Layla Dorine speaks out about BDSM and writing; and best of all attending BDSM Writers Con!

What got you interested in writing BDSM?
I’d read several books that featured BDSM prominently, and I’d long had an interest in learning more about the lifestyle. One afternoon while I was cruising on the backroads here in Iowa, a character popped into my head. Right in the opening scene was a moment of submission that actually made me blush, it was like nothing that I’d ever considered writing, but I felt compelled to tell his story. It was almost November so I decided to work on Lucky’s story as part of National Novel Writing Month and it proved to be an intense and amazing ride. A short time later, my publisher, Wayward Ink, posted a call for submissions for their upcoming Collars ‘n Cuffs anthology and I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at writing a story for it. Attending the BDSM conference in Everett really helped me feel confident in what I’d written and taught me so much more. Now I’m in the process of outlining a second book in which the lifestyle will be featured and I look forward to constructing more in the future.

What resources or research, if any, have you done into BDSM to make your stories realistic?  

If you haven’t written BDSM in the past, what’s made you want to start now? Aside from reading Dr. Charley’s newsletters and watching the videos that were posted, I also went online and waded through articles and videos from all over the web. I took the time to sit down with those who are involved in the lifestyle and asked questions and talked to them about some of the things I had in mind for my stories and how feasible they would be. I’ve also purchased and am in the process of reading Dr. Charley’s BDSM for Writers, which is an absolutely amazing resource, and when in doubt, I ran some of my scenes past beta readers to get a feel for how authentic the scenes came across. If anything, researching makes me interested in writing more BDSM in my stories. I love to learn, especially about a topic that fascinates me.

What differences or difficulties, if any, do you see in writing D/s stories as opposed to your typical romance?
It’s funny, but my D/s stories actually flowed way smoother than the times I’ve tried to write standard romance. The difference for me has been that I am finally taking the gloves off, so to speak, and giving my characters what they are showing me in my head that they want. In two of my four novels there was some underlying, unspoken desire towards power play that I never took the opportunity to fully explore. Fortunately, both are slated for sequels so the opportunity is still there. I think one of the things that scared me away from it was fear that one character would outshine the other through their dominance, and I didn’t want any of the characters to get lost. Learning how to balance the dynamic on the page would be one challenge I could foresee popping up from time to time, another would be to not allow the dynamic to take over the lives of the characters.

Why have you chosen to attend BDSM Writers Con?
In order to learn as much as I could to flesh out my stories, I attended the BDSM Conference in Everett. It was the first con that I had ever attended and I was blown away by how in depth and varied the workshops were. I felt like I could ask as many questions as came to mind and in addition, came home with a ton of notes and new information that allowed me to make adjustments to my story as well as start thinking about new ones. I spent most of my evenings, after social time was over, in my room jotting notes on story ideas, it was that inspiring. So when the opportunity came to attend the conference in New York, I jumped at the chance. Never once did I feel awkward in Everett and everyone was so approachable and spoke so freely about the lifestyle that I found myself eagerly taking part rather than shyly hiding in the corner. There are several workshops that will be new to me in New York and I am looking forward to them. The chance to learn more was just too good to pass up and I’ve even signed up for Everett 2017 as well.