Meet Author: Dyvia Etymon

When did you start writing erotic, mind control and feminisation stories and what was your inspiration for it?

When I was in college. I wrote on mcstories.com under a different name than I do now. Some of it was embarrassing. My first story had an incest scene, I didn’t even know that was a kink, I just wanted people to understand how bad the villain was. I was more into the mind control kink. I was always reading, couldn’t wait for the Saturday update. Did web searches for new and unread stories, came across nifty.org, they had a mind control section. There was a story from the mid-90s in t\heir archive called, ‘Hypnotized into Tabitha’ and that really triggered my fascination with mind control and feminization together. I wrote my first one in 2002, the story was simply, “Mistress Dyvia.” so yes, my pen name came from my [arguably] antagonist of my first story.

What was the first story that you wrote? Yours was Mistress Dyvia’s The Interview, back in 2011, and it is the only story you have ever put your own name in the title of. Was that a statement of intent at the time?

Well the first story I wrote as ‘Mistress Dyvia,’ as I mentioned, and ‘The Interview’ was actually my 26th story (looking back at my archive).

Most of my stories from 2002-2019 had ‘Mistress Dyvia’s [Title]’ in it as each story had some version of Mistress Dyvia appear in them.

Also I used to find a bit of annoyance in mcstories when a person would submit a title that someone else had, and then the title would appear with their name in parentheses. If I had ‘Mistress Dyvia’s’ in the front of my title, it would never be a title someone else would use.

I have to ask about the gap. That first story went up in December 2011, and the next one did not arrive until the summer of 2020. That is a long silence. What happened in those years, and what brought you back?

There were gaps. But not that big. I did four stories between the Interview and depra/ived. I had taken a promotion at work, and I spent a lot of time roleplaying on Lockedinlace.com (which is great if you haven’t been there, Melissa is Awesome!). I had my own RP site for a while, ‘Surrendertopink,’ but there were issues and between the two I lost a lot of writing-for-me time.

But one of the ‘big gaps’ is that I rarely use Literotica. It’s almost an afterthought for the bigger stories. When I write something, it goes to fictionmania and deviant art, if it seems really popular, “Oh, I could put them on Literotica too!” but it’s a pain, they have formatting requirements that I hate, and I hate their policy of not allowing a writer to promote themselves in their own story.

“If you have any thoughts, feel free to post below” rejected.

“Here is my email address if you want to send feedback” rejected.

So if it’s not popular on FM or DA, it’s almost not worth the time to reformat it. I still have two stories pending on Lit from years ago that got rejected, ‘Future Bimbo Actress,’ and ‘…As tits on a Bull.’

Why did you decide to become an author?

I have always been creative. I’ve always had an active imagination. I had a few teachers who encouraged me in ways I don’t think they’ll ever know… But when I started posting stories, I got feedback, that encouraged me!

So yeah, anyone reading this, if you want your favorite authors to keep making stuff, send them some love!

How would you describe the niche and themes of your work? Your stories sit across four different Literotica categories, Mind Control, Transgender, BDSM and Crossdressing, and honestly several of them could be filed in any of the four. How do you decide, and does the category you pick change who turns up to read it?

I struggle with Literotica’s categories. I don’t think many of my stories fall under transgender or crossdressing appropriately. But ‘Forced Feminization’ or even ‘Feminization’ isn’t really a thing there. I look at as a forced erasure of the masculine side, so its hard to pick. Does that mean they are trans? Typically not. Does that mean they are just crossdressing? Again, not typically. Is the theme stronger with mind control or Feminization? But I can tell many of the stories I’ve listed as Mind control lost stars/ratings due to the feminization themes which is frustrating when that is the stronger theme in the story.

What are your favourite stories to write?

Modern with a sci-fi edge… Though urban fantasy can be fun too! I like my stories to build and build with structure, with an ending that is either extreme, unexpected, or sweet… though I used to love cliffhangers.

What is your favorite story that you have written?

