BDSM Bedtime Stories Season Three Episode Nine ~ D. L. King

Today we welcome D.L. King to the Dungeon. Our smexy excerpt for today is from Her Wish is Your Command.  This is narrated by our very own author too!

La Crimson Femme: Welcome, D.L. King.  What does D.L. stand for?  Are you able to share with us?

D.L. King:

Hi! The “D” is for “Diane,” my first name. The “L” is for…well, you don’t need to know my middle name. Nothing to see here. Move along.

La Crimson Femme: *shuffles along*

The first time I came across your work was in the Carnal Machines: Steampunk Erotica anthology.  How did that one come about?  Are you interested in more Steampunk themed erotica?

D.L. King:

I was editing an anthology of vampire erotica, The Sweetest Kiss, and received a submission that blew me away. The problem was that it wasn’t a vampire story. What it was, was Steampunk. I wrote to the author and told her how much I loved her story and that if I ever got to do a steampunk anthology, I’d really want to publish it.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the story and so a few weeks later I pitched the idea of Carnal Machines to my publisher, Cleis Press, and they accepted. I put out the call for submissions and immediately wrote to the author, Elizabeth Schechter, and requested the story. It’s the last one in the book.

You know, she turned the story, “The Succubus” into a novel: House of Sable Locks, which just won the Passionate Plume Award at the Romance Writers of America Convention. I like to think I had something to do with all that. Of course, I didn’t, but hey, I saw the story first!

Am I interested in doing more steampunk? Yes, I’d love to do another steampunk book. Carnal Machines: Steampunk Erotica has some of the most intelligently written erotica I’ve had the pleasure to read. Wouldn’t mind repeating that, if I could.

La Crimson Femme: I would LOVE to read another Steampunk erotica.  I also remember “The Succubus” is one I remember and really enjoyed it.  I recently learned you enjoyed roasted chestnuts.  This makes me think of exactly you know what.  I have to ask.  Does this mean you will be more partial to writing Femdom stories?  Is there a preference you have?  Of your stories, which are more in demand?

D.L. King:

Very perceptive! Yes, I write more femdom than anything else. I don’t see a lot of femdom out there that speaks to me. As a dominant woman, I want to read stories to which I can relate. I started writing in my own kink because it was hard to find stories that were both well-written and turned me on. I like my erotica on the hardcore side of things. That doesn’t meant there can’t be a love story, but it isn’t necessary. (That’s how erotica differs from erotic romance.)

Femdom is a subset of a subset of a genre: Erotica: BDSM: Femdom. Dominant women as well as submissive men have all said they liked seeing their lives and fantasies on the page, but it’s a small subset. F/m has a tiny audience, compared to M/f BDSM. That point was brought home to me when I published Slave Girls: Erotic Stories of Submission. It’s doing better than any of my other books. But I’m lucky that my publisher took a chance on femdom with Under Her Thumb: Erotic Stories of Female Domination, which is also pretty popular.

I was really flattered when the publisher at Riverdale Avenue Books asked to publish a collection of my own femdom stories (Her Wish Is Your Command). I hadn’t thought I’d be able to find enough good stuff to fill an anthology with my own work. As I began to put it together, I gained confidence. The stories are really good—at least I think so, and other people seem to like the book. I’m pretty proud of it!

La Crimson Femme: I recognize all these books!  I’ve read all of them but one.  Mmm.  Writing or brain surgery…sometimes, does it feel like you have to do brain surgery to understand the characters bursting out of your head?  How do your characters relate to you?  Some others have mentioned the characters talk to them and force the stories to paper.  Do you have more control of your characters?

D.L. King:

I might be a fairly controlling person—might be—right. But when it comes to writing, the characters do what they want. I put them in situations and then they take it from there. Stories and novels begin with the author’s idea but they soon take on a life of their own. When a writer tries to force a story to fit an outline, the reader can tell. If she allows it to become more fluid, the characters find their own level and the story is more organic and feels more real, I think.

