We are privileged to have Emmy Award winning filmmaker and author Tony Cane-Honeysett with us on the blog today. In his guest post Tony shares a bit about how his vision changed as he transitioned from filmmaker/author to novelist through the writing of his novel Fem Dom. It’s not every day we get a chance to chat with an Emmy award winning filmmaker, so take advantage of this opportunity to ask any questions you might have. Tony will be stopping by to answer them.
Fem Dom – A Strange Journey
By Tony Cane-Honeysett
My novel, Fem Dom, took an untypical path to creation. It started as a screenplay, which I had hopes of filming myself. Because I’m also an independent filmmaker and that means everything I shoot is on a low, low, budget. After making several documentaries, I wanted to shoot a narrative story and get back to working with actors as I had done when shooting TV commercials back in England years ago. The more I got into the screenplay, the more cognizant I was of the cost to shoot each of the scenes I was writing. As the mental production dollars climbed higher and higher in my brain with each additional character and scenario, the more I realized I would have to think smaller and smaller if I was ever going to turn this puppy into a movie that I could pay for. But now I was compromising my creativity as a writer by wearing my filmmaker hat. It was all starting to go pear-shaped. My story was now running into roadblocks that I couldn’t seem to fix because I didn’t think I could afford to shoot it. It was an idiotic constraint to put on myself so I quit before ever finishing it.
Months passed, I kept bouncing the story around in my head when it suddenly dawned on me that I should really be writing Fem Dom as a novel with no concern to what it might cost to film. After all, the story was getting kinkier and kinkier and I wasn’t sure who’d want to be in the damn thing anyway. That decision opened the creative floodgates and the story flowed out of the keys on my laptop and simply seemed to fix itself. But even after over twenty years of writing professionally, I discovered writing a novel is a very different discipline to writing a screenplay. That’s why Fem Dom’s metamorphosis from screenplay to novel took a little longer than expected; three years, in fact.
But what of the film I originally wanted to make? I realized that within the story of Fem Dom lay another, shorter story that would make an ideal film, albeit a shorter one. So from three of the chapters, I culled another screenplay – Mistreated. This time the screenplay made it into a 30-minute dramatic film.
So here I am with a book and a film out at the same time and while they’re both very closely related they’re very different from each other. Fem Dom was published in August this year while Mistreated premieres at the Twin Cities Film Festival on October 18th. From screenplay, to novel, to screenplay, to film. Quite the creative journey!
About the Author:
Tony Cane-Honeysett is an Emmy Award winning writer and filmmaker. His documentary work includes The Royal Academy and Mondo Bondo. A graduate of Ealing College of Art & Design in England, Tony was the recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship awarded by The Tennessee Arts Commission in 2006. He has worked professionally as a copywriter in advertising for over 20 years in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville and Minneapolis. Tony was born in London, England.
His latest book is the fiction erotica, Fem Dom.
Visit him at Twitter or here. .
Follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tony.canehoneysett.
Pick up your copy of Tony Cane-Honeysett’s Fem Dom at Amazon
About Fem Dom:
When faithful wife Tara Drew suspects her advertising executive husband is seeing a Dominatrix, she sets out to trap him in the act. She pays the Dominatrix to teach her how to please men by dominating them and inflicting pain. But her plan to snare her husband has very bizarre consequences. Way out of her comfort zone as an undercover Fem Dom, Tara discovers a kinky world that both intrigues and disgusts her. But now she is the one with a secret life that she doesn’t want her husband to find out about. A sexually fueled, fast-paced story about women who want to control men.
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Wow, from all that thinking and writing into managing two ongoing public productions at the same time. The promotions events and media stuff must get overwhelming at times. This is a little outside of my normal taste in books, but we all need to branch out from time to time, so maybe I’ll give it a whirl. : )
I hope you do, Donna!
In which genre would you put Fem Dom?
Do you read other authors who write in that genre? Who are some of your favorites?
I think by the very nature of featuring a dominatrix with whips and floggers, it falls into the erotica genre though for me it’s more of a suspenseful drama.
