Happy Birthday to Me! Contest & Control issues

Hi everyone, I'm Francesca Hawley, one of the 1800DOMhelp line-up of authors and today (October 20) is my birthday.

To celebrate, I'm going to give some presents away to a reader who comments on my blog post. The winning reader will win the combo-pack pictured to the left: a pocket Kama Sutra, a cherry Lollicock, and a print copy of my medieval erotic romance, Seeking Truth. I chose Seeking Truth, because there are some light BDSM elements within the story, so it fit with our theme here. To be included in the contest, post your comment by by 7 a.m. CST on October 21. I'll announce the winner on October 21 around noon CST. I'm also running a contest to celebrate my birthday at Authors by Moonlight - different prize there. So get in the running twice!

Now, lets talk bondage and control. Why do I like to write BDSM? Because restraint is just plain hot. When I first found Ellora's Cave back in the early years of the company (somewhere around 2002/2003) some of the first stories I read involved bondage. The idea of giving away your power by trusting another person to bind you really floated my boat as a reader. It was exciting and naughty all at once. Once I started writing erotic romance, BDSM was always in the back of my mind as an area I wanted to explore. I just had to work out what attracted me so much so I could create believable characters and situations for them to master.

As Michelle discussed in her post, the dynamics of BDSM encompass a power exchange. The bottom submits, giving up control to a top who runs the scene. One of the most basic and straightforward ways to take control and submit to the control of another is by being bound. Once you're tied up you just have to lay there and take it...right?

So...the one tied up is submitting and the one doing the tying is dominating. But who is really in control? If the bottom says their safeword, play is done. And that's the way it should be, so that makes the power exchange a really fine line for both the dominant and submissive to negotiate. It's the tension inherent in the power exchange that intrigues me and a major reason I love to read and to write BDSM stories.

So far, my dominants are male and my submissives are female, but at some point I'll change that up. My heroes tend to be warriors and protectors, so they play by the rule of safe, sane and consensual, even if they don't know that's how they roll. My medieval hero, Eaduin Kempe won't take any woman to his bed if she refuses to consent. For a medieval Baron, that's unusual. Barons could take what they wanted from whoever they wanted (shy of the King), particularly in the 1100s. But my knight lives and breathes chivalry. Even so, he still gets off on topping my heroine, Vérité. The good part is she enjoys what he dishes out and she consents to being bound and blindfolded. Spanked. And she'd go for pretty much anything else he'd like to suggest, too. As I said, this story is primarily BDSM elements - not a full-on lifestyle story - but if anyone could carry off the lifestyle, Eaduin could. Can ya tell I kind of love the guy? grin

I'm equally excited about the hero of Controlling Interest, my story for the 1800DOMhelp series. Torin Stuart keeps his emotions under tight restraints, but there's one woman who can get under his skin...Mozelle Vincent, aka Mouse. Tor has had the hots for Mouse for several years, but she was working as his mother's personal assistant so she was off limits. When the situation changes, Tor and Mouse face off over the management of his BDSM club and control becomes an all-consuming issue for them both.

So, what elements of BDSM really intrigue you? Is it the power exchange total package? Being bound and helpless? Taking control? Or something else entirely? Let me know what you think and be in the running for a Lollicock of your very own and oh yeah, a damned hot dominant hero, too.