tmi?

[lobelia321]

Reading shaenie's Catalyst has been a breathtaking ride of intellect plus labia.

I want to *be* Dom. And that is a slightly disturbing realisation.

*fantasises about the collar*

Where is the theorist to help me with this one, eh? Hm, Foucault did hang out in the leather joints of S.F. ...

P.S. It reminds me of the way I was a slave to azewewish's Fun & Games.

Porn, eh? It's explosive stuff.

Comments

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Why do you need a theorist?

Not just being cute, am actually interested - I gave up a while ago trying to understand desire.

I want to *be* Dom.

I have the opposite reaction.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I guess I don't *need* a theorist but I like my theories. I can get off on good theory as much as I can get off on good fic. And when unsettled by rl desire, I like to go and settle in with some nice theory to settle me again. Heh. I guess.

Answer to your question: I'm actually not sure.

And you want to be Billy? This could be interesting.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

I guess my question is - and feel free to tell me to eff off for asking personal questions -

1. Is it that reading that made you want to be submissive?

or is it

2. Reading that made you want to be Dom's particular brand of submissive?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

and feel free to tell me to eff off for asking personal questions -
Well, I've dug my own hole here, heh. I started the tmi post, after all. So I shall bravely forge ahead:

The answer is a mixture of the two, I guess, but mostly 1. Because I am not particularly au fait, as it were, with what *other* brands of submissive there might be out there. (Being second-least porniest in fandom.) I have been enjoying the bdsm fic and the bdsm fantasies (I'm comparing to F&G which, strictly speaking, is not bdsm, I know, but which pressed similar buttons for me; ditto, Cusp) but I had thought that I was getting off on the dominant stuff. But it was reading Catalyst that made me realise, with dawning clarity as the pages progressed, that I was getting off on the dominant stuff being done to Dom. And that I wanted to be Dom more than I wanted to be Billy.

And this, of course, gets me thinking about porn in general. To what extent the lust springs from the erotic *scenario*, not necessarily (and not only) from *identifying* with this or that person. Because I guess, Shaenie, in writing this and in writing Cusp as well, is an authorial switch. And in reading it, we too, in a sense, are switching between Dom and Billy, even in Catalyst which is so tightly Dom-pov -- because we are always getting glimpses and insights into Billy's character and needs as well. And in the end it's the *dynamic* between them that sets off the spark.

I may have to paste this into a post.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

You should, it's interesting stuff. I think it also brings to mine the question of how much one's only personal preferences/experience influence how well one can write certain things.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

P.S. Oh, and I want Billy, too. I don't want to *be* Billy but I want the Billy-brand of control done to me.

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Lemme answer this first cos is easier.

Of course you want Billeh Brand. He's (Jen's) smart, clever, observant, thoughful, exacting, meticulous, and creative.

And evil.

But more seriously, he is a sub's perfect Dom, because of those personality traits.

Does that make sense? What I'm trying to say is that I don't think you want exactly what Dom gets, you want someone to be clever enough to pick out what would cause the same reactions.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes.

Will you be my sex therapist?

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Certainly.

Am nothing if not perfectly happy with telling other people what they think.

*g*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*giggals*

[cindyjade.livejournal.com]

I want to *be* Dom. And that is a slightly disturbing realisation.

I had the exact same reaction. The idea of being dominated like that is just...wow. Very seductive- freeing and erotic and intense...and am not sure what that says about me, but is interesting to think about.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. Heh. The power of porn, eh. I'm not sure what that says about me, either, but I will ponder on it and find out. I hope. *g*

[msilverstar]

Huh. Interesting. Although it pushes many many of my sub fantasy buttons, I don't actually want to be convergence!Dom. I adore him, and Billy, and even c!Elijah, but it's nothing that attracts me in any real-world way. I just want to read more more more more. That is all.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I, too, want to read more more more.

But it is the not-reading part of my response that has unsettled me.

Somewhat.

[yellow-oranges.livejournal.com]

I had to smile when I read these comments, because the Convergence stories really made *me* wonder if I'd be into that in RL. {!!power of porn!!} It is fun to think about...and think about ...and think about! (Especially with dom!Billy...*rowr*)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

What relief I feel to hear you say that!

I must say, shaenie is just simply phenomenal to have created a world and characters that are *so* convincing that they spark off psychic investments like this.

*falls down in awe*

*still in cataswoon*

power of writing, power of porn

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

Don't worry. "You're not alone." This series is so very fine that it is causing a Huge Disturbance in the Fandom Force.

And in me, too.

Makes you think, makes you wonder what you would do, makes you wonder what you should whisper to your spouse/lover next time and what s/he would do about it or think about it....

The writing is so good technically, and it's not just pwp; it's the love and the psychological development and the characters. That Elijah sizzles more than any elijah i have yet read and believe me I am a glutton for Elijah/Frodo.....

I think sex is universal, power is universal, trust and how that works into sex and power is universal. Therefore a well handled fic like this will make us think and feel! And the tight, excellently executed point of view makes us identify with Dominic whether we thought we could or not. And if we already knew that about ourselves, the bottom or even sub tendency, well, that makes it even better, right?

What fun.

The collar in the restaurant was my favorite part, too. I love them all, all 3 of them, and I think I was ignorantly, untutoredly, with much less skill/understanding/mastery/etc. bumbling around in this same "archetypal field," if you will, when I wrote a hobbit story about a foursome.

Sigh. Can't wait for nightfall and and end to real life duties to read it again.

Thanks, girls. It's nice to know I'm not alone either!

Re: power of writing, power of porn

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I *love* the Disturbance in the Fandom Force!! I love that!

Thank you for this comment which says it all so much more eloquently than my incoherent burblings could.

makes you wonder what you should whisper to your spouse/lover next time and what s/he would do about it or think about it..
Indeed! I have hinted to spouse over phone (he is overseas at the moment) and spouse was shocked! Hah. I am not sure whether this is due to bdsm factor or 'oh, no, my wife's online girly community is taking over our world' factor.

And Shaenie's fic is so far from pwp it's like Pluto to the sun. It's the psychology that is so stunning. I'm rereading it now and it strikes me that after every passage describing a sexual act there is immediately a passage describing Dom's interior state of mind. The psychology and the sex are *so* closely intertwined, you cannot disentangle them. That's what I love about this; you learn about the characters *through* the sex, and they remain themselves throughout the sex. Too often in fic the characters fade away when the sex gets wheeled on but here there is a very astute sense at all times why they do what they do, why they do it with each other and not with somebody else, and what they are in sex *and* the rest of their lives.

thejennabides coined the term "fic crush" in another post. I like that term. It's a very fandom thing.

Therefore a well handled fic like this will make us think and feel!
And porn hits us in the guts. It's not like many (any?) other genres of writing in that way.

the tight, excellently executed point of view makes us identify with Dominic whether we thought we could or not.
I don't think I've ever read a tighter pov.

Unlike you, I'm into the Dombilly, not so much the Elijah. *But* I see how the Elijah fits into the Dombilly in this fic because Shaenie compells me to grasp it.