Posted by: Genene ValleauStatus: In the development stages
I've heard many romance writers say they dread writing love scenes. Kind of a contradiction for our genre in a way, isn't it? I generally don't have a problem writing love scenes, even though my mother has commented that I could leave them out of my books and she wouldn't mind. :)
Romance writers also have differing levels of sensuality in our stories which will, of course, also make a difference in the love scenes. To date, my stories aren't burn-your-eyeballs hot in the sensuality ratings. My rock'n'romance trilogy released last year had fully-developed love scenes, which varied for each of the three couples. My recently completed novella, CHASING RAINBOWS, is a 35,000-word romantic comedy. Because of the shorter length and the tone of this story, it just felt right to go a little lighter on the love scenes.
My next project, a nine-book series of seven adopted brothers and their sister, will have varying levels of sensuality because the love scenes will be tailored to fit the different personalities of the main characters. Which is the main point of this blog post: writing memorable love scenes that go beyond the mechanics of sex.
Because my nine books have an over-arching theme that ties them together, I'm developing a lot of the plot at the same time, as well the differences that will make each of these stories unique. One of the ways I'm doing this is to take an element that's common to most romances--in this case, love scenes--and thinking about how this element is unique to my characters.
For instance, in one story my hero is a strong, macho-type police officer and the heroine is a shy baker. They get married fairly early in the story because the heroine isn't comfortable with sex before marriage and the hero respects that. Also because of her personality, she isn't very adventurous (at first) when making love. So their love scenes will change as the heroine grows more assertive--from fairly tame to something with frosting and cake decorations. I'm not sure if handcuffs will play a role in their love scenes...I'll wait and see where the characters lead me. :)
One of the other stories features a firefighter hero and a heroine who almost died in an arson fire. For her, just having candles burning when they make love is a huge step forward in her emotional healing and in trusting the hero.
How about you? How do you make love scenes unique to your characters? Or is there a love scene in a book you've read that is particularly memorable because it is so perfectly unique to the characters?
13 comments:
Genene, interesting subject for a blog.
I've been thinking about your question and the love story and sexual scenes that have touched me most take place between a couple who meet in the second book of a series I read, Aaron Elkins' Gideon Oliver books.
He's a forensic anthropologist and she's a park ranger. He's been married before to a woman he adored but she died before the series began. In the first book he has his first sexual encounter since his wife's death. In the second, he meets Julie.
Sex scenes are not graphic, but they are lovely and they're always in his POV. He is so eternally grateful and thankful and aware of his good fortune to have found this woman after losing his first wife that you can almost taste his emotion. When she nestles her naked rear against his hip, when he touches her breast or lifts her hair to kiss her neck -- whatever it is, it is so personal and so strong between them it just touches me. Heaven forbid something should ever happen to her. Their relationship continues through many books. Elkins does a very believable job of creating characters you know live and love and work and play ... somewhere. They can't just exist on paper. All that said, these are not romance books, they're mysteries. Surprise.
As much as I enjoy the conflict between a couple, I often enjoy the ways they work together more. And after writing umpteen romances where people meet and fall in love, I guess I'd kind of like to do a series of books where the relationship can grow past the beginning. That's one of the nicer aspects of a reunion book.
And you're right. a lot of romance authors don't enjoy writing sex scenes -- romance and detailed instruction book sex are two different aspects of our genre and until a writer can merge them in their own mind or create characters that do the merging for them, I think there's often a degree of squirmibility.
Fun blog! Nine books. Yikes. Do you have a market for them yet?
wow, Genene, what a question! Gives a writer pause to think--and think--and think. I don't know if there is a particular story or love scene that has touched me most. I love the romance genre and the relationship between the hero and heroine. Of course they have to have a very special connection, just as in life, for the romance and love scene to work.
I have been told I have hot love scenes and I like writing them. To me they are an extension of the feelings the hero and heroine have for one another and change the dynamic of the couple.
And I agree Genene, they need to come from the couple and their relationship. Miner in Petticoats has one love scene while Marshal in Petticoats scorched up the pages. It's all in the characters.
Your nine book series sounds fascinating!
Off to catch up on this week's blogs. I'm in Baker city with my daughter now.Watering is done.
Oh, Alice! I got teary-eyed and shivery just reading your description of the Gideon Oliver books. And to sustain that emotion over many books is fantastic!
More stories to add to my still-growing stack of to-be-read books!
"... I guess I'd kind of like to do a series of books where the relationship can grow past the beginning." I hope you get to do this. I'd love to read your series!
It will be fun to do this a bit--although not in depth--with my nine-book Legacy series, as the couples who marry in the earlier books will also appear later in the series.
I have a potential market for my nine-book series, but since the contract isn't signed yet, I don't want to make any announcements. I also want to get settled into a fully functional office with lots of wall space so I can get my plotting boards and pictures and whatever else up so I'm surrounded by visuals of this series. I'm going to need lots of space for that!
"...a very special connection..."
This is so true, Chris! And it shows in your stories. Your heroes and heroines strike sparks from each other from the very beginning!
"...change[s] the dynamic of the couple."