Oh Gosh, you had to ask me that… There are a few. Mistaken Identity as its my first novel length story (Over 100,000 words) I wrote every chapter twice, from each of the main character’s points of views. Published one version of each chapter publicly…

Thematically, ‘Lies of the Mirror,’ and ‘Excuse me, what exactly did my husband do?’ amusingly the stories have alot in common though they go in very different directions…

The Bride, simply because of how controversial it was. The comments are full of everything from saying that was the best story they ever read, to very visceral angry reactions. I take pride in how varied the reactions were.

You publish free, so there is no best seller as such. Cocksluts Swallow, Cumsluts Smile is your highest rated, and the setup, a man becoming a sissy for his sissy mistress, turns the usual arrangement inside out. Is that the one that got the biggest reaction, and where did it come from?

Well there is a lot here… I have a doc on googledocs that has about 70 pages of ideas, usually a title, 2-6 sentences of plot and a twist/attention-getter. I often let my Patrons on Patreon vote to decide which story will be available the following month. They voted on this one.

But there were two things to put forward as well, back in 2005 I wrote a story, ‘Mistress Dyvia’s Fun night with a New Gurl,’ there was a segment in which a girl was told she could not say yes or no, and was given humiliating things to say in its place. Some people still reach out to send me emails that said it was one of the hottest things they ever read, so I decided with years more writing experience, could I have fun revisiting a theme like that again? Yes I could.

The other thought I had, is that it takes a lot to be a sissy and it is never really shown. There is much bravery there, for a man to tell a woman; a sexual partner that he’s not very masculine is quite brave. But in so many of our stories, we pass them off as weak, so I do try to post a positive story every so often. One that shows strength. I have a few such as ‘A Girl named Slave,’ and ‘Altered Mistress,’ A girl named slave is about a Transwoman with a gambling addiction and finds herself in a situation she had to get out of… Altered Mistress is about a sissy who watches her mistress captured and taken by a rival mistress, and does what ever she has to in order to save her.

In Where is Jessica? a man is being reprogrammed, and it is his concern for Jessica that keeps grounding him. That thread, the one thing in a person that will not be overwritten, runs through a lot of your mind control stories. Is that the part that interests you most, the bit that holds out?

For Mind control to be truly exciting for me, it is making a person as different from their previous self as possible. In some ways that is probably why I like feminization so much. Take a masculine person and strip them of their masculinity… take a smart person and strip them of their intelligence. Take a self-righteous person and strip them of their self-control…

‘Where is Jessica,’ was fun for me because it was different. We see a person being forcibly changed, but trying not to by finding something to hold onto. The one hope that can save him, yet as you reach the climax of the story, you realize that is the one connection that is corrupting him. He had lost before the story even started, and the only way we found out was when Jessica taunted his real wife, who had been forced to watch his conversion unable to stop her.

Writer 345 gave me one of the best compliments that I have received from that story. ‘Now this is a very powerful story full of twists and turns. It kept me guessing right to the very end… Hell! I’m still guessing! But I certainly enjoyed reading it.

Every now and again I come across a story that I wish I’d written – this is one of those stories.’ and I will be forever flattered by that comment!

Literotica is full of serials that run to forty chapters, and yet almost everything you have published stands completely on its own. Is that a deliberate rule, and has it ever fought you?

At the moment I have too many ideas to focus on 40 chapter serials. Most of the stories I write, especially in the last ten years have a structure planned out well in advance. When I was young, I remember watching Babylon 5 with my father, and the two of us could theory craft what would happen next. What would this person do, how powerful was Lyta? Was she a P-1-million? When I was in my 20s I received it as a dvd box set and watching it, and listening to commentaries, I realized the structure it had, the importance that sometimes the characters were less important than the story. And sure, who doesn’t like a good soap opera, but when the characters are used to tell the story, sometimes it becomes greater than telling the story of the characters… and for how I write, 40 chapters is losing a message…

On the other hand if I’m reading too much into this… Some of my stories are multi-parts. If you look at my two most recently made public stories, ‘The Spare’ and ‘Infiltration,’ both have prologues, 5 chapters and an epilogue. I released them as 6-7 part series on FM and DA, but after they were done, I released them as a whole story on Literotica.

