The Construction of a BDSM scene - Prelude

This is the second part in my breakdown of a BDSM scene. The first part which I wrote a while back was about the preparations that I carry out prior to a scene. One of the main preparations was to create a series of test, mostly behavioural ones that my pet carries out, unknowingly most of the time. These tests are then the base for the creation of specific exercises that are carried out during a scene. The test are also used to find behavioural habits that my pet has, both good and bad ones. I then, of course, want to strengthen the good ones and remove the bad ones.

The next step in the breakdown of a BDSM scene is the Prelude. This step is crucial to both parties because it externalises the intentions and reasons for the specific scene.

This is where I explain to my pet what she has is going to do and sometimes I might reveal the reason, but I like her to realise the reason herself gradually as the exercise is going on. The strongest form of learning occurs when a person comes to a conclusion on their own, rather than being told what to learn.

One of the most important aspects is to explain the purpose of the exercise, through achievable goals or unachievable ones. Goals that are unachievable are quite powerful as they can be used to increase the submissive awareness about their personal limitations. Setting positive goals are equally important, as they create a space for positive reinforcement, in other words praise.

Explanation of an exercise doesn’t have to be explicit in words – It can be explained by creating a revelation that you want the submissive to reach, through the different elements that they have to carry out during the training itself. This is decided by the dominant during the prelude.

During the prelude you also have to make a choice on how to move forward to the training goal that has been established. Some goals are quite complex in themselves to handle in one big package. If that is the case then it might be a good choice to break down a big package in to smaller ones. It makes it easier for the dominant to find opportunities for praise or scolding – And most important of all: It makes it easier to monitor the progress of the training. This is what I call a reductionist training strategy – Break down the complex training schemes in to smaller ones and when each one of the package is executed with perfection; then put it all back together in order to achieve the bigger behavioural change.

Lets put all this into a practical perspective:

I decided to observer my pet’s ability to give her powers to me. I can choose just to observe or create situations where her abilities in this area are put to the test. All this have been decided upon during the preparation phase. Her performance turns out to be bad in this area, so it is time to create some exercises to increase her abilities to turn over her powers to me.

I could have chosen the easy way out and gone for the crude domination strategy. Make her repeat about 500 times that she is to obey her master. But let’s face it – That is too easy and it doesn’t create a long term effect.  

Changing her “handing over” abilities is of course a complex goal, and is not achieved through one training session. I decide to break down this complex goal in to smaller ones. I create an exercise based on controlling her habitual behaviour, a good starting point to show the submissive that the dominant is the one that is in control, even when it comes to behaviour that is almost based on reflexes. I decide to start with a word exchange exercise, which means that she has to exchange common words that she uses in her everyday speech with a word of my choice. This is an exercise that require mental energy as it is created to affect her habitual behaviour and it will take her attention of her disobedient tendencies.

This isn’t explained to her in so much detail as I have done here, she is just simply ordered to exchange certain words in her speech and sometimes even writing. This also presents a progress that she can monitor and an goal that is easy to understand on one level. The hidden part is to change her reflexes to establish the fact that the dominant is in control of all her personal aspects, sexual as well as non-sexual.

A good dominant is observant, analytical and patient – These are the abilities that makes both the preparations and the prelude so much easier to carry out. It will also create a framework around the play that makes it easier to understand and interpret.