I think it’s happened to all of us: characters fall in love who aren’t meant to; characters don’t fall in love who are meant to; characters refuse to do certain things or want to do other things. If you force them to fit into certain ideas, it doesn’t always work.

This works fine for me because I’m lazy and don’t outline my novels. I’m a “pantser,” meaning I write by the seat of my pants. I start with a central idea and have a few “must happen” points along the continuum, but I go where the voices take me.

You knew that all writers were crazy, right?

La Crimson Femme: *Blinks innocently* I have no idea what you speak of…crazy?  What’s normal?  *wink wink* What erotic fetish do you want to write about but you haven’t written yet?  Why?

D.L. King:

I don’t know that there’s any fetish I haven’t written about—at least that I’d want to write about.  Let’s see: I’ve written stories about blood and piercing, rubber, femdom, maledom, multiple partners, bondage, enemas, spanking and other forms of corporal punishment, CBT, public sex, voyeurism, electro-stimulation, swinging, medical fetish, even golden showers. I don’t know that there’s anything else I’d want to write about. Although, if something comes along, or someone suggests another topic, I could probably give it a go.

La Crimson Femme: How do you research for your stories?

D.L. King:

A lot of what I write comes from personal experience; it’s easier to write about an act if you’ve done it or know what it feels like. But, of course, I haven’t done everything. There are plenty of things I’m not at all interested in doing, personally. I use the internet for most of my research. Actually, an awful lot of research is done on shopping sites. I’ll often spend a lot of time looking for a particular device, plug, toy, etc than I have in my mind. If it’s not out there, sometimes I’ll invent it (steampunk, speculative fiction, etc.). As a matter of fact, sometimes just browsing sites will give me ideas for stories. I also talk to friends and ask questions of people who have experience in areas I don’t. I’ve used reference and tech books for aspects of bondage, CBT and ropes, some of which have ended up finding their way into my own play.

La Crimson Femme: If you knew that you could reimburse all sex toys as part of a business expense, which sex toys would you be purchasing?  This does include machines and furniture.

D.L. King:

Hmm, what would I buy if I could write it off?

Lots of things from Rupert Huse and Son.

A vacbed.

Sullivan Walsh made a beautiful steel bondage sleigh bed.

I’d love to have a gyn table with stirrups.

A tie-down table…

you know, all the super-expensive stuff I can’t afford. Wait, does this come with the extra space I’d need to have a real dungeon? 

Okay, let’s throw in the dungeon space, too!

Ah, wish lists…

La Crimson Femme: Wow, if you stock that Dungeon, may I visit?  J If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

D.L. King:

*laugh*I’ve been wanting to go to Thailand. I also love London, and the UK, and am always ready to go back there.

La Crimson Femme: Which do you prefer, contemporary or science-fiction/fantasy?  Why? Crime thriller or horror? Why?

D.L. King:

I write a lot of contemporary but I read mostly science fiction and fantasy.

I used to read a lot of horror, but now I think I prefer crime thriller and detective.

La Crimson Femme: How often do you think of sex?  How often have you observed men thinking about sex?  What about women?

D.L. King:

I don’t think about sex that often—maybe a couple of times a day. Some days more often, some days less, though anything can stimulate a sexual fantasy.

It’s hard to observe men thinking about sex as I don’t always know what they’re thinking about. But I think they think about sex pretty often. I think, the younger they are, the more they think about sex, but I think they all think about sex a lot, as in all the time.

I think women think about sex a lot in certain situations, but don’t think about sex all the time, for no apparent reason (like I think men do).

This is, of course, purely speculation on my part.

La Crimson Femme: What is one thing in your bucket list you wish to try and haven’t yet?

D.L. King:

I don’t really have a bucket list. I mean, I really would like to go to Thailand and Cambodia. Is this a sexual bucket list? I actually can’t think of anything I haven’t tried that I’d like to. Is that too much information? Well, I suppose this whole interview is TMI!

La Crimson Femme: This is the BDSM group, please, there is no TMI!  Thanks for stopping by!