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"What is the difference between a Trainer and an Owner in your books?"

I was asked this question on my last road trip. And while the differences seem immediately obvious to me, I have come to learn over the years, that it may not be as clear to my readers. After all, Masters have to do some training, right? And Trainers have to give their clients a sense of what it's like to be owned, yes?

Here's my perspective: an Owner in my books is expecting to obtain a slave who has been provided with some basic training. But there is still some training an Owner will do, because s/he will want the slave to do things in a fashion more specific to them. Sure, a slave should be trained on how to make a good cup of coffee or tea, but he won't know what kind of coffee or tea their Owner likes, and whether cream or sugar (or milk and sweet-and-low) is expected. Here's an example of what I mean, written by my friend Cecilia Tan, from her story "Bullseye" in Book 4 of the Marketplace series, "The Academy:"

"He took her to public parties and was pleased at the way her eyes rarely strayed from him, her attention always on his needs. She learned he hated cilantro and cooked with basil instead. When he left her free to her own devices, she did things for him that he did not even know he needed, like replacing the batteries in his smoke detectors and re-tacking the carpet in the playroom where old nails had begun to come up."
-- From the Academy, Tales of the Marketplace, published by Mystic Rose Books.

By comparison, a Trainer may act like an Owner from time to time, but it is for the purposes of training a slave. The important difference here, is that the Trainer is training a slave for the purpose of moving them on to someone else. Being a trainer in my books is like teaching, or being the drill sergeant: the purpose is to get the students to graduate, to go active, to apply what has been learned in real life situations. Post-training is when the slave really gets to apply what they've learned - and reap the full benefits of their desires, as Chris Parker points out to Robin in "The Slave:"

"Please, was there some reason why you never..." Words suddenly failed her. Made love to me? Used me?
"Fucked you?" he offered. He smiled as her blush deepened. "It's simple, girl. If I had, you would have misunderstood our relationship. I am your trainer, not your lover or master. You haven't had enough experience to understand the nature of the distinctions, so I made it easier for you by denying you the one thing that you really do expect of your lover or your owner."
-- From the Slave, published by Mystic Rose Books

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