The Art of Submission

I am seriously contemplating, at the moment, the meaning of surrender and submission. In the novel I'm working on, my MC, who is a strong, independent woman, is faced with the challenge of having to completely submit to the man she loves and trust in him enough that he won't abuse that power. Why? Not necessarily because she wants to, but rather to get out from underneath a murder charge. It's given me pause to consider other novels I've written about women who choose to surrender to their partners and who have a need so great, that they crave submission. I've also considered this same surrender in my own life. The things we do, sacrificing the self, for those we deeply cherish. Submission can be a fickle thing. The strong among us may refuse to submit until life forces it on us. On that same token, the strongest among us may fall to our knees at the mere request of someone we deeply love. And believe you me -- there is a point in a person's life where everyone is forced to submit to something - even if it's death. It's what keeps us humble and grounded in reality.

Submitting because you have no choice, and submitting because you want to are two different things, indeed. So, putting myself in a position to feel submission from my character's point of view is actually proving to be quite an educational experience.