Tuesday, December 16, 2014

On Growth and Evolution

I was lucky enough today to have my eBook Gift Wrapped reviewed by the awesomely talented Sally Bend.  Sally raved about this short collection of holiday stories, which thrilled me to no end because it hasn't been a great seller for me.  In fact being out less than half as long, It's Nothing Personal has almost sold as many copies. 

What I really found interesting wast Sally's reaction.  She said, "Gift Wrapped is a fantastic collection, and one that displays a newer, softer, happier side of Kylie - one that compliments the delicious cruelty we've come to expect beautifully!"

What I found interesting is that she found two of my stories to be quite romantic.  Now one of the stories she found romantic was a very close reworking of O'Henry's Gift of the Magi, which is a classic holiday tale and also public domain.  I think Sally's insightful review hit on something however.   I definitely have changed as an author.

In the beginning, I started with my own experiences and when I moved to fiction I started by writing about dominant women who were very much like my idealized version of the women who had feminized me.  Somehow they knew it was for the guy's own good and while they would humiliate and emasculate their victim, they were never malicious about it.  You can't write a book every other week about this kind of character and not eventually say everything there is to say about her.  As  result, I've simultaneously moved in two opposite directions.

As I look at the books that are out now and the books that are coming out in the next several months, I see both much kinder, loving and more romantic dommes and more mean, manipulative, and bullying dommes.  I also reserve the right to have an unhappy ending.  I think it's going to be a fun ride.  I just hope I don't lose anybody along the way.   I'll try and give enough description to guide you to the books that you most want and away from things that may be too dark or too cheery for you.

3 comments:

  1. Always good to have a balance, hon. Plays to a much wider audience, and keeps your fans guessing as to whether there's a happy ending on the way. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. I originally ending the Girl Gang stories after the second story and some of my beta readers were shocked because it was my first story without a happy ending. I still reserve the right to tell stories without happy endings for that very reason.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One person's nightmare is another sissy's dream come true.

    ReplyDelete