It's really great to read everyone's comments and thoughts - I'm here via metafandom.
I'm particularly interested if you respond differently to BDSM fics if they are FPS vs RPS. Like them better in one form or another?
RPS isn't my thing, nothing personal, though I can read it if I don't recognize the people involved, and I have seen some very good BDSM writing in the Valimar role-playing game. Myself, I write exclusively FPS.
What is it about BDSM fics that you particularly enjoy? Ooooh, the intensity. The ferocity. The power dynamics. The eroticism of pain and sadism. (Lots of people here are commenting on the power dynamics but very few on the physical side, the blurring of pain and pleasure.) BDSM in a fantasy world setting allows for idealization and interesting situations that speak to our fantasies. In my personal life I prefer my BDSM to be homoerotic, so that's what I tend to write in my fics as well.
I wrote my first BDSM fic because I was trying to give an intense warrior character a probable sexuality. I wrote my second BDSM fic because I wanted to explore that character further, and part of that involved making the BDSM probable, which led to a whole AU thing.
For one sticky part of Tolkien canon, it seemed like adding BDSM to the mix was the only thing that made Tolkien's series of events make sense...
Or if you are one of those people who see a BDSM warning on a fic and think, "I'll pass," why? As someone noted earlier, a desire for BDSM-fic quality control. Though I will click on it to give it a starting scan more often than not; if I make it past the author intro and warnings, I'll usually read it.
Are there any cliches or trends in BDSM fics that bother you? What are they and why?
Some of these are way LOTR-specific. 1. Sauron as Evil Dominant Overlord. I saw this done brilliantly, once, but more often it's the start of a very generic fantasy. 2. Legolas as Bottom To All Middle-Earth. 3. This is an unusual one...fear of the grotesque, reluctance to grapple with it. Drastic perverse things may be in progress but they have to be pretty. My whole AU may be an overprettification of BDSM and kink, but in original stuff, I like an acknowledgement of the rough edges. Laura Antoinou does a good job of this. 4. Unrealistic BDSM/noncon activities. Because tops get tired. Bottoms reach their limit. Victims fail to become infatuated with the person tormenting them. Person #49 in the Rape the Captive line gets bored and decides the Captive looks rather shopworn and goes off to play dice, and the party breaks up. 5. IMHO torture-fic and rape-fic are as valid as genres as BDSM-fic, but like lannamichaels I get ticked when the first two are mislabeled as the third. 6. As telesilla notes in her right-on rant, not enough top/dominant/sadist POV.
Frankly, I think Frodo-and-Sam-do-Healing-BDSM, which I've seen several times, is probable and engaging, and it uses the same basic excuse I do for elf BDSM's origins. One person's cliche is another person's kink sometimes.
As a last comment, I'm always curious to know if authors writing BDSM fic do or have done BDSM themselves.
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Date: 2005-03-14 12:59 am (UTC)I'm particularly interested if you respond differently to BDSM fics if they are FPS vs RPS. Like them better in one form or another?
RPS isn't my thing, nothing personal, though I can read it if I don't recognize the people involved, and I have seen some very good BDSM writing in the Valimar role-playing game. Myself, I write exclusively FPS.
What is it about BDSM fics that you particularly enjoy?
Ooooh, the intensity. The ferocity. The power dynamics. The eroticism of pain and sadism. (Lots of people here are commenting on the power dynamics but very few on the physical side, the blurring of pain and pleasure.) BDSM in a fantasy world setting allows for idealization and interesting situations that speak to our fantasies. In my personal life I prefer my BDSM to be homoerotic, so that's what I tend to write in my fics as well.
I wrote my first BDSM fic because I was trying to give an intense warrior character a probable sexuality. I wrote my second BDSM fic because I wanted to explore that character further, and part of that involved making the BDSM probable, which led to a whole AU thing.
For one sticky part of Tolkien canon, it seemed like adding BDSM to the mix was the only thing that made Tolkien's series of events make sense...
Or if you are one of those people who see a BDSM warning on a fic and think, "I'll pass," why?
As someone noted earlier, a desire for BDSM-fic quality control. Though I will click on it to give it a starting scan more often than not; if I make it past the author intro and warnings, I'll usually read it.
Are there any cliches or trends in BDSM fics that bother you? What are they and why?
Some of these are way LOTR-specific.
1. Sauron as Evil Dominant Overlord. I saw this done brilliantly, once, but more often it's the start of a very generic fantasy.
2. Legolas as Bottom To All Middle-Earth.
3. This is an unusual one...fear of the grotesque, reluctance to grapple with it. Drastic perverse things may be in progress but they have to be pretty. My whole AU may be an overprettification of BDSM and kink, but in original stuff, I like an acknowledgement of the rough edges. Laura Antoinou does a good job of this.
4. Unrealistic BDSM/noncon activities. Because tops get tired. Bottoms reach their limit. Victims fail to become infatuated with the person tormenting them. Person #49 in the Rape the Captive line gets bored and decides the Captive looks rather shopworn and goes off to play dice, and the party breaks up.
5. IMHO torture-fic and rape-fic are as valid as genres as BDSM-fic, but like
6. As
Frankly, I think Frodo-and-Sam-do-Healing-BDSM, which I've seen several times, is probable and engaging, and it uses the same basic excuse I do for elf BDSM's origins. One person's cliche is another person's kink sometimes.
As a last comment, I'm always curious to know if authors writing BDSM fic do or have done BDSM themselves.