I've danced around it for months, Yes, I'm from the sixties generation of free love and tossing my parents' moral teachings out the window along with my bra. Except, I was a nerd. Not a hippy. The most daring thing I did was buy bell bottom jeans. (They didn't make them in a short length then, so by the time I hemmed them, they were flares.)
First, my critique partners have repeatedly pointed out my hero and heroine aren't together enough. Probably my little Puritan inner voice shrieking in horror when I attempt to throw them into an intimate situation.
No, I'm not a prude. (Most of the time.) Hard core erotica is not for me. I want a real love scene. A little hot but the kind that touches your heart.
Our Yellow Rose RWA chapter once had a guest speaker who presented a discussion on writing a hot, hot love scene. Part of her reference material was the Kama Sutra and a variety of lists of erotic words.
Uh, no. I'm not sure I could recreate some of those positions, much less write them in a way that wouldn't sound like preparing homemade pretzels. Besides, I'm a firm believer in the difference between sex and love making.
Meanwhile, I open my manuscript and stare at the blank pages. I've heard some authors put in a filler word where a love scene is supposed to go, then go back when they finish to add them. Postponing won't help me. At the end, there will still be my hero and heroine waiting to do the deed.
How have you handled this? I can use all the help I can get.
I like writing the foreplay more than the actual act. So the eyes meeting, a fleeting touch, flirting words that might or might not mean what their partner thinks, and then the moment they both know where it's going. When it comes to the actual act, I'm not much for reading or writing lengthy descriptions. When it goes on and on and on, it bores. So I like a few paragraphs (at the most) and then pillow talk. Pillow talk can add to the story, and it's fun for me to write. But pages of detail just bore me. So maybe if you concentrate on what got them to that point, you'll find it more fun to write. Anyway, good luck with it. Whichever way we write it, someone will find fault ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, what Rain said goes for me too. For me, the sexual tension between the hero and heroine is what makes the love story, not the sex. Study the 12 steps of intimacy by Desmond somebody. You can probably Google it.
ReplyDeleteI write pretty hot sex scenes. In fact, the last book I released, I labeled it erotica at first, then went back and re-labeled it "steamy." I approach these scenes clinically, as if they're action scenes. On the first pass, in my mind, the important thing is to get the words on the page where that scene is supposed to take place so I can move on with the story and because I need to know how much room they take up in the manuscript. I return to it later to do the emotion and I often delete much of what I wrote steam-of- consciousness. I try to match the emotion I want to convey to the action I've already written. If I can't make it match, I have to delete it. Believe it or not, if a sex scene is too long, it gets to be boring. ..... That's the method that I've developed after much trial and error and it seems to be the easiest for me. I might come up with a new method on the next book. LOL
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments. I never thought this would be a problem for me.
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