The New Intimacy

Naked Reader Book Club Discussion: Safe Word An Erotic S/M Novel by Molly Weatherfield (September 13, 8-10 PM EST)

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Contributor: elliott66 elliott66
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
Elliot, are you a lit major?
many years ago...but with a great write like Pam the themes are ageless
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sacchi Sacchi
I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for Jonathan (but I still feel guilty.) He just didn't seem to have earned his position of dominance. Too casually privileged, maybe. I've known dominants who truly deserved to dominate (still do, in fact.) I'm not submissive, but I would have pretended to be for the attention of someone like that, except that of course pretended submission wouldn't work for them.
09/13/2011
Contributor: removedacnt removedacnt
Quote:
Originally posted by Sacchi
I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't care for Jonathan (but I still feel guilty.) He just didn't seem to have earned his position of dominance. Too casually privileged, maybe. I've known dominants who truly deserved to ... more
"Too casually privileged, maybe." I kind of got that feeling as well. Though I'm not submissive either, and I know very little about the true S&M dynamic.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
I've read all the posts now -- thanks for all the kind words and thanks espt to the person who wanted Carrie to go off with Annie. I really love Annie and if there's ever a next Carrie book I'm pretty sure there'll be some serious rivalry between her and Kate's new trainer Ariel. But I'm afraid that Kate is always and forever Annie's magic woman.

As for original inspiration...

besides a lifetime of mulling over SM books...

well, it was when I had a fantasy about a guy who helps people actualize their fantasies because I was starting to take mine more seriously... and it became a happy, wish-fulfillment story. The guy was sort of half Jonathan and half Kate, and I enjoyed writing it (first short story I'd ever written since high school). But it wasn't for another year or so, when I kind of "heard" Carrie's voice, that I understood what pov I wanted to use.
09/13/2011
Contributor: LambChop LambChop
Quote:
Originally posted by Top Kat
Hi there! Definitely read Safe Word - you will love it!
Thanks, can't wait!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sacchi Sacchi
Quote:
Originally posted by elliott66
many years ago...but with a great write like Pam the themes are ageless
I was a lit major many years ago, as well. I think Carrie's literary reflections are what makes her fascinating to me; they both contradict and add nuances to her situation.

The Academy books by Laura Antoniou are also classics of BDSM, and I have friends who are devoted to them, but I could never get very far into them because I didn't find the characters interesting as people. Carrie is definitely interesting, and drew me in completely.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Top Kat Top Kat
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
I take it that these stories are told from the POV of the submissive/bottom/what ever? I probably would not enjoy them. I don't have a submissive cell in my body.
It's told from both their points of view alternating - really brought a fuller picture.
09/13/2011
Contributor: LambChop LambChop
I hate to pop in and run, but I've got reviews to write! (and a book to order!)
Goodnight, all!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sacchi Sacchi
Mollie, I'm the one with a thing for Annie. I'd like a book about her--maybe before she met Kate? (Who is not my favorite character, either.)
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
I love the comment somebody made about Jonathan being "too casually privileged." He is an unusual top, I think. I once told Carol Queen that part of my inspiration for him was my cat, and I think it's still true. What can I say -- I have kind of a thing for that Anderson Cooper rich boy thing. My first romance hero was like that too, in THE BOOKSELLER'S DAUGHTER.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Molly Weatherfield
I've read all the posts now -- thanks for all the kind words and thanks espt to the person who wanted Carrie to go off with Annie. I really love Annie and if there's ever a next Carrie book I'm pretty sure there'll be some serious ... more
One of the anthology editors wrote somewhere that she had a hard time finding stories written from the dominant POV, that she was deluged with stuff from the submissive POV, but had to beg, borrow and steal to get stuff from the dominant POV. Why do you think that is?
09/13/2011
Contributor: Top Kat Top Kat
Quote:
Originally posted by LambChop
I hate to pop in and run, but I've got reviews to write! (and a book to order!)
Goodnight, all!
Good night - nice to meet you!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by LambChop
I hate to pop in and run, but I've got reviews to write! (and a book to order!)
Goodnight, all!
Bye Lambchop!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Annabel Joseph Annabel Joseph
Quote:
Originally posted by Sacchi
I was a lit major many years ago, as well. I think Carrie's literary reflections are what makes her fascinating to me; they both contradict and add nuances to her situation.

The Academy books by Laura Antoniou are also classics of BDSM, ... more
I agree. I found all the characters in Molly's books to be very complex and almost mysterious at times. I mean, real people are like that, so I love to have that in a book. It niggles at me, and drives me to keep reading and try to understand.

I really admire Molly as a writer, just for being able to craft complex characters like that. Her vanilla romances are the same, very well done as far as characterization and the depth of the emotion/story.
09/13/2011
Contributor: removedacnt removedacnt
Quote:
Originally posted by Molly Weatherfield
I love the comment somebody made about Jonathan being "too casually privileged." He is an unusual top, I think. I once told Carol Queen that part of my inspiration for him was my cat, and I think it's still true. What can I say -- I ... more
I can see how a cat would be the inspiration for his personality. He is very cat like.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sacchi Sacchi
Since we've been talking about both the relationship aspects and the handling of the points of view, here's what Molly told me earlier:

From Safe Word to Romance: But what was particular fun about Safe Word was exploring the people in my fantasy, finding the layers of their implied pasts (particularly in the Jonathan and Kate story). The technical writing experiments were a joy as well: I loved learning how to go from first person to third -- and not only that, but to alternate the he said/she said third person points of view. Which, btw, is by and large how romance fiction is written... it fascinates me that a genre the uninitiated think of as irredeemably girlie has a kind of ambivalent bisexuality built into it.
09/13/2011
Contributor: elliott66 elliott66
Quote:
Originally posted by Molly Weatherfield
I've read all the posts now -- thanks for all the kind words and thanks espt to the person who wanted Carrie to go off with Annie. I really love Annie and if there's ever a next Carrie book I'm pretty sure there'll be some serious ... more
Yes but can't you just see them sitting in the stands a few years later, Carrie has her PhD and has written the first of her many great books and the waiter is no longer an amature but a cognitive intelligence guru and then...Jonathan and Kate walk past.....maybe Stephan.s running in the boys pairs.....and winning if Annie's still the trainer....oh well...
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
Bye Lamb Chop.