Congrats on both the movie and the book. They both sound great. It sounds like you met and talked to a lot of interesting people while writing the book.
Thanks, Gabrielle. Yes I did. It was quite an eye-opening experience!
Would you say your writing is more character driven or more plot driven?
Which comes first for you the elements of plot or the characters?
Do you identify more as a plotter and outliner who knows every turn in the plot before it happens or as more of a by the seat of your pants kind of writer who writes as the story unfolds?
Plot driven. My characters slide into their roles to develop the story and push it along. Though their character traits dictate some of the twists that lead to the story’s ultimate conclusion.
You must have done a lot of research between Mondo Bondo and Fem Dom. Can you share some of the interesting things you’ve learned while researching?
I expect that what people like about being tied up is individual to the person…but what are some of the interesting…or unexpected…things you’ve heard?
I interviewed several dominatrices during the filming of Mondo Bondo. Hearing the stories of their clients was fascinating. The character of Christian Grey is far more likely to be a submissive than a dominant. It is those with power in their daily existence that often have a need to relinquish that power in private. I met many submissives, one of whom enjoyed the tight ropes tearing into her flesh and wore the scars with pride. I interviewed Midori, who is is a highly intelligent woman and self-confessed sadist. She has turned bondage into an art form with the skillful way she ties knots to suspend her submissives. Mondo Bondo gave me so much material for writing.
How much of your actual research made it into the movie? I am guessing that you interviewed a lot of people for the movie and only used some of the stories.
You mentioned Mondo Bondo gave you a lot of interesting material for writing. What’s on tap for you next? Movies? Books?
My 30-minute short, Mistreated, was scripted from several chapters of Fem Dom. So it’s a story within a story but has a totally different ending. It would’ve been much harder to have written Fem Dom if I hadn’t made Mondo Bondo as it was the research with the doms that gave me such insight.
I’m in the middle of my next novel, Regression, which is a blood-thirsty tale. But I would love to shoot the full-length version of Fem Dom. I just need a few million dollars!
You tease! You had to know you couldn’t say you were in the middle of your next novel, Regression, a blood-thirsty tale without me asking more about it.
So spill already!
Tell us more about Regression. Blood-thirsty you say – how so?
Many years ago, I was regressed myself – taken back to a previous incarnation. At the time I thought it was total BS but the images never left me. Whether I tapped into a deep, inherited memory of a past-life, I don’t know. But the person I was, or my mind thought I was, was not a very pleasant person to put it mildly.
My novel, Regression, looks at a similar situation but instead of coming out of that hypnotic state and his previous incarnation, he comes back as the monster he was in a previous century.
I’d love to have you come back and talk more about Regression when it comes out. It sounds like a fascinating book.
I’ve always been fascinated by regression and other psychic phenomenon having had a few experiences with precognition.
It sounds like you were deeply impacted by the regression and the person you were (or your mind thought you were) in that previous life. Do you regret the regression?
I certainly don’t regret the regression I had. It was fascinating. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. And yes, I’d love to come back and chat with you about my next book.
You mentioned the character of Christian Grey being more likely to be submissive than a dominant because he has power in his daily existence.
I can understand the desire to relinquish power after being the one that everyone turns to for direction in public life. That said, there are people who do not seem to need or want to relinquish power at any time.
What did you find in your research about those who identify as submissives who don’t have power in their daily lives?
How do you think the internet has impacted the BDSM lifestyle?
How do you think the internet and the ability to communicate about power exchange impacts on the
Several submissives told me that THEY are the ones in control when role-playing. Their dom is working to a script. The submissive can dictate at any time when the dom has to stop.
Personally, I don’t understand why anyone feels a need to relinquish power for sexual pleasure or by inflicting pain on another person. That’s why I made Mondo in the first place, to find out why? I have a greater understanding of the psychology behind it.
The internet has blown the doors of the taboo subject of BDSM. So has Fifty Shades to a large extent. It seems to me that everyone has some sort of kink. You either express it, or repress it.
