M/M BDSM (AKA: Fun With Acronyms)

[varelsee]

(Apologies if this is in the wrong place or if I come across as a bit of a dick; neither is intentional!)

I've been reading erotic lit for a long time, and my all time favourites are stories about situations of 'real' Master/slave relationships between males (which makes the title of this thread rather erroneous, but I wanted to set up that awful pun). This could be something historical, fantastical, or set in an alternate present where slavery is legal. It gets me going like nothing else and, more importantly, presents some fantastic and unique story oppurtunities.

Unfortunately, that second aspect of the genre is all too frequently ignored. Sure, there are some gems out there (I've found a few here), but there are also a lot of very common problems that crop up again and again in stories like this. Particularly bad is the sheer lack of realism in a lot of them; okay, so the whole scenario is inherently escapist fantasy, but that doesn't mean you should just throw common sense to the wind.

Are there many other people here into this sort of thing? And if so, would you like to see some more story-driven stuff that isn't powered solely by enormous amounts of sex?

 

[Stella_Omega]

This forum is predominately hetero... and predominately vanilla-ish. My feeling is that good writing is hard to come by in any genre. I do have two authors I would recommend, one is pretty much the father of M/M D/s, Dusk Peterson. If you like a slashier type of plotline, I can reccommend a couple of women who so a great job.

What do you consider important to good story-telling in this genre, and what makes you roll your eyes?

 

[varelsee]

Recommend away! I've come across Dusk Peterson before, but had forgotten about the site. Thanks for reminding me about it!

There are two things that really make me watch to throw something at the computer screen, one which is sort of a general problem but seems to appear more often in this type of story, and another that's more specific. The first is when dialogue looks like the following:

"Hello John."

"Hello, Dan."

"What are you doing, John?"

"Well Dan, I'm-"

And so on. There are a few groups that cater to just M/m D/s, and for some reason that 'method' of writing dialogue is extremely popular on them. I have no idea why.

The second big eye-roller is a complete lack of realism. Peterson actually sums up a lot of what bugs me in this. I've always thought that the further your basic premise goes into the realm of fantasy, the more important it is to have a strong illusion of realism. If you look at stories that transplant institutionalised slavery into the modern day, the world they're set in, despite ostensibly being this one, just couldn't work in real life. The characters are always hyper-rich billionaires with a hundred sex slaves on hand whose entire culture is apparently centred around raping said sex slaves at every oppurtunity. The idea itself isn't inherently silly; I once read a book about the Roman Empire surviving into the present that pulled it off in relatively believable fashion.

As for what I think is important...well, it's nothing too surprising: conflict. Too many people seem to think that if their story is about a relationship between a Master and slave, there's no room for decent conflict. I like the few stories out there where the characters react to their situations in ways that are at least marginally believable. For me, the sex is a lot more interesting if there are some weighty moral quandries behind it!

 

[NoJo]

I've always thought that the further your basic premise goes into the realm of fantasy, the more important it is to have a strong illusion of realism.

Yes indeed. Luckily the world is weird enough for pretty much any fantasy to aquire the sheen of verisimilitude

 

[varelsee]

Heh, that's a good point. You just have to put the effort in

 

[sr71plt]

I'm not much attracted to that, but have written some stories here that might be response. You might read my "Dark Angel Sounding" series--and if that is anything you're looking for, I could suggest some more.