words about my ladies. As for writing from the female perspective, I have a suggestion that might help some. Any time you get a female character in a situation, think about women you know. Ask yourself, what would this one do? Ok, what would that one do? Then, once you've answered those questions to the best of your ability and imagination, use those answers as a template to craft the response of your female character. All of my characters, male and female, display personality traits I'm familiar with from people I know, or have observed in passing from people I don't know. To be honest, I'm not even sure if that will make sense to anybody but me, but I hope it helps. Besides, if I only wrote what I knew would make sense to other people, I wouldn't write much. ;D
Thanks for your comment, Arkane. Myself, I tend to switch between male and female for dominant parts, though I do favor the female character. For anything else, I find there are very few roles a woman can't fill beautifully, if properly written. I say few because, as an example, I would enjoy seeing someone like Roseann modelling thongs about as much as I would enjoy seeing John Candy modelling speedos. I say that, of course, in the sincere hope that I haven't put unwanted visuals into impressionable minds. I guess the point I was aiming at before I veered off course there is that, in writing as in anything else, personal preference is a major factor. You characterize your preferences quite well, and I hope you continue to do so for a long time.
Quote from: Lobo De la Sombra on August 09, 2016, 09:16:43 PM
As for writing from the female perspective, I have a suggestion that might help some. Any time you get a female character in a situation, think about women you know. Ask yourself, what would this one do? Ok, what would that one do? Then, once you've answered those questions to the best of your ability and imagination, use those answers as a template to craft the response of your female character.
Well, I often do that for picturing a male character's actions also... still I think it's complicated, so I'm vary of any attempt of really enter the female mind.
Anyway often bdsm stories are not about realistic females at all.
Quote from: Lobo De la Sombra on August 09, 2016, 09:24:46 PM
Thanks for your comment, Arkane. Myself, I tend to switch between male and female for dominant parts, though I do favor the female character.
Well somehow with a male aggressor or dominant, I figure this one to be a jerk, a bully or something like that. Unpleasant. Nothing sophisticated, nothing appealing. No charme, just muscle power and arrogance. (Obviously the story could be different from that, but this is my first impression).
It's difficult to write down "why" because I never posed the question to myself before, but even if I had the dominant role when I was lucky to try it, in bdsm stories I don't really like to see men in that role.
After thinking more about this subject, I believe I will be offering a mix of male and female protagonists. Just running different scenario's through my head I have been able to come up with some pretty viable story-lines with a male being dominated by a female. Sorry, I could never see me writing about M/M however. My mind just doesn't go there.
I have submitted five stories this week, so, to give Gromet a break from me trashing his inbox, I will slow down a little until next week or the week after. I need to give some thought to what Jessica will find herself up against in part 4. Hmmm.
EPL
I use Lobo's technique when I write. In my career I've met countless thousands of people that I use to create composite characters, including a long stint at truck stops. I have to tone the truck stop people down in my stories though, they'll give you the shirt off their back and the last dollar in their pocket but they are nuts.
ElectroPainLover,
Just a heads up, in a few short weeks Gromet will be accepting stories for the 2016 Halloween Special. It's a great way for writers to let their imaginations visit the twilight zone. Some writers even create Halloween chapters of their ongoing series. Keep it in the back of your mind if it sound like fun.
Quote from: 64Fordman on August 10, 2016, 03:23:59 AM
ElectroPainLover,
Just a heads up, in a few short weeks Gromet will be accepting stories for the 2016 Halloween Special. It's a great way for writers to let their imaginations visit the twilight zone. Some writers even create Halloween chapters of their ongoing series. Keep it in the back of your mind if it sound like fun.
Thanks for the information Fordman. I know I have seen several Halloween stories on the site and had no idea how or why they were derived. Now I know.
I will keep it in the back of my mind and see what I may be able to spin out of the idea. Hopefully I will come up with something interesting.
Thanks again.
EPL
This is an interesting topic. When I first started writing I would have thought that I gave equal weight to male and female perspectives, but pretty much every submission I've made says otherwise. I heavily privilege female characters, though I have a couple unpublished works with male protagonists. This thread has me wondering exactly why that is.
