For this year’s A to Z Blog Challenge, Richard and Jayden are worldbuilding! Using Rebekah Loper‘s book The A-Zs of Worldbuilding as a guide, we have teamed up to give descriptions of the world we’re creating, along with snippets of what it’s like to exist in the world. Enjoy!
Background by Jayden for R is for Religion
Honestly, this is one of the most difficult things for me to write, worldbuilding-wise. When I write real-world fiction, I tend to stay away from religion. As I mostly write smut, I try to write it so that anyone reading can see themselves in the main character (or side characters, etc.). If you notice, I don’t give a lot of physical descriptions of my characters on purpose. I focus more on how they’re feeling and how someone else makes them feel. That allows my reader to get more into the headspace of the main character.
I feel like religion takes away from that. So between the fact that religion often has Opinions about sex and the fact that I want all readers to be able to access my writing, I generally stay away from it.
So rather than talk about religion in this world (which won’t be featured in the novel), I thought I would demonstrate what I’m talking about with my descriptions.
Story by Jayden:
I lay on the bed and blinked, but there was only darkness. My eyelashes pressed against the blindfold, and I turned my head from side to side, hoping it would make the elastic slip and the blindfold gap so I could see around it. I wasn’t that lucky.
Just as I was giving up, I felt the first slap of the belt. The leather bit into my thigh, and I groaned. It stung and felt wonderful at the same time. It was exactly what I wanted. Pain. Pain that gave way to pleasure. The next slap was in the exact same spot. She knew I hated that. (Well, ‘hate’ is a strong term.) I moaned and pulled at the restraints holding me down. My muscles strained, but nothing I did would make a difference.
“Please, Mistress, ugh!” I groaned.
“Please, what, slut?” she asked, her voice sultry and sexy.
(I hope) you can feel the submissive’s pain and pleasure through pain as he takes some lashes from a belt. But were you thinking of the narrator as a man or a woman? Did your perspective change when you realized the person hitting him was a woman? Nothing in there indicates the character’s physical characteristics at all. In longer pieces, of course, some of those gaps get filled in. For example, you’re going to know if they have a penis or vagina. But by writing in the first person and leaving my physical descriptions vague, each reader can imagine themselves in that position. Me, a woman with thicc thighs. Richard, a man with sexy thighs. And anyone else who happens to read the paragraph.
Hope you enjoyed this little tangent on my writing choices!
~Jayden
Thanks for joining us for A to Z! Don’t forget to check out all the other blogs over at www.a-to-zchallenge.com and comment below if you’re blogging from A to Z!
Next up: S is for Science
J R Vincente 