Nichelle Stephens Talks to Rachel Kramer Bussel Editor of Naughty Spanking Stories From A-Z
	Photo by Paul Sarkis

Nichelle: How did you get started writing erotica?

Rachel: I got started writing erotica largely by accident. I was going to NYU Law School and started to do more sexual writing. One of the first sexy pieces I wrote was about my first vibrator and then I started reading more erotica and decided to try writing some. My first big story was called "Monica and Me" and was a fantasy about Monica Lewinsky that was published in the anthologies Starf*cker and Best Lesbian Erotica 2001. That's one that a lot of people remember because it looked at Monica in a slightly new way, and I'm really proud of it, though I might have written it differently today. It's actually going to be reprinted this summer in Best of the Best Lesbian Erotica 2. From there, I just started writing more and more stories and found that I had a propensity for it, though I am always learning more.

Nichelle: You are the busiest sex writer in the city with your editing position at Penthouse Variations, your column in Village Voice, doing book reviews for Bust, doing interviews on Gothamist and editing Naughty Spanking Stories from A to Z and other anthologies. How do you manage? Diet Coke?

Rachel: I honestly do not know the answer to this question. If I stop and think too much about how I do everything that I do, I start to go crazy. Diet coke does help me in some ways, but it's more that when I have nothing to do, I get bored and go poking around for some new book to review or something else exciting to work on, and by doing writing in all these different areas – erotica, book reviews, interviews, essays, my Voice column, etc., I get to satisfy (or come close to satisfying) all the various areas of my curiosity.

Nichelle:What's your inspiration for the erotica you write?

Rachel: At the beginning, most of it was inspired by my real life. That was a time when I was having lots of crazy, wild sexual adventures, which I still do on occasion, but it gave me lots of great material, even when I wasn't necessarily seeking it out. I found myself in some pretty outlandish situations, like getting hit on by a woman in a Tel Aviv nightclub, which I turned into A Very Special Israeli Souvenir, for the anthology Hot & Bothered 3. I wrote one called The Real Reason I Have Long Hair, because I really do get off on having my hair pulled, even though that one's not to-the-letter true, and Doing the Dishes is fiction, but inspired by my very real affinity for washing dishes. The Monica Lewinsky story stemmed from me thinking she's hot and extending that into a fantasy, and in some ways I never considered these stories as truly "fiction" because they were either things that happened to me or that I wanted to happen. It wasn't like I was creating characters out of thin air, and for a long time I thought my stories were "lesser" because of that, but now I realize that instead of trying to force my writing to go in ways it doesn't naturally want to go, I just have to listen to where my mind wants to take me.

Now it's become more of a challenge to write original, creative stories, that may or may not stem from my life, but that keep the genre interesting for me. I've made some forays into gay male porn, and continue to write about my own life, but often in more nuanced ways, like I might take part of something that happened to me, and fictionalize the context, or take someone I think is hot and write a story about them, even though nothing even happened between us, as I did in X2 in Naughty Spanking Stories. I can really get inspiration from anywhere, but for the bulk of my stories, which are largely autobiographical, writing down what happened and what I felt is a way to process and understand my own emotions around sex, which are often more complex than I'd expected. Lately, I've been looking at ways sex gets complicated by those emotions, and writing stories that are about things like longing and breakups and power and fetishes, but that hopefully have more than eroticism to them, and I want to continue to go in that direction.

Nichelle: How did you become a spanking expert?

Rachel: I wouldn't really say I'm a spanking "expert." In fact, I shy away from the expert label because I really feel like I'm just a regular person who's taken her interest in a topic, in this case, spanking, and put it out there in the world. I really do love both spanking other people and getting spanked, but it's not like that's the only thing I'm into. Luckily, writing so much about it hasn't quelled my desire to actually do it! While I might have done it and written about it more than the average person, spanking is something that anyone truly interested in it can try, and as long as you and your partner communicate about what you want and you go slowly at first, you can have a wonderful time. I think spanking's a great activity for those new to kink, because it can be relatively light, or harsh, but it can also be very emotionally intense, something you don't quite realize until you've bent over for someone or had someone's bare butt staring you in the face.

Nichelle:How does blogging affect your writing?

Rachel: Well, it affects it in a slightly negative way in that I use blogging a lot of the time as a way to procrastinate about doing something else. But in the overall sense, blogging has been great for my writing because it gives me a place to publicize my published work, readings and events, and is also just somewhere to put all the writing that didn't make it into some other format. I sometimes get really stressed out and consider closing my blog, but then I come to my senses right away because blogging, in the little over a year I've been doing it, has really saved my life and allowed me to connect with and meet some amazing people, and is just a way for me to let off some steam. I rarely go back and reread old posts because it's such an "in the moment" thing for me. Blogging has also gotten me booked on a few reading series and is a way to have a presence on the Internet that I feel is very "me." I rarely censor myself on my blog and feel like it gives people a little behind-the-scenes of who I am and what I'm about. So in one sense, blogging helps me procrastinate, but I also like to think it jogs my mind for when I go sit down to do my real writing.

Nichelle: Cupcakes, contests or comedy, what do you love more?

Rachel: Geez…this is like making me choose between my children or something. I love all of these. Cupcakes are a more recent obsession, which has rapidly escalated, hence our cupcake blog. I really don't eat them all that often, but I love looking at photos of them and just baked some myself for the first time, which was a whole other kind of endeavor. Contests are just such a part of my life, I've been entering them since I was a teenager and won a TV set and a hotel stay in New York and tickets to Saturday Night Live. I will probably always enter contests, even if I were to win the lottery.

