Join Candace Blevin for a candid interview on writing BDSM and her “research” methods
Why did you begin writing BDSM novels?
I’m rapidly approaching fifty, and I’ve been in the lifestyle since my early twenties. When I started writing, only a few writers were getting it right, and I was frustrated. I thought I could do better, so I gave it a try.
Do you participate in D/s activities or merely write about them?
My husband and I were both in the lifestyle long before we met. We’ve been married seventeen years, and were together several years before he we married. The first five years of our marriage, we were over-the-top TPE. (Total power exchange.) And then we had kids, and we adapted.
He’s a sadist, I’m a masochist… but it’s more than mere S&M for us. I’m a pretty dominant personality in my everyday life, and my job requires I hold my own in a position usually held by men. When I come home, I can let everything go because he’s in charge.
Our day-to-day lives look pretty normal these days, with a nine and twelve year old living in the house. Neither of us wants to give our daughters the idea women must do as men tell them. However, at night, once they’re in bed, things change. And when the girls spend the night with grandparents? Things really change. Sometimes I miss the dynamic we had pre-kids, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I love being a mom, and my husband is the best dad ever.
Where did you get your information on this lifestyle?
I entered the lifestyle before the internet was available for the general public, so my information mostly came from going to BDSM clubs and learning first hand. Within a year or two of my first visit to an actual club, we had an early version of the ‘net, where you had to telnet into a server, and the ‘web’ was text-only on something called Lynx, so most conversations happened in usenet newsgroups. Even back then, it was possible to find like-minded kinksters online, but no web pages with instructions.
In many ways, the lifestyle is a kinder, gentler, place now. SSC has been taken to extremes never considered twenty-five years ago, which is one of the reasons I tend to subscribe to RACK more than SSC.
In other ways, with websites jockeying for who can be the most extreme, the lifestyle seems rougher and less intimate. The internet has both hurt and helped the lifestyle, but there’s no doubt, it’s changed it.
Tell us a little about your books.
My Safeword series highlights intense, extreme, BDSM wrapped up in a romance. All activities are fully negotiated, and even though there is true pain involved, it’s doled out with love. I write strong women who happen to be submissive, and a good number of my men are unapologetic sadists.
My urban fantasy series includes a little BDSM, but I don’t intend to go into the extreme end of the spectrum when it comes to consensual play. There will be some pretty rough non-con and dub-con in later books, because vampires and shapeshifters play by their own rules, not humanity’s.
My paranormal romance series will vary — some couples may enjoy negotiated BDSM, others will be merely a little kinky, while others may be mostly vanilla. However, the metaphysics will sometimes require pain and blood, whether the couple wants to take part, or not. Also, don’t be surprised when the bad guys are treated to a trip to a whipping post, or wors
My motorcycle club series is also a paranormal romance series, since my motorcycle club is made up of werewolves who can’t deal with the constraints of living in a pack, but don’t want to be lone wolves, either. They’re all antiheroes, and the sex is more likely to be vanilla than BDSM, but with a plethora of controlling, uber-sexy werewolves, you have to know it won’t be boring.
You can read more about my paranormal romance and urban fantasy books at http://www.candaceblevins.com/kirsten-osheas-universe/
Will you be attending BDSM Writers Con or other events where we can meet you?
I’ll be at Authors After Dark in Atlanta in August, and I intend to be at Wild Wicked Weekend in San Antonio again next year.
If you won’t be at either of those, there’s always the internet. I hang out on Facebook quite a bit, and I’m also available by email at candace@candaceblevins.com.
Candace Blevins lives with her husband of 17 years and their two daughters. When not working or driving kids all over the place she can be found reading, writing, meditating, or swimming.
You can visit Candace on the web at candaceblevins.com and feel free to friend her on Facebook at facebook.com/candacesblevins and Goodreads at goodreads.com/CandaceBlevins. You can also join facebook.com/groups/CandacesKinksters to get sneak peeks into what she’s writing now, images that inspire her, and the occasional juicy blurb. To be notified when she has a new release, join her newsletter.