In large part it's my personal preferences, sure, but in part I think I've always viewed this genre as giving female characters a lot more range. Of course there are stereotypes for both male and female characters, both dominant and submissive, but I've always felt like females can transcend or outright break them more easily. Male switches, for example, seem tricky to me, as the way they typically act dominant and the way they act while submissive can easily contradict each other and make the character muddled. Archetypes and perceived gender roles are hard things to break. If I, say, wanted to write a scene with multiple mixed gender characters, and completely avoid stereotypical roles by having dominants and submissives from both genders, my work would be cut out for me.
Now don't get ahead of me. I see this as my problem to get over, not something inherent to writing the types of stories I write. It's definitely something to think about and work on.
- Alex
Great post Alex!
I, just plain and simply, never thought of writing with a male as my lead character/victim. Since Lobo started this thread, I am now going to write some stories with male protagonists with females as their...whatever. I am simply going to write about what I fantasize could happen to me. Write as if I am the protagonist and go on from there. After thinking of it this way, I will have many stories to write...as many stories as I have fantasies--believe me, there are many!
Lobo and the many other posts have sparked my thought process. I want to contribute to our female members, stories, they may enjoy more than just a man writing from the males idea of 'rising enjoyment. As a male submissive (should I ever actually get the chance to be one) I have always wanted to please my ex and/or lovers before I would allow myself to be pleased. They just never knew my true reason for this, as, all my relationships have been extremely vanilla and I prefer something with a little more flavor.
I hope I can write stories with a male character that may cause a few of our female reader to be pleased! I can only hope to be that good, but, I do hope.
Dana -- EPL
Thanks for your comment, Alex. I think, if truth were to be told, we all have our own personal gender bias, both in real life and in the characters we create. We are all, each in our own way, tellers of stories, whether we actually put those stories into words or not. Our stories come from us, from our thoughts, our dreams, our fantasies and desires. As such, each story falls pretty well within our own comfort zone. It is possible to create a story outside that zone, but it takes conscious effort to do so. After all, we are all the end result of centuries and generations of customs, traditions, beliefs, things that divide us to this day, and gender is probably the oldest of those divisions. When it comes to character creation, neither gender is the right choice, just as neither is the wrong choice. As in all other things, it's a matter of personal preference, and no one preference is more or less valid than any other. My questions are meant to spark discussion between writers, and maybe even comments by readers on their thoughts, and I couldn't be happier with the response this question has received. Write within your comfort zone, write within your own personal passion, and I've no doubt there will be more than a few people out there who appreciate the results.
I agree Lobo.
But just once in a while, it is nice to write outside one's own comfort zone. It keeps the author and the audience fresh.
Daffy
Addendum......
Talking about comfort zones, I wonder whether authors and readers stick to one type of story genre ?
Daffy
Hey Daffy.
I believe most writers do stick to their particular genre. It seems like Trash writers mainly write trash...Mummification authors tend to stick to it...I personally fall under the Bondage and Self-Bondage genre and could never see me writing a Trashcan or Mummification story as I really know nothing about those subjects. I could probably muddle through a Latex story, but, the closest I have been to wearing a latex body suit is a neoprene wet-suit. I really do not believe the two are even close in feel and wear, so could I actually describe spending hours in a Latex body-suit. I believe my readers would see right through my bullshit. So, I stick to what I know...bondage and especially, self-bondage.
Just my observations...and...it doesn't go for all of our writers as I have seen some skip along the genres, but I think for most it holds true.
Dana -- EPL
I think everyone has their own personal favorites, and most people do tend to stick to the areas they prefer. That would make me an exception to the rule, I guess, since I've got stories in nine different sections, and my reading preferences are pretty well as wide. One of the nicest things about the Plaza is it gives everyone the chance to enjoy their own preferences, and the chance to explore new areas.
Yes Lobo...and you were one of the ones I was thinking about when I said I had noticed some that have skipped across the genres. I have to agree with you that Gromet's Plaza offers a very wide variety of story genres and displays the works of some very talented authors. That is why I like the site(s) so much.
Dana -- EPL
Cheers Dana.
Like Lobo, I have stories in different sections. Ten, to be exact (not that its a competition.....)
I wanted to try my hand at seeing if I could write in different sections. Not surprisingly, I found that I was worse in some than others.
