Barbie: Pranked - A Discussion

[TheWritingGroup]

This novel is a sequel to "Pranked". That story, as I said at great length, was a reaction to some of the more misanthropic, parodic erotic fiction I've read. The hero, Rick, didn't get to have any sex in that novella. I jokingly promised lots of sex for him in the followup.

Welcome to the followup. Spoilers below, so read the story first (unless you like being spoiled, no judgment).

I'm going to explain here what I was doing when I wrote this, and maybe mention an Easter Egg or two. I would love to hear what you think. Good or bad, I want to know about how it felt to read this.

I struggled to name the psychiatrist. For the longest time, he was "Dr. Shouldhaveaname" in the drafts. Finally, his character came into sharper focus, and I realized he needed a trickster name. I wasn't going to name him "Doctor Loki" or "Doctor Anansi", but "Corbie" is Gaelic for "Crow". It isn't said in this story, but Corbie has Native American ancestry. We'll hear more about why he changed his name later, in a totally different story.

"You seeing Doctor Tannenbaum?" I called out as I put on my shoes.

Doctor Tannenbaum is a major character in the upcoming Owned.

"No, Rick. Just visiting a friend." Mom was smiling. And wearing a tight t-shirt and tight short shorts. She used to dress like that when my high school friends came over. I'm her kid, so I'm probably not supposed to notice how attractive Mom is. I'm her kid, which also means I'm not stupid. Men flock around her, whenever she lets them. A few women, too, but Mom never showed any interest.

Rick is aware of how attractive Rose is in "Pranked", and men are definitely attracted to her throughout that story. Esau's attraction is one of his motivations to turn villain.

She froze, for a second. Then she said, "How did you know? I didn't tell anyone!"

We see later that she did tell Stephanie, but confiding in your all-but-daughter doesn't count as "telling anyone."

"And you're almost always a girl in fantasies of enslavement?"

This is the metafiction of Pranked: Barbie. I was interested in exploring how many men enjoy reading stories of female sexual slavery from the female viewpoint. Rick in this story represents fans of writers like @Joe_Doe_Stories, who read first-person erotica about being a slave girl, and generally much less of it about being a male slave master. (There are other subgenres, but that's what I'm writing about here.)

I'll mention it in the post-story bit next installment, but the Bradford Procedure is named for @Carl_Bradford (with his permission). He wrote a story, "Changing Status", that includes a similar transformation (and takes place in another branch of the same Joe Doe-initiated universe).

When Corbie leads Rick to ask Stephanie's advice, he's being manipulative. He already talked to her and they came up with the plan together. Rick starting the second section with "No, it isn't a prank!" is deliberate irony. It is, it's Steph's prank.

"And Steph, I'm guessing Mom told you all about Roberto?"

That got a reaction from her. She jolted back, sitting on her heels. "She told you?"

This is a reference to "Pranked", where Rose (Rick's mom) does something like this to Stephanie, on the way to Quarry's.

The stuff about debt potentially leading to slavery is a reference to "Liz Enslaved", in which that happens to the heroine.

Remember Rick talking to Corbie about incestuous desire. Look at his reaction to seeing Stephanie and Keith fucking. Also, this is very much about Keith's exhibitionism, significant later.

The social media bit at the end is just atmosphere … but read the last installment all the way to the end.

I'll post more here as the rest of the story gets published.

 

[RoperTrace]

I must be having some minor brain fog this morning after having a biopsy, and zero drugs for two weeks leading up to the 'procedure.' I only mention that because I'm having trouble understanding the above.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

It assumes you've read my story (recently). Without that, it will make no sense.

--Annie

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Part 2:

So Part 2 is the actual transformation from Rick, well-off body building man, to Barbie, beautiful slave girl. That's the title, right, "Becoming"?

I don't dwell on the actual Bradford Procedure. We start with the recovery. This is where the story turns medical. It isn't really medical fetish, but a main character is a doctor. There's mention of medical stuff, as you'll see.

Irene was originally named "Kelly", but I remembered that I already gave Laurel a cousin with that name in Pranked, and also it sounds too much like Rose and Rick's last name, Keller. So I changed it. The story is being told in first person to Irene. As we'll see, Barbie and Irene just came back from their first date to Barbie's place, if you read between lines of the story.

I use the conversation with Rose and Stephanie to drop some exposition, such as how the former Rick looks now and that her skin was totally replaced, so she lost all scars, piercings, and tattoos she might have had. I also use this scene to remind the reader (of Pranked) that the family is close, that Stephanie, Rose, and ex-Rick all love each other and get along. As I wrote in the WIWAW, that is not the default in some 34th Amendment fiction.

I also remind people of something Esau said in the previous story, that Rick looks, I mean looked, a lot like his mother.

A joke only for me: not-yet-Barbie comments on how she likes some things about girl clothes … and then is totally naked until the end of the story.

I hope that in her conversation with Corbie, not-yet-Barbie sounds like someone trying to talk in a feminine way and not quite succeeding. She's new.

Another joke probably nobody but me will get: almost-Barbie thinks about "getting the full experience" of slave grading at County Line. That code phrase is critical to "Maria in the Tack Shop". When almost-Barbie freezes in the doorway, it's a callback to what Maria did in that story. This is ten years or so later, the staff has turned over, but the store is mostly the same.

Teresa is also a very minor character in "Wager".

The other girls to be graded came in a few minutes after I was put on display. There ended up being three of us. They got put on crosses next to me on both sides.

So she's Jesus? I didn't do that on purpose, but I thought it was funny and left it in.

When Barbie walks into Corbie's house and is astonished to find Stephanie there, it's a reference to the same thing happening at Rick's house in "Pranked". In that scene, Steph was ordered to perform public fellatio on Keith. Now it's Barbie's turn.

Lois Bran's name is mentioned for the first time here. I get into word games when I write, so "Bran" means crow or raven, connecting her to her boss.

Stephanie not following the slave rules and being punished for it also happened in "Pranked".

All those slave mantras are from other 34A stories. They aren't a big part of my fiction, but Barbie (as Rick) was fascinated by the rituals of slavery (and as we'll see, is a fan of @Joe_Doe_Stories) and is much more aware of this stuff than, say, Luis or Liz or Maureen. That's because Rick represents the reader of 34A stories.

Stephanie sexually torturing Barbie is, in a way, the key scene of the entire story. It shows just exactly how excited they both are by slavery (which they both entered voluntarily), it shows how much they trust each other (if you notice, Barbie is never actually afraid in this scene), and it shows how they like to show fake hostility to each other without ever even coming close to actually hurting.

Darrell is a returning character, by the way.

Through this story, Corbie fucks Stephanie's mouth and ass, but not her pussy. That's part of the deal he made with Keith. Even Stephanie doesn't know that until after she's returned to him.

The bit where Steph calls her sister a "kajira" (a term from John Norman's Gor books) is metafictional, sort of. This whole story is (partly) a deconstruction of this subgenre of erotic fiction, pioneered by Norman. I also like the idea that slaver bro culture thinks of Norman's stuff as classics.

Trivia: I met John Norman once at a convention. He was kind of a jerk.

The happy mutual confession of attraction between stepsibs puts a period on the Prank War.

I set up the idea that even Rick didn't know why he kept the Prank War going back at the end of "Pranked". I resolve it here, and I think it makes sense. What do you think of the characterization?

Up next, annotation for "Learning", part 3, in which Barbie goes back to school. Bimbo school.