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Date Posted: 05:20:10 11/30/25 Sun
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 49.196.42.190
Subject: Why did Sstoryman not use the 'Hope' subplot from 'The Affair'? - An Essay

Why did Sstoryman not use the 'Hope' subplot from 'The Affair'? - An Essay

Introduction

1997s 'The Affair'(1) was SStoryman's sixth story. It's also the first of the authors stories to end with what appears to be a hook for a follow on story that the author never apparently wrote. This essay explores that hook and speculates on why it was not written.

Part One - Who is Hope?

Hope Cummings is the 15 year old neighbour of one of the stories protagonists, Anne Sturgis. Anne discovers she's a smoker in the Chapter Two(2) and in that chapter she uses that discovery and the realization that Hope is concealing her smoking from her mother to effectively blackmail her into teaching her to smoke.(3) During the ensuing conversation it's revealed that Hope has been smoking for about a year, that her mother had caught her smoking once and threatened to punish her if she continued. Once Hope agrees to teach Anne to smoke she gives Anne a clear idea of what she's potentially getting into. Hope also reveals that a friend named Beth got her started, that piece of information proves important later in the story when it's revealed that Beth is in fact one of the daughters of the man Anne has started an affair with and a 'prodigious' smoker in her own right.

Other writers would have simply written Hope out of the story after that point, but in the stories epilogue(5) the author includes her in the wrap up. The scene is from the perspective of Hope's mother Becky, up to this point simply a name. It reveals that unknown to Hope and by extension the reader, Becky was in fact a former smoker(6), one who's just reverted to the habit as a result of work stress. It also reveals that as far as Becky is concerned Hope stopped smoking after she was caught and that she's now worried about how Hope will react to her smoking.

Part Two - Why does the end of her subplot feel like a story hook?

Unlike the other scenes in the epilogue, the closure of Hope's subplot creates a dynamic, unstable situation. Hope does not remember that her mother smoked and does not know that she's resumed smoking after an extended period quit. Becky does not know that Hope never stopped smoking after she was caught and threatened with punishment unless she stopped. Becky's major worry is that Hope will find out she's smoking before she's worked out how to break the fact to Hope and by extension how Hope will react to the news.

Part Three - Conclusion, why didn't SStoryman use this hook?

What follows is by necessity pure speculation unless SStoryman rejoins the smoking fetish community, something I believe unlikely. The first thing that comes to mind is that the plot is relatively straight forward, with the key event being the moment of discovery between the two main protagonists and the fallout thereof. Nor is there any opportunity in this plot line for sex, something that in later years would increasingly dominate the authors output to it's detriment, it would have to have been added by having one or the other characters enter into a relationship. Equally possible is that he simply forgot about this storyline, certainly when he came to write 'Conflict of Interest'(7) in 2002, while many of the characters from 'The Affair' reappear in it, there is a degree of retconning surrounding just how Beth started smoking and neither Hope, nor her mother are mentioned.

Part Four - Conclusion

In conclusion, this is probably the most interesting of SStoryman's unused plots(8) certainly it's the one with definite possibilities for a dramatic storyline mixed with a touch of O. Henry style irony. In writing this essay I hope to bring it to the attention of authors who may be looking for something different from many of the standard plotlines used today in smoking fetish fiction.

Notes:

1. The story can be found in Vol. 6 of the Noble Leaf Library and Vol. 1 of the 'SStoryman Anthology'. The review can be found in Vol. 14 of the Consolidated Smoking Fetish Fiction Review
2. 'Springing The Trap'
3. The author was smart enough to have Hope realize the potential for blackmail in Annes initial statement, but also have Anne be smart enough to make the offer be more than simply not telling her mother Hope is smoking in exchange for Hope teaching Anne to smoke.
5. 'Epilogue: Two Weeks Later'
6. Becky's internal monologue reveals that she's quit the habit around ten years ago, so roughly when Hope was five.
7. The story can be found in Vol. 22 of the Noble Leaf Library and Vol. 5 of the 'SStoryman Anthology'. The review can be found in Vol. 19 of the Consolidated Smoking Fetish Fiction Review.
8. See the 'Story Inspiration (Second Relaunch)' thread on the 'Smoking Ladies Board' for the other three unused plotlines SStoryman hinted at.

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