Love Scenes
So here we go...writing love scenes...
Now that we have drilled the first rule into you, it's time to break it! Yes, we are going to break that rule we were so adamant about.
When it comes to writing love scenes, and every romance novel has them (for good reason) we need to remember two important sub-rules: Do not titillate or arouse your reader And Use the man's POV(point of view.)
That does not mean we neuter the story. It means we keep all the emotion of the characters intact, but we do it in such a way as to not make the reader a part of their arousal. Why? Because, say it with me, we do not titillate or arouse our reader.
With love scenes or scenes with sexual tension, the writer needs to remember two important sub-rules: "Do not titillate or arouse your reader" And "use the man's POV"(point of view.)
That does not mean we neuter the story. It means we keep all the emotion of the characters intact, but we do it in such a way as to not make the reader a part of their arousal.
Why? Because--say it with me--"we do not titillate or arouse our reader." The following example is how you should not write your love scenes in Christian fiction:
Before-Titillating Constance felt the rush of desire moving up her body as she looked into his eyes and smiled. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and heard the catch of his breath. She saw the pupils of his eyes dilating and knew…he wanted her. She wanted him too, ached to feel his full lips caressing her own, to feel his desire against her. She knew him too well to hope that he would be so careless with his actions. What harm to offer?
In the previous example, if you got through it, you could see how we drew the reader in to share the tension with the character.
This is what we DO NOT want to do.
Now read the After example.
After-Change in POV
Jack remembered the feelings that came rushing in on him earlier, when he had seen the look in her eyes. There had been a need in both of them…she had made it obvious. But honor...his love for God, had forbidden him to even consider such a dangerous temptation. It had not taken him long to get out of there, or to remind himself to watch his way, more carefully. He would not be so foolish in the future.
In this final example, the sub-rules of our writing Love Scenes, gave us the ability to see what was going on without arousing the reader.
Remember to use the man's POV (point of view) when dealing with this kind of tension in the woman. He cannot tell us what she is feeling, only what he observes, thus telling instead of showing.
There are a few more pages for you to explore this important subject.
Click here to explore the Christian Romance No Sex fallacy
.
Don't forget to explore the page on
writing romantic scenes
. You will find more examples on writing love scenes there.
On this page, we explored body parts usage and the right word to write.
You will find some of the best examples of how to write both types of scenes when you read the works of master romance writes
Francine Rivers and Liz Curtis Higgs
Don't forget to check back as we will add more to these pages.
Click here to explore more on Writing Romantic scenes
Click here to return to Writing Rules
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