In the same way that how 50 Shades of Gray is blatant BDSM smut that somehow became popular among the general population, I wonder if one of us could make a romance novel centered around erotic hypnosis that could break into the mainstream. Except, you know, actually good.

I know there's a lot of erotic hypnosis stories on the internet, but I mean, something that the general populace could actually get into and drag them into our degenerate fetish. A story that is romantic and consensual, and depicts hypnosis as it ACTUALLY is instead of the kind of crap you see on TV.

Something like... the story of a young woman, stressed out in her life, who comes across a mysterious man who promises he can relieve her stress with hypnosis. At first, she doesn't believe in it, and the effects are subtle at first, but the more sessions they have, the more she is drawn into it. Eventually, he'll propose to her the idea that they take things a step further into erotic hypnosis, and though she'll be a bit creeped out at first, she ends up doing and it becomes a life-changing experience for her.

Do you think we could ever break into the mainstream?

Yes, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Any piece of fetish material (as seen with Twilight and 50 Shades) can become mainstream if it happens to click with people. However, I think your version (the version that tries to follow some logic and morale) just isn't likely. Again, as seen in Twilight/50 Shades it would seem that it's shameless smut that just uses the fetish as a flavor to the kind of trashy "romance" that sells in the first place is what would break into the mainstream. And even then, your version would likely be banned for rape because society rewards those with the first reaction rather than with the most rational.

Well, it's not romantic, and it's certainly not portrayed as moral, but the classic 1894 novel <<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilby_(novel)|Trilby>>, which has been adapted to the screen several times, has hypnosis as a main plot point. That would definitely count as a mainstream novel, though admittedly it doesn't portray the fetish in a positive light.

That said, there's probably some saccharine story out there about a romance between a psychiatrist and his/her patient, that probably involves hypnosis.

Much as I would like that, I doubt it. It can be easily seen as some kind of easy form as rape (Hello Jessica Jones for playing up that aspect to the nth degree) and I doubt folks would be able to look past that, Understandable, however.

50 Shades of Gray DOES NOT portray proper BDSM. What it actually portrays is an abusive relationship that it's talentless, delusional hack of an author believes to be BDSM when it ultimately gives BDSM a bad name.

FUCK E.L. James and everything she is involved in.

Oh I know that, but you cannot deny that it has brought BDSM to the mainstream, even if it's kinda fucked. I would hope that anyone who would write a hypnosis based novel would be more responsible about it.

Doubtful. The issue of control is a large one by default. The thing is the desire for hypnosis, especially here, is a substitute for having control. Forcing control.

We can't persuade people, or we'd be doing so. Instead, we imagine the ability to make our will real. To force our will on others, or possibly have it be forced on us, to make our minds into something else. Call it a form of dreaming.

Didn't Criminal Minds do an episode basically calling 50 Shades garbage that has little to do with real BDSM?

Heck, even before that, CSI explored the details of actual BDSM through the character of Lady Heather and noted that in those relationships, the Submissive, not the Dominant who is suppose to be in control...

...Actually, that's kind of like real life hypnosis: No matter what the Hypnotist may want, the Subject is ultimately the one who decides whether something is done or not...

Well I actually do remember recently walking through Costco and seeing a book that featured a hypno therapist and her pursuit to try to win a guy's heart, but unfortunately I forgot what it was called >.<

And there technically is <<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bid_Time_Return|Bid Time Return>> which was adapted to <<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somewhere_in_Time_(film)|Somewhere in Time>> so there might be a slight chance it could work

But here's the thing, hypnosis as we know as fetish fuel may be hot to use, but to general masses, that kind of hypnosis is easy to abuse and can lead to rape and abuse of a person. And even if you do a more realistic kind of hypnosis in a story, it's usually meant to be used as a kind of way to help people change for the better or find one's place in life or stuff like that. And though it won't be impossible, I'm thinking it's gonna be pretty damn hard to do something like that when your character is using hypnosis on herself for erotic purposes. I mean I'm pretty sure general audiences aren't gonna be happy if she's just gonna turn herself into some sort of slut.

I thought 50 Shades only became popular because it was god awful. Like the first I heard of it was just having different people on line trying to read the sex scenes seriously and laughing at how bad they were, then of course moving on to things like people reading those scenes while doing impressions.

I think I found the book you're thinking of in a thrift shop. I picked it up on a whim. It's called "The Hypnotist's Love Story".

Looked up the book and the cover art was DEFINITELY the same. Thanks chu.

... Is it any good? :P

It's an alright light read. The main story as I've gotten through is about the middle-aged hypnotherapist finally finding someone she considers getting into a serious relationship with while having the usual stressors that come with dating a divorced single father.

But there's also the monkey wrench of the boyfriend's ex-girlfriend turned stalker. Though rather than being disturbed by that, the main character is fascinated by the prospect and seems to want to analyze the person psychologically, unaware that the stalker is one of her clients.