This is the fourth in a series of interviews with contributors to the anthology Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission (Cleis Press), out now. (Read the first interview, with Emerald about kinky Krav Mag, here, the second, with Isabelle Gray, here, the third, about a kinky college reunion, with Mercy Loomis, here, and the fourth, about a kinky college reunion, with Heidi Champahere.)
Name: Elizabeth Coldwell
URL: http://elizabethcoldwell.wordpress.com
How did you come up with the idea for your story “Because He Can” in Please, Sir?
I had the title in my head for a long time and was looking for a situation it would suit. That turned into the husband who gives orders because he can, and the wife who takes them because she loves to be controlled, and what might happen if they contrived to bring a third person into their set-up.
Was it a challenging story or did the writing come easily?
Once I have an idea in my head, it usually flows fairly smoothly. If it’s ever a struggle, then I know it’s probably not going to work as a story.
Do you have a favorite sentence or paragraph from your story?
Though he’s acting as though I’m not there he is, in fact, completely aware of my needs, maintaining the subtle balance between the controller and the controlled. I think that sums up the relationship between the dom and the sub in this story perfectly.
I decided that “Risk and Reward” is an applicable theme for Please, Sir. Does this theme resonate with you for your story?
It does, because everything Nicky does is risky. She risks ruining what she has with her husband by carrying on an e-mail flirtation with a work colleague, and she also risks rejection from Adam, firstly when she and David invite him to join them for a threesome and secondly when they explain the truth of their relationship and suggest Adam dominates Nicky, too. Fortunately for all three of them, the rewards of taking these risks are worth it.
Is this story similar to or different from the other erotica you’ve written?
It’s similar in that it features a theme I always enjoy writing about, which is that of a submissive being told what to do and getting off on it. That’s more of a turn-on to me than some of the more painful aspects of BDSM, even though I do sometimes include those in my stories.
What do you think makes an erotica story successful?
Giving the reader characters they can identify with, however far outside their their own experience the situation these characters find themselves in. And making them feel that, perhaps, something like that could happen to them, too. And hot, well-described sex, too, obviously…
Do you have any advice for budding erotica writers?
Start by writing about what you enjoy. It’s a cliche, I know, but if it’s not turning you on, then it’s probably not going to turn anyone else on. And if you have the urge to write, go with it, even if you’re only doing it for your own enjoyment.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just been asked to beef up the last chapter of a novel I submitted to a publisher in the UK, so hopefully that will be accepted. It’s a futuristic body-swapping tale which is a complete reworking of something with no erotic content I originally started writing about 15 years ago before giving up on, so obviously it needed a good injection of sex and kink to make it work!
Order Please, Sir from:
Please, Sir: Erotic Stories of Female Submission blog 
April 26, 2010 at 1:51 pm |
[…] their relationship into a threesome. I’m interviewed about it on Rachel’s Please, Sir blog, so if you want to know what inspires my BDSM fiction, take a […]