Cari Silverwood on Capture Fantasies & 'Take Me, Break Me'

Capture fantasy – one of the common sexual fantasies swirling about in women’s minds is this one. From ye olde historical bodice rippers, to the many books by John Norman, where women are kidnapped and taken to the planet Gor, to the current ones that range amongst every setting known to erotic authors.

Some stories are definitely romances, where dubious consent and forced seductions are euphemisms for “take me and I’ll say no but inside I really mean yes”. Eventually both the man and the woman get on the same wavelength and the Happily Ever After ending cruises into place. Since in reality this would be rape – because no man can read minds, this type of book scenario is perhaps the one way women can safely indulge. 

Some stories go even further and do the Gor thing, by which I mean that there is not necessarily any romance at the end of the trail.

And the stories that are really dark are truly no more than rape even in the story. Yet some women do like reading these. These are still fantasies. If anyone in real life were to assume the women who read these really want rape, they might swiftly find their testicles transplanted into their cranium, by means of a stiletto heel.

Interestingly, just to show how BDSM is in a way just the ultimate game for indulging in your fantasies – people do role play capture fantasy and pretend rape is happening. But, but, but, it IS consensual, and it IS agreed upon beforehand. And the woman can use her special safeword and say stop at any time. I’ve known husbands and wives who play at this type of adult game. 

Importantly, of course, not every woman likes reading capture fantasies, or wants to pretend, and for some it is the ultimate horror to pretend in any way shape or form.

When I wrote Take Me, Break Me, I wanted to explore the capture fantasy in a new way. I wanted to try to make readers think about their fantasies, and I wanted to set my story in modern contemporary setting, and yet still have the man a good guy. Hard to do? Definitely, for me at least. 

How can you write a man into a story who would do this and yet still be a moralistic person who cares and who isn’t a sociopath? You’ll have to read the story to see if I managed it.

Is this book even a capture fantasy? This is a question I have been wondering about. I wrote it so it is difficult for me to see the trees of the forest for all the words in the way. I’m going to wait and find out what readers tell me they see.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this story was telling half of it from the POV (Point of View) of Klaus. I could show him wrestling with his own emotions and thoughts in a way that’s impossible to understand if you can’t hear him think. Yes, he’s a loud thinker. But at times in the story, even I wasn’t sure which side of the abyss Klaus would fall into if pushed.

Blurb for Take Me, Break Me

Jodie is scraping the barrel trying to stay afloat. An idea arrives that could rescue her finances and bring her together in a kinky way with a man she never gave up on. She's terrified and fascinated, and tempted as hell.

Capture fantasies rule her eBook. Re-enacting one in a documentary would surely be irresistible viewing to millions of women?

But Jodie and Klaus discover that underneath an ordinary man dark desires may lurk. What will win in the end? The man and lover, or the monster?

Excerpt:

As I kissed and tasted the tears that had leaked from under the blindfold, I said in a harsh whisper, “I enjoyed seeing you scream and try to escape, loved seeing you dancing away from the cane. Your ass – I’d declare it a work of art. Yeah…” I touched our foreheads together and looked down over her face, stared into her blindfolded eyes, and at her trembling full lips and those amazing tears. I traced my finger down the wet track on one cheek.

My murmur was soft but as deadly, I hoped, as a knife thrust. “I never thought I’d say this, but I enjoy this. You might be in trouble.”

Truth and mind fuck rolled into one scorching bundle. Yes, she was in trouble, but then so was I.

I wanted to do it again. I’d saved her and cared for her so many times. She was a beautiful woman, with a mostly beautiful heart, and I wanted to hurt her and swallow those screams. God, I was so fucked up.

 You can find out more about Cari at her website, and follow her on facebook or twitter.