I agree, it helps to a) have a passion in the subject and b) have some knowledge of the subject or c) just a great imagination and try to wing it !
I hope that by exploring different genres, readers will also try something different. You never know you might like it, unless you try.
Daffy
Yes Daffy...You were another one I was thinking of who write across the genres.
I just couldn't believably write a story about trash cans or trucks. Nor could I write a story about encasement. I have no experience to use as a story-base hand have it close to what readers of these genres want. They would see right through my bullshit...Even though Stephen King said that "all writers are liars and I'm one of the biggest." (From 'On Writing' by Stephen King.)
I will probably never surpass being published in two genres in the Wonderful World of Bondage.
Dana -- EPL
Hi Dana,
I have the same fear.
And yes, readers do see through story plots that they feel lack something.
Indeed, I am surprised my critics have not seen right through me. I'm an innocent chap, that has zero experience.
But that has not stopped me writing 136 stories across 10 genres. It is fiction after all.....
Daffy
Maybe I should have kept that a secret !
If quoted, I shall deny all !!
Hi Daffy,
No need for secrets here...this is a place to let your hair down! Oh, yea, I have no hair...oh well...you get my point.
I have not seen too many errors in the plots of the stories I have read of yours. The one's I have read have been well written and well told. I just wont be reading any you may have written about trash, latex, super-hero's, devoured, etc. because I am just not interested in those subjects. Not because the stories are poorly written, but because the subject doesn't spark my curiosity.
One of my main interests outside the world I play in here is physics. I don't care much for movies that fall outside of it, nor, stories that cannot stay fairly within the bounds of physics. I understand that trash and latex and the such are well within Einstein's theories. However, I have a thing for art, and I believe a woman's naked body is just that...A work of Art. So, latex is like trying to look at the Mona Lisa when it's covered by a blanket.
How long as it taken you to write 136 stories? I submitted 5 this week, but 136 is damned impressive.
Dana -- EPL
Hi Dana,
Many thanks for your kind words.
I think latex or leather or polythene, is mainly about the sensual touch of the material on the skin. Albeit, it can be also about sensory depravation / enclosure.
Trashcan is linked to objectification, machine, packaged, buried and bound genres.
Objectification appeals to me as I think it is the ultimate submissive act. A slave has the right to disobey. An object has no say in what happens to it. However, transformation into living objects does not appear to obey Newtonian or Quantum physics, or at least, it has not been invented yet !
I only started writing in November 2014. Before I discovered the Plaza, I had little desire to read or write fiction. And, like many of us, I felt alone in my thoughts. So thanks Gromet.
Daffy
Hooray for Gromet indeed!
Before the Plaza there was Tied & True Tales which ended rather suddenly (alas, poor Mason - does anyone have any news of him?) and before that there was very little with the depth and organization we receive here. A few things in magazines and at alt.sex.bondage and at Literotica, but nothing like the cornucopia Gromet presents for us.
Like Dana, I've sampled all the sections in the Plaza and while there are many excellent writers, I don't find my horizons expanding. It's still rope bondage and little else that turns my crank.
Max
Hi Max,
Nice to hear you have a least given the other sections of the Plaza a decent airing. But, I agree, it is only natural we all have our favourites.
Daffy
Hi new members,
Just to recap a discussion from the old forum, what section a story gets posted to can be somewhat subjective. If you completely shun a section because it's not your thing, you may be missing some great stories with elements that are your thing.
ElectroPainLover,
A quick scan of the latex section turned up the following stories.
Happy Anniversary, My Slave by Slave Manchester: A male is tortured by his female mistress with a violet wand.
Spandex BDSM by M88: A female uses a TENS in self-bondage.
Okay, you will have to read through a paragraph or two about what the characters were wearing, hey it's a latex story.
MaxRoper,
Family Ties by 64Fordman: Yes, it's shameless self-promotion. This story is full of rope bondage, but because mother and daughter change places in a Freaky Friday type story line it's in the transformation section.
The point is there are gems all over the Plaza, you just have to do a little digging.
Thanks Fordman. I will have to check them out.
