My goodness, we females are complicated. At least I am, and this character in my current novel Bloodchained is. My plotting recently ground to a halt when she and I were faced with a very tough decision: submission or equality?

Bloodchained is a new takeoff on the vampire concept, and my character has fallen in love with one of the good Roicans, as I call them. As the book nears its climax, she is faced with a decision that boils down to this: Would she prefer the man's power to be over her, or should she choose to have equal power with him? Keep in mind, he is perfectly trustworthy. As for her, she's a gentle soul but very strong and smart.

Now I'm generally one to write my women characters with some spunk. Meanwhile, however, I feel very strongly that the feminine love of submission is one of the most powerful erotic forces there is. Why do you suppose the vampire genre is so popular? The majority of women are deeply turned on by the idea of an irresistible being putting them in thrall and having his way with them. I was reluctant to deny this pleasure to my character. And yet, her interactions with the Roican man she loves have always been on an even playing field.

Stymied, I remembered the great thing about this project: it's my "Soulful Sex Partners Project," which means, I have a team of 60 people helping me with the book. So I set up a survey and asked the Partners their choice: submission or equality?

So far the votes have been interesting, as they reflect the very quandary tormenting my own brain. Twice as many people have voted for equality than submission, but a third of the voters have chosen the "essay" option and had to qualify their reply.

One voter truly echoed my own thoughts: "I have to say that both options thrill me. It would be incredibly romantic to give him power over her, but my answer is: Give her equal power. But I think she would hesitate over the decision and it would be really interesting to 'hear her thoughts' when she does."

Several voters qualified their answer depending upon the character's personality, recognizing that for some women, submission is its own reward. Said one, "Is theirs a Dom/sub relationship? If so, then he should have the powers. If it is an equal partnership, then they should both have powers--even if he may have more than she does. It just depends on the characters and their relationship."

One voter felt that unbalanced power was truly antithetical to love, saying, "If he loves her, he will want her to be his equal and not want to be her 'master.'" But another, one of my male Partners, recognized the stickiness of the issue and wrote, "I've always been one for equality and I love strong female characters. However, we're talking romantic erotica here. For the sake of the love scenes, I think he has power over her. I know my partner loves it when I get dominant in bed."

A subtly different point of view was expressed by another voter: "If she truly loves him, she would not only give him power over her, but want to share in his power too. And vice versa." Now think about that answer: it's an interesting compromise in that each partner does enthrall the other, only in equal measure. That's actually what romantic love is, isn't it?

As I said, very tough call. But obviously the issue is a lot of fun to contemplate. And I'm taking that hint, that my character should struggle a bit over the choice and let the readers overhear that struggle. I think in the realm of love, it's a conflict every woman deals with from time to time.

So what do you say, submission or equality?

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies, and just released her new paperback, Soulful Sex: The Paranormal, Science Fiction and Fantasy Collections. Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com.