This past weekend, I spent a whole day working on a major love scene in my work in progress. Laboring, sweating, deleting, rewriting while sighing, huffing and pulling my hair. Do you get the picture? No, I don’t think you can yet.
I usually start my love (or sex) scene with enthusiasm. Hey, everyone loves to watch Hero and Heroine gaze into each other’s eyes, trail a determined look down each other’s noses and linger to study each other’s lips. Should we go for it? Is it going to taste as good as it looks?
Once they overcome an initial hesitation—so to speak because my alpha hero and assertive heroine always know what they want—they melt into each other’s arms, play, taste, devour. They have fun and like what they are doing. So why stop now? More exploration is in order.
In the old historical novels I used to love years ago, HE would take the lead in the next phase of the game. Now-a-days, SHE likes to show she is a woman of her time. During phase two, hands run from throat to waist and linger in between, and lips soon follow, without discrimination. Things get hot. To cool down, they open a few buttons and lower a couple of zippers. Often enough, the undressing has the opposite effect. They get warmer, even blazing hot, and they start a few moves to help each other cope with the situation, until they reach a mutually explosive satisfaction. Unless someone, or something, interrupts them, and then they will try again in the next chapter.
This is the basic plot of my love scene.
Since I usually layer my writing, I go back to check if Hero and Heroine display their emotions. After all, they are flesh and blood characters who live, love and suffer. They need to share their feelings with us. If not, I torture them until they do.
I forgot to mention I always try to choose an interesting setting that would put Hero and Heroine in the right mood. I also add a few sensorial details. The ocean breeze carrying the scent of her perfume. The taste of vodka on his lips. The callousness of his palm against the softness of her skin. Characters have to smell, taste, and feel to be real.
In theory it sounds easy enough. So why did I suffer so much to create my characters’ love scene?
Do you have difficulty writing a love scene? What do you think is essential to bring your love scenes to life?
You can also stop to check Anny Cook’s blog www.AnnyCook.blogspot.com and Kelly Kirch’s blog http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/ If you need to brighten your day with a smile, check Amarinda Jones's blog, www.AmarindaJones.blogspot.com. And if you own and love pets, the place to go is Sandra’s Cox blog, http://sandracox.blogspot.com/. Helen Scott-Taylor just started a new blog at http://helenscotttaylor.blogspot.com/
4 comments:
I don't struggle with my love scenes. It's an extention of how they are feeling and I guess their personalities take over. It just happens on its own and I type down the details as they occur.
Do most people struggle with the sex scene??
No, I don't struggle with it either as I tend to view it as part of the flow of the book. If the charcters are meant to go in that direction then it would be a struggle
I usually find the love scene flows easily if I've put it in the right place. If I struggle, I wonder if they're ready for the intimacy. Each scene is different depending on the stage of the relationship, and how the hero and heroine's feelings for each other are developing.
My characters usually do whatever they feel like doing whether it's convenient or not--especially the love scenes. They're horny buggers sometimes.
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