Dana - EPL
To add to the wise words of Fordman, I would say that some stories (notably mine - more shameless self promotion) overlap the dozen or so main story headings on the Plaza. For example some of the trashcan characters are shrunk and thrown away by a giantess - so these stories could fit in Giantess or Trashcan. Some of my objectification stories found in Transformation or Doll, have a trashcan ending. So I hope that people do check out different sections. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Daffy
I think people probably overthink the difference between male and female. People are basically people. Women just have a couple of different things they need to worry about. There is one huge gulf in thinking, and that's pregnancy. For a man, a pregnancy situation might be a financial burden, a stressful responsibility, a cause for celebration, or perhaps, no big deal. For a woman, it could completely transform her entire life, permanently, and it is always a big deal. That said, some people are oblivious to pretty much anything, and that's not limited by gender at all.
Apart from the big difference, the same emotions and reasoning applies to all humans, except the insane, and even they follow much the same logic, but with some critical breakage.
Sure, different people are more or less empathic, happy, angry, violent, etc., but these are not things decided by gender so much as basic personality.
How they are expressed certainly varies, but that's a result of cultural filters that differ as much from place to place, time to time and class to class as through gender. If you're writing historical, or sci-fi, those things are going to be different to how they are today.
If you're writing erotic stories though, there are genre rules.
If you want your BDSM females to be "in genre", they are pretty much always fierce dominants, vengeful wives intent on sissifying their husbands, or nymphomaniac submissives. There must be other tropes, but most stories have one of those three, with "reluctant and miserable captive, desperate to escape" following up the rear somewhere. I guess I could come up with a better list, but this covers most stories I think.
For males, the tropes are different, some match the female tropes like jigsaw pieces: willing gimp, good master, bad master, unwitting sissy, but occasionally we see "genuine partner guy" who is on an even footing with a "genuine partner gal"; these two will take it in turns, probably alternating scenes, it's that obvious - but these stories always seem to be male protagonist tales. I can't, off-hand, think of an even partner story with a female protagonist (there must be some, but I'm guessing not many).
Bad master clearly contains a bit more range than its opposite. The bad guys range from merely overbearing, to psychopathic kidnappers that cut off people's limbs and make them drown in shit. Fierce dominant woman is pretty much the mirror image here. A lot of these "bad" characters could easily be gender swapped, you wouldn't know.
The good guys have much less range. The main difference is usually in the females paired with him, are they going to be "slaves for life", or are they in a more equitable scenario? In either case, the patriarchal good master has their interests at heart and gives them what they need, not what they want. What a nice guy! Good master's female equivalent is rarely seen. Very rarely seen I think. It's almost always the case that when a woman makes decisions for a man, she is either bad, or mad, or unwilling. It is really hard to think of any stories where "good mistress" is the protagonist, even harder to think of one where she doesn't end up taking turns on the bottom at times.
Obviously, plenty of sub-tropes within the sissy stories, but the main variation is whether the story is pure homosexual or male and female. In both cases, the focus and protagonist is almost always the sissy, almost never the partner.
One oddball genre is the "curious experimenter", this is not a common pattern except in Lobo's stories. The experimenter might be playing with anything; a machine that gives you a ten-foot penis, a gender swapper, rubberiser, magic-fingers, whatever. The experiment often determines the necessary gender of the protagonist, but the character will usually be a fairly neutral type, not someone with a strong existing kink, with the particular exception of experiments involving rubber, which always seem to be performed by extreme rubber addicts.
Great post, AmyAmy, but I want to add something.
Genre is an incredibly important point that most people, I think, instinctively follow without fully realizing it. Stories, here and otherwise, do follow genre tropes and patterns, and I'm really really glad it's being brought up here. But we can't forget the other side of the coin, which is how we can subvert genre.
This is absolutely a situation where a writer needs to know the rules before they can break them. But a person can take the very same character archetypes you mentioned and twist them around. It's something I try (still working on the 'success' part) to do in my own writing. I love writing 'bad masters' or sadists who are ultimately revealed to be loving characters carrying out the wishes of their submissives. Yay dramatic irony!
One thing I really don't care for in a lot of bdsm fiction is having doms who clearly cross the line, and subs who clearly don't consent or like what's happening, only to have it all handwaved away because the sub has an orgasm and magically decides they like it after all. That's pretty much a genre trope on its own, but that doesn't mean I have to either follow it or avoid larges groups of story topics. I'm going to subvert that any time I can. I think it makes for more compelling stories anyway.
