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Yes, I just read it, too. Very useful article. Thanks!!
No problem. Glad it helped.
Yes, I just read it, too. Very useful article. Thanks!!
I'm not such a fan of the instant attraction 'electric shocks' that sometimes leave me wondering if the MCs are about to spontaneously combust. It takes the will they / won't they fun out of it for me.
I've been reading this thread, and I think I'd better polish things in my own work. I have some, but it's not as good as I want it to be.
I thought the same thing about my own work. I've decided to delay the first kiss.
The thing, for me, with unresolved sexual tension is that it can't stall. You can move things along incrementally, one step forward, two back, two forward, one forward, back to start, etc...there has to be motion along the way to the Big Bang in chapter twenty. You can't have them exchange smouldering looks in chapters one through sixteen and nothing else happen, or it's going to bore your readers to tears by chapter nine.
I had read loads of romances since I was a young girl and in the year before I began writing, I averaged between 250 - 300 per year (what can I say, there's a lot of sheep around here and nothing much to do). But when I went to write my first novel I dithered when it came to the sex scenes. I loved reading sexual tension and great sex, but could I write that stuff? I'm hardly an acrobat in bed and hey, don't show me naked people or I might choke on my Earl Grey.
I turned to Stacia Kane's Be a Sex-Writing Strumpet (And Stacia, if you're reading this sorry I never fan-wrote to say how much it helped. At the time I was too shy and insecure, but better late than never!) I read '...Strumpet' by chance once day and -holy shit! It made a huge difference.
I also read a book with an essay by Shoshanna Evers (How to Write Hot Sex... downloaded from Amazon) which really helped. Ms Evers wrote back to me after I wrote to thank her for the essay, delighted her book helped me with my scenes.
The book I wrote after implementing what I'd learned had offers from every publisher I submitted to (except two who I didn't research properly and shouldn't have subbed to). I'm not being cocky about my book, just saying those two guides helped to get my first ms sold. They made me think about the sensory details involved in attraction, the nuances of verbal and non-verbal communication. The physical and mental stimulation process during tactile and non-tactile arousal.
The editors who offered on my book said the tension and sex scenes were "amazing", "raw" , "emotional" and the teams "loved" how I handled the build-up and 'the act'. Now, I didn't think this book would sell because I broke lots of written and perhaps un-written rules of romance: abrasive, unlikeable anti-heroine; slutty heroine; adultery;MC drug and alcohol abuse; sex with the hero a few hours after they meet, etc. However, I was able to create at that one, initial meeting and the subsequent sex scene, the desire for these two people to get their HEA, in spite of established romance rules (or so I'm told). I left the reader aching for more nookie and not getting it until the end of the book, building up the sexual tension in increments as the book progressed. I couldn't have done it without taking the advice I read in those two 'how to' books, and sticking to my guns about the story I wanted to tell.
Warning: you may want to write sex all the time, though, and you should read Kane and Evers' tips with your partner within reach.
For practical research.
LOL.
That's so funny because when I'm reading I laugh at those types of comments. But when I'm writing they creep up in there. I go back and edit and I'm like "Alexis...seriously? What are you doing here..." and then try and make things a little more subtle.
"He said my name and it was like a bolt of lightening striking my spine. I couldn't breathe. I was frozen."
I've never been frozen even in the most nerve wracking situations lol.
Okay, I suck at romance. Disregard.
To my mind, tension is the difference between what a character wants to do and what they feel they can do at that point in time. So anything that contributes to good imagination but constrained expression.
Thanks much for the book suggestions! (Or is the first an article?) Going to look for them now!
Important Question: Will writing about sex make me go blind or grow hair on my palms?
sohalt said:The fastest way to get over temptation is to give in to it.
^^ LOVE
This is my new life/love motto. I might even get it embroidered on some ridiculously impractical knickers