I get so aroused by mind drain stories and I’m not sure why. That being said, I think you handle mind drain really well by not beating the reader over the head with it. Not every mind drain is a person with superior intellect, some have average intelligence and I appreciate that.

Thanks! I mean, I like drooling idiots as much as the next guy, but for me, dumbing down is less about the loss of mental ability, and more about the humiliation the guy suffers because of it. Some writers make the mistake, I think, of thinking that the greater the fall, the greater the arousal–that is, taking a genius with an IQ of 200 down to the level of an imbecile is better than changes which are less extreme.

But while extremes can be good, a lot of times this turns into caricature. It’s not really erotic, it’s mostly humorous. What makes mind drain work for me, is that it makes someone unable to function in the life they created for themselves. Even just draining away skills without touching intellect is intriguing to me. It’s about finding new ways to render characters helpless, and therefore dependent on the people changing/controlling them.