Quote from: AmyAmy on August 14, 2016, 03:49:36 AM
I think people probably overthink the difference between male and female. People are basically people. Women just have a couple of different things they need to worry about. There is one huge gulf in thinking, and that's pregnancy.
Another one is homosexuality. Females treat it as it's not a great deal, this is true often enough in the real world and near always true in the bdsm porn-fantasy worlds. For (a lot of) men is a big difference being the one who puts "it" in, or the one receiving it, so to speak. This, I think, is another limit for males as story characters.
In a way this could be true even in domination: I think it's more difficult to imagine a dominant man wanting to swith. Or it's just me?
I'm right with you on this one PP, nicely put.
I wrote a rather long story with the intent of illuminating this point, so I guess my old arguments are still around if you look for them. I'm still hung up on the issue of consent, and still digging into it in my writing. I've queried the plaza classification of "reluct" in the past, and it might just be me, but a few of those "reluct" people seems full-on non-consenting to me. Which takes us into how to explain consent with tea (or french-fries in the American version), and how it doesn't seem to work quite so well in BDSM-land.
When it comes to subverting the genre, I think a lot of people hate when it happens. Genre is the main thing they have to base their story choice on, and when you mess with it, they end up grumpy. I'm not sure if
Narelle's Discovery got zero interest because it was rubbish, or because it genre twisted brutally, twice, and also pulled the rug on the chastity trope. Not saying writers shouldn't do it, just that the audience might be split on how satisfying it is. If I said genre subversion was bad, it would be a severe case of pot calling the kettle.
Quote from: A Pensive Pen on August 14, 2016, 04:14:18 AM
One thing I really don't care for in a lot of bdsm fiction is having doms who clearly cross the line, and subs who clearly don't consent or like what's happening, only to have it all handwaved away because the sub has an orgasm and magically decides they like it after all. That's pretty much a genre trope on its own, but that doesn't mean I have to either follow it or avoid larges groups of story topics. I'm going to subvert that any time I can. I think it makes for more compelling stories anyway.
Absolutely, many stories here mask non-consent as reluctance. It can be unsettling at times. I understand that consent in these stories can involve shades of grey, and I sometimes work within that space in my own work, but it's far too easy to take advantage of that ambiguity.
As for Narelle's Discovery, I hadn't heard of it before but I just read through it. Overall I'm glad I read it, as you craft fantastic prose, but I don't believe I fully understood the twists in the plot. I'm lost as to how Scott and Part 1 as a whole fits into the overall arc, and (trying not to spoil anything) I wasn't able to easily decipher everything about the Nelly character after reading the end. Maybe on a second read-through I'd better understand your signposts.
As a whole though, I didn't have any issues with how you handled genre. I found it quite refreshing at times (especially how you handled chastity), though some of the scenes and sadism were more intense than I personally prefer. In fact, that aspect is what kept me reading to the end. It was clever and unconventional in the best way.
Sorry if that's off topic, but after you mentioned it and I looked at the story, I found it to be a piece that deserved discussion and not obscurity :)
And so the interesting thread, gets more interesting.......
I think there is a danger to over generalise here. Not all women are X and all men are Y. Some women have [traditionally - by society standards] masculine traits and some men have [traditionally - by society standards] feminine traits. Whether it is blue for boys and pink for girls, society often expects us to conform to some standard that is universally set. By whom, no one knows as this was lost in the mists of time.
For example, pregnancy is not as simple as Amy describes. Some men really do care, whilst some women don't. It is simply too much of a general stereotyping to say all men are blah and all women do the opposite.
This plaza is proof, if proof was needed, that so-called mainstream thinking by society is neither the norm nor common.
I don't think we fully know how the other gender thinks unless we swap places. And even if we did, we might still think the same.
Daffy
Quote from: Daffy Duck on August 14, 2016, 09:24:49 PM
I don't think we fully know how the other gender thinks unless we swap places. And even if we did, we might still think the same.
Daffy
If men and women switched places but kept the same mind, there would no longer be a population problem. ;D
EPL