This is perfect, Paty! And should be obvious, especially for romance writers. However, in my novella I caught myself jumping too quickly back to "business as usual" (the plot) after the first love scene and had to do some editing to reflect the changes in the hero and heroine.
Now I'm going to reread your "Petticoat" series and compare love scenes! :)
Sounds like you're still busy, busy, busy. Hope you're getting time to write!
What a terrific question! Love scenes are a great way to create nuances in characters, but it's tricky because the bedroom behavior has to be consistent with the personalities of the H/H.
One of the most unusual love scenes I've read lately was in the romantic suspense novel DANGEROUS LIES by Anna Louise Lucia. The heroine is a sheltered young woman who spent most of her adulthood caring for a sick father. She has no experience with men, and almost lacks social skills because of the isolation she experienced. The first love scene in the book is a very cleverly done untagged dialogue exchange that mentions nothing of body parts, but manages to convey the emotional content in a very believable manner. When I read the scene, I just had to sit and marvel at how right it was for the characters.
My favorite love scene from my own work occurs in my upcoming novel STOLEN PROMISE. The heroine is a young woman of Romany (Gypsy) blood who has found herself married to a Southern gentleman. Their cultures and upbringing are completely opposite and I had an opportunity to mine some comedy out of the situation because it worked for the characters.
My debut novel, FIRE AT MIDNIGHT, was a conscious attempt to pay homage to the grand historical romances of the 1980's. I have a "forced seduction" scene in that one, and I felt I was straddling a very fine line in writing it as a love scene because I didn't want it to be labeled a rape. I didn't want to hear the term "bodice ripper" bandied about in connection with the book, because it's definitely a love story.
Hi, Lisa Marie (or do you go by Lisa?)! Thanks for stopping by.
Ah, that balance between too much and not enough when it comes to love scenes. What appeals to one reader may cause another to bounce a book off the wall.
However, you won a lot of contests and received many wonderful reviews for FIRE AT MIDNIGHT, so you must have done something very right!
STOLEN PROMISES sounds like another great story! One of our chapter members, Elisabeth Naughter, has a trilogy of "STOLEN" books--the next one being released at the end of this month--that have also received glowing reviews. Maybe "STOLEN" in the title is a good luck charm--in addition to good writing, of course! :)
And Anna Louise Lucia's book sounds great also. Man-oh-man, my to-be-read pile is getting bigger and bigger!
Great article, G - I try to write my love scenes to the situation... New love, first time, a dream, passionate in the midst of conflict, etc. My favorite is when the handsome alpha Roman Centurion takes the fiery strong willed suddenly charged Celtic queen. Hubba... hubba...
I've done both graphic and sensual (read suggestive). Believe me, the graphic is much easier. It's hard to write about sex...without using sexual words and it takes practice. I'm getting better at it all the time - I hope! ;o)
Interesting post, Genene.
More than the actual love scene, I like the build up to the act. Teh looks, the touches, the sexual chemistry between the two main characters. That's generally what keeps me reading a romance, and usually that's what I remember from a book, not the actual scene itself.
I agree that love scenes have to fit the characters. And every couple is different. There are three love scenes in STOLEN HEAT (which releases at the end of this month), all different scene lengths and important to the story for different reasons. in comparison, I just finished line edits on STOLEN SEDUCTION (Jan, 2010) and there's only one love scene in that book. However, SEDUCTION (I'd say) is a much sexier book than HEAT. HEAT is way more emotional. It's a reunion story, so the emotional betrayal/hurt is much deeper and takes longer for the characters to overcome. One reviewer recently called HEAT, "a terrific thriller with a romantic subplot supporting the action..." Interesting when you consider there's more actual sex in HEAT than there is in SEDUCTION.
"I try to write my love scenes to the situation... New love, first time, a dream, passionate in the midst of conflict, etc."
I think I'll steal--er, borrow--this idea, Minnette! It's another way to focus on how the character is feeling when they make love.
Interesting that you find graphic scenes easier to write than sensual ones. Dang, we just have to keep digging deeper into character and motivation, don't we? :)
Sheesh, what am I going to do with my to-be-read pile? The Centurion and the Queen just moved closer to the top of the stack!
Hey, Eli, good to see you here!
I like this comment: "More than the actual love scene, I like the build up to the act." And interesting that your feeling about STOLEN HEAT and STOLEN SEDUCTION is that the book with fewer actual love scenes comes across as the sexier book.
Emotions again and the relationship between the characters, as well as experiences from their pasts. So important!
Just by focusing on this topic and reading everyone's comments, I've come up with several more unique love scenes for the characters in my series. How cool is that!
Genene,
I agree with your thoughts on making the scene fit the situation and the characters. I don't like a love scene that would have worked for any characters in any book (jokingly referred to as "Insert Flap A into Slot B").
Something I have noticed is that editors no longer seem to be suggesting that writers fit sex scenes into places they logically do not fit (although this sometimes still does happen). There's nothing that throws me out of a story faster than a love scene that happens too early in the relationship to be believeable!
Oh, and to answer your question: I answer to Lisa or Lisa Marie, I'm not picky about it.
Great discussion! My TBR pile is growing, too.
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