Yes, I’ve heard the same thing in many circles on many forums. Submissives have the ultimate control because they set the limits and they have the safe word.
What do you understand now about the psychology of bondage that you didn’t understand before?
Yes, definitely the internet has blown the doors off the subject of BDSM. One can learn about any sexual activity they want to learn about with a simple trip to Fetlife.com
I think books too have blown the lid off taboo subjects like BDSM and same sex relationships. BDSM romance was around a long time before Fifty Shades.
Currently menage and male-male books are very hot in the world of romance publishing. I think books do the job of showing lifestyles in a way that allows people to relate to them.
Reading a romance in which the characters are both men makes gay relationships something that straight people can relate to more and fear less, which I think is a good thing.
The same is true of romance books that feature couples engaged in BDSM.
Hi Laurie, happy to be here. My film short is called Mistreated and it premieres later this month at the Twin Cities Film Festival. It’s a 30-minute film, so it’s long for a short! It’ll be available on Amazon pretty soon on DVD and VOD.
Actually, Fem Dom is not what you might think. It’s not about a couple getting kinky. Quite the reverse in fact. It’s more about misunderstanding, loss of trust and true love. But I’ve wrapped it up in an unusually kinky way.
The story came out of my work on Mondo Bondo, a documentary I made about the psychology behind getting tied up for sexual pleasure. I met some fascinating people and their stories inspired me to write Fem Dom.
Hi Tony,
I didn’t mean to imply that the story was solely about a couple getting kinky. I think relationships are generally more complex.
The same elements that come into play in a vanilla relationship can come into play in a less vanilla one. The issues you mentioned…misunderstanding, loss of trust, true love in the face of misunderstanding and loss of trust can be part of any relationship.
Can you tell us a bit more about the characters in Fem Dom. What drives them? What is their biggest conflict within the story?
You mentioned that the story is really more about misunderstanding, loss of trust, and true love than about a couple getting kinky. Could the story have been written in a vanilla way…without wrapping it up in a kinky way? Did you ever consider writing the vanilla alternative? Why or why not?
Curious.
Yes, you’re right. It could’ve had a less kinky wrapper but I wanted the feeling of betrayal to be more than just about a spouse cheating. I wanted it to be more of a brain-twister for Tara, Clem’s wife. After all, to think your husband has been secretly seeing a dominatrix for what could’ve been years is enough to make anyone question everything about a relationship.
Tara Drew is crazy about Clem. She adores him. So when she thinks he’s up to no good, it floors her. It busts her out of her simple, placid existence. For Tara, this drastic situation calls for drastic measures. She no longer believes a word her husband tells her. So, to learn the truth, she has to confront who she thinks is the enemy and that enemy is a pretty daunting character.
I could’ve made it more vanilla, true. But the dominatrix element has more of a shock factor to motivate my main character.
Someone in a forum once said that coming out as a dominant or a submissive to a spouse who is vanilla is akin to coming out as a gay or lesbian to a spouse who is heterosexual.
I can see how this would be true in that one’s sexuality tends to impact on many other things in a relationship. This is more true if someone has purposely kept parts of their life a secret.
The blurb tells us Tara sets out to learn how to dominate men–presumably in order to be more of what she thinks Clem wants.
You’ve done a lot of research on BDSM lifestyles…do you think that someone who is not dominant by nature can become dominant or do you think it is more a continuum with most people having the ability to switch roles depending upon the situation?
How is it for Tara? What does she learn about herself? About Clem? About BDSM? (I know you can’t tell us everything without ruining the story – but share what you can.)
Yes, Tara wants to learn the secret of pleasing Clem. She’s totally vanilla so she’s at a loss where to start, so she seeks out the source.
In all the dom/sub relationships, it is consensual role-playing. There are safe words so as not to push someone beyond their limits. And anyone can play either role. There are even ‘switches’ who sometimes want to be dominant, sometimes submissive.
Tara learns that there’s another side to her persona which she had never tapped into, so her character arc is considerable.
