By E.M. Lynley (Guest Blogger)
Do
you remember the Sharon Stone film Sliver? It’s from 1993,
which seems so long ago at this point. Sharon Stone lives in an
exclusive apartment building in New York. She ends up having a fling
with the guy who owns the place, a younger man who has wired cameras
into all the apartments. She walks in on him in his secret room
watching a dozen screens of residents doing all sorts of things,
including having sex, though that’s not the limit to his
compulsion.
Sharon’s
shock doesn’t last for long. She’s fascinated by watching these
people too, and she sits down and joins him. Together they eavesdrop
on her neighbors.
At
the time, I didn’t really understand her response. Why the hell
wasn’t she angry? I sure would have been!
The film stuck in my mind
anyway.
That
was my first encounter with voyeurism. I just didn’t know it at the
time.
It
was only later I realized it was just a kinkier version of Rear
Window, where Jimmy Stewart’s character spies on his neighbors
with binoculars and a zoom lens—a low-tech Sliver. He even
gets his cleaning lady in on the action.
Originally,
voyeurism was classified as a sexual disorder. If Jimmy Steward would
rather stare out the window than pay attention to Grace Kelly, I
agree, there’s something wrong there. People didn’t make out in
films in 1954, but that choice is implied.
Flash
forward to about five years ago.
I
was watching a television show where some intelligence agents have to
keep a suspect under surveillance. The guy’s into prostitutes, and
the agents watch him with one particular woman several times. One of
the guys really gets into watching these two together. He stays in to
the surveillance room even when he’s off duty, just to watch.
I
was fascinated by this. Everything clicked for me. I even liked the
idea of that agent watching the couple. It kind of turned me on.
And
it gave me the kernel of an idea that eventually became Bound for
Trouble.
What
if my character’s main interaction with the other MC was watching
him? It starts out as work. He’s an FBI agent and the other MC is a
hooker he sends in to get information. The more he watches the guy
with someone else, the more he wants him. He has cameras in the
informant’s apartment, so he can see him in a very intimate way,
not just with the target, but on his own. My agent gets to know the
informant with almost no interaction.
It
soon dawned on me that you can’t write an erotic romance where the
two main characters don’t meet and touch and eventually fuck—in
person. I had to rework several aspects to the story, but I kept in a
lot of scenes of the agent, Deke Kane, watching Ryan, the
rent-boy/informant.
To
spice it up even more, I made the target an active Dom, while the
Deke had no exposure to BDSM. He finds he’s turned on by watching
Ryan with this other man, and even more turned on by watching the Dom
training Ryan.
Nearly
all the BDSM scenes are Deke watching on the surveillance cameras,
where he has to analyze his own reactions, while trying to keep cool
enough to do his job. When he finally gets in the same room with
Ryan, at the BDSM club, he has to act on all those pent-up urges.
I
got to indulge in a lot of my own fantasies in this book, and I admit
to getting pretty steamed up even during the editing process—a
first for me. Usually by that time I hate the book and the
characters. This time, I found the scenes having a similar effect on
me and Deke. I kept slowing down to read them in full. And to needing
some cold showers.
I
certainly hope those scenes have the same effect on my readers!
What
makes us enjoy watching others so much? For me, I can put myself in a
situation I may never actually get to experience. That’s a powerful
lure. Whether it’s fear or a lack of opportunity, there are plenty
of things we’d like to try, but will never get to do. Why shouldn’t
we enjoy watching someone else doing it?
Part
of the fun at sex club is watching what the others are getting up to.
Even watching other patrons at strip clubs and how they interact with
the dancers is exciting in a different way than participating
ourselves. And in the best situations, watching gives us ideas to try
out with our own partner.
I
could go on, but it’s getting hot in here again.
So,
what’s your take on voyeurism?
Do
you like to watch too?
Please
check out my latest release, Bound for Trouble.
Daniel
“Deke” Kane is a broken man, facing the end of his career in the
FBI. He’s on desk duty after a botched drug raid left the suspects
and two children dead. He’s got one chance to prove himself, or the
only thing he’ll be investigating is the Help Wanted ads.
Ryan Griffiths has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite client gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.
When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan.
Ryan Griffiths has been on the run for ten years. Forced onto the streets when his father kicked him out, Ryan earns his living in other men’s beds. Finding his john dead in a hotel room drives him under the radar until a favorite client gives him a chance at a safe, clean life. But Ryan’s relatively stable new world shatters when Deke Kane catches up with him.
When Deke’s tasked to take down a drug dealer with terrorist ties and a taste for the dark side of BDSM, his only chance to get close is the suspect’s interest in Ryan, and he convinces Ryan to become a confidential informant. In return, Deke offers Ryan immunity from his past. As Ryan falls under the drug lord’s domination, Deke finds himself falling for Ryan.
About EM Lynley
EM Lynley, a Rainbow
Award winner and EPPIE finalist, has worked in high finance, high
tech, and in the wine industry, though she'd rather be writing hot,
romantic man-on-man action. She spent 10 years as an economist and
financial analyst, including a year as a White House Staff Economist,
but only because all the intern positions were filled. Tired of
boring herself and others with dry business reports and articles, her
creative muse is back and naughtier than ever. She has lived and
worked in London, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., but the San Francisco
Bay Area is home for now.
She is the author of
Sex, Lies & Wedding Bells, the Precious Gems series from
Dreamspinner Press, and the Rewriting History series starring a sexy
jewel thief, among others.
