Everywhere I Look, I See #BDSM

WARNING: This post contains strong adult language.

It seems everywhere I turn, another BDSM book has popped up. They're like weeds in a garden, overtaking everything. Is this the Fifty Shades legacy? Is this what we can expect for the next few years?

What's aggravating is that before Fifty came along, I had a hardcore dom character who was just coming to life in my AKM series. People were poised and ready for him. They all wanted to know what Micah was going to do now that the itch to return to his previous legendary dom status had hit him after taking a new mate (Micah is a vampire, hence the unusual wording there). Now I wonder if those who hadn't yet discovered Micah will just think I am a bandwagoner, jumping on to ride Fifty's coattails.

All I can say is that if they read what Micah does as the series progresses and compare it to Fifty, there will be no comparison. No offense to Fifty, but he was pretty tame in BDSM land. Sexy, but tame. He didn't operate like a true dom. Micah is all dom...and he goes to places Fifty refused to go (some of which is to be seen in upcoming books in the series). For example, I just wrote a scene today for a future book (probably a series novella) where Micah engaged in fire play, which was strictly on Fifty's won't-go-there list.

Micah also relishes the mindfuck, and oh, he is gifted with its use. The scene I wrote today had one of those, too, and there's one in Micah's Calling, another novella I wrote for the series. Don't know what a mindfuck is? It's an exercise in psychological terror, and it can lead to a truly remarkable scene in the playroom.

By the way, no, I am neither a dominatrix, nor am I a submissive. I just spent a LOT of time reading and researching BDSM as I prepared to write the characters of Micah and Trace in my series (Trace is a hardcore submissive). 

I guess my point is that everyone is writing BDSM now, and I hate feeling like I'm doing what everyone else is doing. Gee, thanks Fifty. Grrr.

Those of us who are smart will start writing the sweet romances now. I know I am in my non-series stories. I'm working on several "sweet" (but not too sweet—those who know me know my romances always come with a twist and lots of conflict), emotionally charged romances. Because I have a feeling that after a while, readers are going to grow numb to the master-slave theme, and to the unimaginative ball gags, floggers, spanking, handcuffs, etc., and will want something different. Heck, I'm already growing bored with BDSM books, which is why I challenge myself to make my Micah scenes unique and not all about whips and chains and bindings as I work up to Trace's book.

However, sweet romance or BDSM, it's just a matter of time before those who ARE on the bandwagon jump off and leave writing BDSM to those who are in it for more than just the shock value.

Micah looks forward to that as much as I do. 

Happy Reading and Writing! -D