Sounds like a fascinating book. I’ll definitely be adding it to my Kindle.
You said that Tara learns there’s another side to her that she’s never tapped into before. Do you think most of us have components of both dom and sub within us?
I can see how tapping into dominance and having power even in a role playing scenario would be kind of life changing for someone who has not had power before…or who has not tapped into their power before.
I think we all have sides to us that can remain dormant for years. You never know what might trigger it. Tara finds that trigger. I just know I’d rather give than receive!
Fifty Shades of Grey has been credited with everything from increasing hardware store sales to saving Barnes & Noble.
Have you read the book? Did you love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between?
I have read that sales of your documentary Mondo Bondo have spiked recently. Do you credit the book for the increased sales?
I have a copy of Fifty Shades but just haven’t had time to read it though I’ve flicked through it. I’m curious to know if it is as poorly written as so many people tell me!
Yes, sales of Mondo Bondo suddenly shot up a few months back for no apparent reason. I can only assume it was due to people wanting to know more about BDSM. And as it seemed to coincide with the hype of 50 Shades, I figured that there must be a connection. After all, Mondo Bondo was made a few years ago now.
Hi Tony,
You can search for 50 Shades here on the blog and find my posts about 50 Shades if you’re curious.
Like you, I did have the first book in the series for quite a long time before I buckled down to reading it. I bought it early on because it was recommended on Goodreads by someone who usually likes the same kinds of books that I like. Soon after their glowing review and buying the book I started hearing all the negatives and that put me off it for a while.
However, as a publisher, when something in a genre you publish is selling as well as it sold – you have to sit up and take notice – see if you can figure out why.
So I waded in…feeling much as if I were wading into an unwelcome homework assignment. I am NOT fond of first person viewpoint. I am not fond of present tense. I don’t generally like internal monologue. The book had all of these things…and it was S-L-O-W at the beginning – and a bit cliche in that the heroine literally falls into the hero’s office.
Though some of the same things that bothered other people (internal monologue – especially the inner goddess, the overuse of certain phrases, the seeming youth and innocence of the heroine, the treatment of BDSM as something the hero practices BECAUSE he is wounded by his past experiences) also bothered me.
That said, there are a lot of things that were done very well. The author does a super job of SHOWING her characters. Their characters are woven into the fabric of the story. Grey likes music…the author doesn’t just say he likes music she gives him an ipod and a speaker system and the music becomes part of the background of the story.
The author doesn’t shy away from the fact that Grey is messed up…the whole title comes from the idea that he is 50 shades of messed up. But the author doesn’t just say he’s messed up. She shows him being messed up. He knows how to fit in in situations he controls…like in a business setting where he hires and fires people…and in BDSM where he contracts submissives and spells out in detail in written contract what the expectations on both sides are.
Successful as he is in business Grey flounders when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He just doesn’t get them…but he wants to…especially after he meets Ana. He struggles to learn how to have an adult romantic relationship that isn’t guided by a BDSM contract. In a sense the relationship becomes less BDSM focused throughout the series – not more.
So my response to whether it is as poorly written as people have told you – yes…there are some aspects which are not as strong as others. But there are some parts that are done exceptionally well. I believe it is the parts that are done exceptionally well that outshine the weaknesses for the people who like the book. For those who don’t like it the weaknesses outshine the strengths. I think there is plenty to like. I found that I liked far more than I didn’t like.
Hi Tony, thanks for joining us today. I hope you’ll have a good time here. My hope is to give you lots of opportunities to talk about your novel Fem Dom and your movie Mondo Bondo – as well as the short film made from a small part of Fem Dom.
First what is the short film called and where can one see it?
Fem Dom sounds like an interesting novel. Though I publish romance novels which are typically about the early stages of a romantic relationship I have a fondness for stories about romantic relationships later in their life cycle – when the couple wants different things – often sexually.
It seems that Fem Dom is exactly that type of novel.
What is it that drew you to the story? Where did the idea come from? How did it develop over time?