Is it just me, or do most sex-focused novels start with an origin story? Even Lessons does, and that’s one of the stories that I would say is my most favorite of mine. The GWWA novel is definitely an origin story – – not of Shannon’s wrestling, but of her spanking adventures. “The Babysitter’s Daddy” is an origin story as well. 

I guess people really like to read how someone’s first spanking or sex or kink or whatever went. 

James Gunn had it right in the recent Superman movie: the entire origin story of Superman took about 30 seconds to tell, because we all know Superman’s origin story: he’s the last son of Krypton, a destroyed planet, sent to Earth by his biological parents, found by Kansas farmers, and raised to be a good person. We didn’t need his origin story yet again. 

Likewise, there are only so many origin stories for erotica. A lot of them are “woman who is younger than the male protagonist gets sucked into the whirlwind of the male protagonist’s world”, be it a billionaire, a CEO, a mob boss, a motorcycle club member, or a sports figure. 

The honeymoon period in a relationship is always a good one – – intense, fun, full of strong feelings. But the middle of the relationship can be good too: you can still have intense fun and strong feelings. I like writing about those too – – “Strong Medicine”, “A Spoonful of Attitude”, and MGOC are examples of those. Sometimes it gets tiresome to write first times – – there are only so many ways to do it, especially for an erotica writer focused on spanking. Sometimes I like to write people in the middle of their relationships. 

And sometimes, like with “Meeting Marianne”, I do both. 

I wouldn’t say this is a challenge or a clarion call or anything, but the next time you write a story, try not including the origin story, or make it very abridged. See how your story goes when you do that.