How do you keep your ideas and stories fresh?

Well, I’m not so sure that my stories and ideas are that fresh, but I don’t love the idea of writing the same story twice… at least not that often. Admittedly, I do have a couple of recycled ideas, mostly because I look at an older story, I love the potential and am embarrassed by the quality, how predictable it was, and think I can do better.

Do you have a writing routine?

Procrastination, my personality type is an INFP… we do that… we also live in our fantasy worlds and tend to do really well in crunch time. At that point you’ll just see me up late at night rapidly typing into my laptop, then the next day I’ll be at work on a 10-minute break, with a voice text button activated for a few paragraphs… Trying desperately to see if I get an extra 250 words out… go to lunch. Edit those 250 words because Google sometimes sucks like a sissy after an evil domme’s mind control scheme. Then type more… realize I forgot a few parts of the outline for the chapter, decide I don’t need a couple parts, and then clear out entire chunks of the original draft so I can add the parts that I couldn’t go without… and then do the same thing next month.

There is no cover art on Literotica, so the title and that one line description do all the work. Yours are wonderful, …the Harder they Doll made me laugh out loud before I had read a word. What’s the secret to a strong title and a description that makes someone click?

Literotica can be limiting, some of my stories are very complex for a one sentence description. But sometimes that can be the fun part of a challenge, ‘How do I take this story and condense it to ten words or less…?”

‘…The Harder they Doll’ is actually a great example.

On Literotica:
…The Harder the Doll: Guy gets mind altering remote-controlled Breasts

On Fictionmania:
The Bigger they are, the Harder the Doll: Rhetta convinces her boyfriend to get remote controlled breasts that can alter his personality to make him relax more when he’s not at work…

Though it wasn’t until I just checked, I never posted part two on Lit… oops.

Which is better? It depends, the Literotica description really does get down to the important aspect of the story. Fictionmania has the full description, and a bit more detail into the story.

Every story on Literotica carries a public score out of five that never goes away, which I think is a brave thing for a writer to live with. Do you look at them, and has a score ever changed what you wrote next?

For about 2-3 days after publishing a story I am a bit obsessed” ‘what’s my rating?’ ‘what kind of comments do I have?’ But they have rarely affected what I write. On Patreon I often finish a chapter and let my Patrons decide on a direction. But that’s not really letting them influence me so much as I think of a couple fun turns and let them vote on it.

You send readers to Patreon for early access and exclusives, and you keep things there for free members as well as paying ones, which is very generous. How has that worked out for you, and how do you decide what goes up free on Literotica and what sits behind the door?

Well, I’d say most of my captions eventually become free in some way. Sometimes Alt versions are locked behind the pay wall, but the concept and fun story idea is out there. Many find their way to social media…

As for writing, I’d say 90% is planned to be public. As of this writing, there are three that I do not plan to have released publicly in their entirety. Mistaken Identity started as a writing exercise, I wrote ten chapters, each one written twice, from two different character’s perspectives, I have publicly released one version of each chapter. Revenge of the Bimbofied Mistress has been perpetually one chapter away from completion, but I might just release that as a paid book in the future. Lies of the Mirror is undecided, I have released the first five chapters and that is left at a great point… It could end there, but it does not.

As for the rest of my stories, it is simple, I write a story, release it to my Flames tier ($5 per month tier) in chapters… A month after the final chapter I release it in whole to my Embers tier ($3 per month tier) and a month after that I release it publicly, sometimes as a whole, sometimes in pieces. But I’m not trying to horde away most of my stuff, just hold back enough to make things interesting for those who are interested.

Who do you think are your biggest fans, your core readership? How would you describe them?

I don’t know where to begin with my core readership beyond largely people who wish I would do to them, what I do to my submissive characters in my stories. How would I describe them? Typically wonderful, I don’t get many you-know-what pics in my email, they are respectful, and always encourage me, even when I am a bad mistress. 2026 has been my year of struggling to meet deadlines. Trying to get better, but sometimes working a 70 hour time-sink of a job plus keeping up with my writing and a regular schedule of marketing and captions is tricky.