It's true that submissives write most of the stories. And very chatty ones they are too, for folks that are forbidden to speak.

One possible answer is that SM is very much a genre for shy people (take it from me, after receiving years of fanmail from wonky brilliant types). It's about rules, consequences. It's a lot about what goes on in your head.
09/13/2011
Contributor: LicentiouslyYours LicentiouslyYours
Quote:
Originally posted by removedacnt
"Too casually privileged, maybe." I kind of got that feeling as well. Though I'm not submissive either, and I know very little about the true S&M dynamic.
See, it's interesting because I am submissive, but I still didn't like him. I loved Kate though, and being attracted to a dominant woman is entirely an anomaly for me. Interesting stuff... Molly has me all over the place!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
Quote:
Originally posted by Molly Weatherfield
Bye Lamb Chop.

It's true that submissives write most of the stories. And very chatty ones they are too, for folks that are forbidden to speak.

One possible answer is that SM is very much a genre for shy people (take it from me, ... more
I suppose the dominants get to act out their fantasies using their submissives, but the subs have to dream about what they really want their tops to be like. So, the subs write out their dreams, while the doms live theirs? Maybe? I know absolutely nothing about the BDSM world.

Well, hubby and I have done a little whipping/spanking, with me as the top, but other than that...
09/13/2011
Contributor: Top Kat Top Kat
Quote:
Originally posted by LicentiouslyYours
See, it's interesting because I am submissive, but I still didn't like him. I loved Kate though, and being attracted to a dominant woman is entirely an anomaly for me. Interesting stuff... Molly has me all over the place!
I found Kate more interesting too. She was so on top of her game that Jonathan seems the tiniest bit envious or resentful that she is so invested in her life.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sammi Sammi
Finally back on a computer where I can actually read and type

Molly, I have to say I absolutely love Carrie's Story, and while I'm not done with Safe Word yet, I really like it as well so far. It's one of those books where I wanted to sit down and read the whole thing in a sitting, but I also wanted to go slowly and really enjoy it.

Now to catch up a bit on posts!
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
Thanks so much, Liz. I love Kate. I didn't start out loving her of course; I was writing from the pov of a wonky, too-verbal submissive, and Kate's so much a woman of action -- not my kind of person, I thought.

But when I thought of all the years she spent waiting for Jonathan to deal with her life choices, and then how he offended her by disrespecting the association she built, I started to have enormous sympathy for her, and wanted to write that. And then she became very hot to me.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Sacchi Sacchi
I was reflecting while i was reading Safe Word that the submissives were the really strong ones. Some of the dominants did switch from time to time, but could they have stood the really hard, painful lives of the submissives? And the subs prided themselves on how much punishment they could take.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Ivy Wilde Ivy Wilde
It was hubby who asked me to whip him. I was hesitant at first, but I'm actually sort of liking it. There is a certain art to it.

However, I would NEVER allow him or anyone else to whip me. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER. Fortunately, he knows that.
09/13/2011
Contributor: removedacnt removedacnt
Quote:
Originally posted by Sammi
Finally back on a computer where I can actually read and type

Molly, I have to say I absolutely love Carrie's Story, and while I'm not done with Safe Word yet, I really like it as well so far. It's one of those books where I ... more
"It's one of those books where I wanted to sit down and read the whole thing in a sitting, but I also wanted to go slowly and really enjoy it."

I know exactly how that is.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
I suppose the dominants get to act out their fantasies using their submissives, but the subs have to dream about what they really want their tops to be like. So, the subs write out their dreams, while the doms live theirs? Maybe? I know absolutely ... more
I love that comment about dominants acing out their fantasies using their submissives and subs dreaming about what they really want their tops to be like.

Wow, thanks, Ivy.

You know -- I don't really know that much about the BDSM world either -- just MY BDSM world. Which you seem to know a whole lot about too. Thanks again.
09/13/2011
Contributor: Kristina Wright Kristina Wright
Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy Wilde
Could you post a link to the PW review?

And I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about your new bambino.
Here you go, Ivy. (Haven't scrolled through to see if anyone else posted the link:

Publishers Weekly Steamlust review
09/13/2011
Contributor: Molly Weatherfield Molly Weatherfield
Quote:
Originally posted by removedacnt
"It's one of those books where I wanted to sit down and read the whole thing in a sitting, but I also wanted to go slowly and really enjoy it."

I know exactly how that is.
Sammi, that's a great comment too. For me, when things are smoking, it's the friction between wanting to move ahead and wanting to stay right here FOREVER is what causes it.
09/13/2011
Contributor: removedacnt removedacnt
Quote:
Originally posted by Sacchi
I was reflecting while i was reading Safe Word that the submissives were the really strong ones. Some of the dominants did switch from time to time, but could they have stood the really hard, painful lives of the submissives? And the subs prided ... more
That's really interesting that you say that. Yes, submissives are very strong. And one of the things that I found interesting in Carrie's Story was the fact that Johnathon picked such a strong young lady to be his submissive. And the fact that such an intelligent young lady chose to say yes to all of it.
09/13/2011