Comedy I've gotten into mostly in the last year, and as I always say when people ask me why I go to so many comedy shows, it's because so often I feel like my life sucks and to be able to go out and laugh and just have fun, where there's no social or professional pressure, is wonderful. I have no comedic aspirations so can enjoy shows like Comedy Pro Shop and Giant Tuesday Night and Welcome to Our Week and The $1 Room unabashedly. I was totally honored when Matt Goldich told me recently that I'm one of a handful of people who regularly go out and support the alternative comedy scene. There are lots of comedy fans out there, and it's nice to feel part of that community even though I'm "just a fan." I also loved that another comedian I ran into at Katie McCabe's weekly show Jab at Punch recognized me by my blog and she had asked some people who I was and they told her I'm someone who goes to lots of comedy shows. Or, as I told my friend and super funny girl Giulia Rozzi at a party recently, "Yay! The comedians are here." Comedy has sort of seeped into my life, and vice versa, I think.

Nichelle:Who are some of your favorite musicians?

Rachel: I have tons of favorites, so I'll just give you a brief snapshot. My biggest musical idol and inspiration is Mary Lou Lord, a Boston-based singer/songwriter/busker and all-around awesome woman. I've been obsessed with her ever since I heard her cover of Shawn Colvin's "Polaroids" on this benefit CD Safe & Sound way back in 1996. I had the music on low and heard this soft, sweet voice and turned it up and then played that song over and over, picked up her other EPs, started a webpage and mailing list about her (I still run the mailing list at some.org, but the webpage has fallen by the wayside), and then traveled all over the country seeing her play. Mary Lou is not just a fabulous musician and interpreter of other people's songs, she's got such a big heart and is always encouraging of other musicians and is just someone who loves songs on a very pure, basic, heartfelt level. You can hear it in the way she covers people like the late Elliott Smith, or Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Bruce Springsteen or Richard Thompson. I highly recommend her Live City Sounds CD.

I'm also super into Ida, Sleater-Kinney and The Reputation, all of whom I've seen multiple times and adore to no end. I've also interviewed all these people, because that's what I usually do when I like a performer or artist – my interview with some members of Ida is coming up soon on Gothamist. Their new album Heart Like a River is, hands down, one of the most gorgeous records I've ever heard in my life and I just can't stop listening to it. Seriously, they're touring now and I urge you to go see them, or at least go listen to one of the tracks on Polyvinylrecords.com because their work is simply stunning. I just saw Sleater-Kinney put on an amazing, fiery show at Mercury Lounge, and I hope they truly take over the world with The Woods. And The Reputation…they just rock so hard, and also have a really fabulous, tight-knit fan community, which is how I found my last roommate, and their shows are always so fun and vibrant, whether they're packed or not so packed, like a recent Rothko show where there were less than twenty people in the crowd and some guys were moshing. Elizabeth Elmore (lead singer of The Reputation, lawyer and fellow nerd) is my total idol/heroine and one of the most brilliant songwriters I know. I'll gladly listen to her spin words any time. Come out and see them April 20th at Mercury Lounge!


Nichelle: You've been hosting a creative ladies brunch where women get together and discuss their projects. What was the inspiration for that?

Rachel: At first, it was that I had met all these cool women writers, and was trying to make individual plans with them for brunch, but realized there just wasn't enough time to see everyone. Then I realized that a lot of these women would probably have interesting/helpful knowledge to impart to the other ones and it would be fun for all of us to meet and mingle. I love to bring people together, whether in the romantic matchmaking sense, or, more commonly, to bring together artistic people who can support and nurture each other. It makes me really happy when I can connect, say, a writer with an editor looking for freelancers, or a comedian with someone looking for guests for their show, and that's how the brunches started. They're a lot of fun, as long as the trains are running properly, and also a great way to kickstart my own creativity. I always say that New York is such a wonderful place to be a writer or artist of any kind, because I am continually inspired by all the people doing awesome things who I encounter every day. It doesn't necessarily matter if they're a writer like me; just being around people who are excited by and passionate about their work inspires me. It's also a good way to tame one's jealousy over other people's success, which is never going to get you anywhere. I find that visualization and networking—not in the smarmy, sleazy way, but in the genuine connecting and bonding over mutual talent kind of way—go a lot farther than simply lusting after success from afar.

Nichelle: What is your idea of the perfect vacation/weekend getaway?

Rachel: Part of me wants to say a beach, with no phone and no internet, but as you know, that's not really true. I get antsy when I feel like I'm not connected to the rest of the world. I like cities, and had a great time going to Chicago last year for the Book Expo and running all over town and getting a slight feel for the place. This year, I'm hoping to head out west to Portland, Oregon, and possibly to Asia. For me, it matters less where I go than that I don't have to be running around, making appointments and plans nonstop, and that I have fun people to hang out with wherever I am. I like to have free time to wander around and go at my own pace, sleep in, eat well and just have fun. Having a fun tour guide/traveling companion is also always a good thing because I am a terrible vacation planner and am invariably barely making my plane and forgetting things, but what I lack in organizational vacation skills, I make up for in enthusiasm.

On The Web:

www.rachelkramerbussel.com | http://lustylady.blogspot.com