Do you enjoy hearing from readers?

I find that hearing from readers inspires me to write more. If I write 5k words and get no comments, it sometimes makes me wonder if it was worth the time. Intellectually I know that it was, but it can affect your self-confidence when you spend time writing, you think it’s great, and no one really responds.

On top of that, it seems like many stories start out with low scores and sadly I think more than a couple can be other authors down voting your stuff to make their own look better in a day… that can affect a writer as well.

Which authors inspire you?

Well Main stream authors at the moment would be Dean Koontz, Jeannine Frost and Rebecca Yarros. Dean Kootz was the first author to make me realize I could enjoy reading. Jeannine Frost writes my favorite vampire books, and Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing series is a recent obsession.

In the realm of kink… In Mind Control, Tabico wrote some great stuff, Balphagor is still one of my faves. As did Eye of Serpent and Sara H… As for Feminization, I mentioned ‘Hypnotized into Tabitha’ by Saul O Synjyn triggered my kink… And ‘Meg’ wrote a story over a decade ago called Project Phoenix and I aspire to that quality and imagination to this day.

How much of your work is based on personal experience versus fantasy?

Hmmm.. Well Have I ever locked high heels on a lover? Yes… Do I know how to make a bra with rope and have I ever used it (Shibari)? Yes. Has it ever loosened after 3 minutes and both of us started laughing hysterically… well, yesss….

But honestly, I’d say 80-90 percent is fantasy. I love mind control, but I don’t know if I would trust myself with it IRL…

Do you friends and family know that you are an erotic author? If so, how did they react when they found out?

They know that I write erotica, they do not know what exactly I write. Most of them keep telling me that they hope I make it big.

What mistakes have you made in your career?

Roleplaying online at Lockeinlace. That place rocks, I loved the interaction with the girls there, but there was a point where I might have 10 threads going. I get home respond, do something, check to see if anyone else responded, respond again, and one more time before bed, I love the stories, I loved the interaction in the shared universe, I hated that I didn’t write enough stories.

On a more serious note, editing. I’ve been guilty of releasing stories without enough editing. It can be hard to edit, you know what your story is and how it should sound, so if you edit right after writing, there is a tendency (at least on my part) to skim at times. I find it is always best to give a couple days between edits. Slow down read every sentence. Patreon has helped with that. Write a story, do a spell check edit, re-read. Post… A month passes, re-read, re-edit, and release it to the Second group… another month passes, re-read, re-edit, and release to the public… and then your first comment comes in, “great story, needs a better editor.” re-read and find like 10 spelling mistakes…

What have been your personal triumphs? What has been the high point of your career?

In all honesty this is not an easy answer. Maybe the first time I finished a 100,000 plus word story? Mistaken Identity. For a long time I had wanted to write a scifi version of The Count of Monte Cristo, and I did that last year as well. I did recently receive an invitation for an online interview, that never happened before.

What advice would you offer a writer who wants to embark on a successful erotica career?

Marketing, you can have great stories, and you can have okay stories, but if people aren’t paying attention to you, they will often go unnoticed. Sometimes that means you have to spend time keeping yourself noticed. I spend a lot of time making captions, usually a couple times a week, it engages my readers on Patreon, lets me talk to them, making our relationships personal.,. When I release them on social media, it brings more followers. Sometimes it can be as simple as reposting relevant posts (I do this the least amount, but have seen others do it well)… but you want people used to seeing your name in their feeds, and interested in seeing what you have to say.

And oh-mylanta, I remembered…
Website: mistressdyvia.com
Twitter/X: @Dyvia16
Fetlife: https://fetlife.com/users/10443296
Deviant Art: https://www.deviantart.com/mistressdyvia
Fictionmania: https://fictionmania.tv/searchdisplay/authordisplay.html?word=2257
Literotica: https://www.literotica.com/authors/MistressDyvia/works/stories