Cat

sadism everywhere for those with the eyes to see

❓No dumb questions amnesty - can you explain this [line/dialogue/moment from the story]?

🏴‍☠️ Were there any points in which your characters tried (or succeeded) to commit mutiny against your planned plot? Where did they most want to rebel?

🥇 What scene were you most excited to write? Did it end up being the one you enjoyed writing the most?

🙏 Was there anything your character(s) really really really wanted to do? Did you let them?

🍆 What scene do you think was the hottest? What scene do you think your readers thought was the hottest? Are they the same?

🔮Have you imagined what happens to [character(s)] in the future? Or does the story only exist to you as a moment in time?

🔎 What detail(s) in the story are you particularly captivated with? Is there any behind the scenes info or backstory?

🧭 What was the key choice or decision you had to make for this story? If you had chosen differently, what would the story have turned into?

📖 Could the story have been a different length? What would you have included/removed?

🫂How would the story have changed if you wrote it for [this pairing] instead?

💭 If you could wish into creation a transformative piece for your story, made by a real human who isn’t you, what would it be? Art, video, sequel, podfic, etc.

📋What was your main goal for the story and/or writing experience? Do you think that you achieved it?

🎤 Do you think the story was written in your typical voice? Why or why not?

👉👈What two stories have you written that are most similar? Why?

👈👉What two stories have you written that are most different? Why?

i doooooo! Honestly you could probably just go through my bookmarks lol. I don't know what emotion you're looking for but I'm recommending a few that are really about using BDSM to work through difficult emotions. Scorpion by @sapphyshipseverything: a beautiful character study of Ilya via his relationship with his own dominance the All My Perversions trilogy by @probablily. especially the second installment is just the perfect encapsulation of how meanness/humiliation can actually overcome shame

the Public/Private series by @catbythefirelight: just so much about control and sadism as intimacy Nothing Here But Flesh And Bone by @trigonometer: processing homophobia through humiliation kink Decisions, Decisions by @jewelledfoxes THEE hollanov TPE fic of all time. how to let yourself be cared for and accept what you need.

if you've ever watched a movie with your film buff friend and chatted about it afterwards, that friend might have pulled hours more of conversation out of the same 90 minutes of screentime, and wondered how the fuck they did that - it's not raw intelligence, it's a skill that's been honed. And I learned a lot about film from talking to friends who knew about film, and reading critique by film scholars

literature works exactly the same. so if you want to get more out of your reading, there are things you can do to train that. Find a book or short story you think you've got a pretty good grasp on, preferably from a widely read & respected author like Ursula K Le Guin or Ray Bradbury (if you're new at this don't swing for the Toni Morrison or the Samuel Beckett yet unless you feel very comfortable with the complexity of the text - the point is to develop a complicated new skill on good foundations). Then go to JSTOR, create a free account, and look up criticism on the story you've chosen. Find something that looks readable to you and at least somewhat interesting. Read that article, and look at what that writer got out of the same story you've read that you didn't get. Do you see the critic's points? Did they teach you something about the text? Go reread that story and see if the criticism has changed how you read it. Are you seeing more? Are you thinking about the implications of a line that you hadn't noticed before? Does the story feel richer now?

you don't have to read more deeply if you don't want to (but i'd recommend it, i genuinely think it makes you a better person)

if you want to learn to read more deeply, the resources are out there. try to find critical literature (that is, academic writing that analyzes the text) on works your familiar with so you can get a sense for how to do that analysis too

learning to deep read literature can help you deep read many areas of your life