Will They/Won't They? (Penny Rader)

Since we've been sharing romantic excerpts from our stories and discussing what makes them romantic, I thought I'd share a few links about romantic tension, sexual tension, and love scenes. I've included a favorite snippet from each site. I hope you'll share some of your favorite resources, too.

20 Steps to Writing Great Love Scenes (Karen Wiesner)
http://www.writing-world.com/romance/love.shtml

I especially like this from Step 4: “The relationship between a man and a woman is, I feel, the most complex one in existence. Here you have two people, each with their own emotional baggage, screwball ways and contractions trying to (or fighting against!) merging their separate paths into one. The road to that point is utterly fascinating. You make your love scenes real by making your characters real.”


Building Romantic/Sexual Tension (Tina LaVon)
http://muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/2009/01/building-romanticsexual-tension.html

“Romantic tension is the building of the emotional feelings bringing the two characters together. Inspirational authors usually deal mainly with romantic tension and not sexual because of the religious themes in their books. They build this tension by first showing the hero and heroine are good people worthy of the love of the other. Then by showing an emotional connection developing between the two. These people need each other because they are happier, better people together than apart.”


Crank Up the Tension (Bronwyn Jameson)
http://www.bronwynjameson.com/tension.html

“Sexual tension = mental foreplay. Make the buildup memorable; do so through employing the senses, through making it unique and character-driven (this could only be happening between THIS man and THIS woman) and through slowing the pace and honing right in on the sensual details.”


Developing the Romance in the Romance Novel (Virginia Kantra)
http://virginiakantra.net/romancearticle.html

“Something should be at stake with each kiss and encounter. The physical action should reflect or impact, complicate or resolve the emotional conflict.”


Headache, Heartache – Tips in Writing Romance (Annie Evett)
http://writeanything.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/writing-romance/

“Be comfortable with the choices your character makes with regards to the level of intimacy they explore. Emotions can be as hot as physical lovemaking. Even when it comes to sex scenes its not necessary to describe the act – but the thoughts, feelings, sensations a character is experiencing.”

Keeping It Sweet While Turning Up the Heat (MaryJanice Davidson)
http://www.writing-world.com/romance/sweet.shtml

“I think keeping the heat up in these books is no different than in any other – remember, it’s the wanting that’s hot, not necessarily the getting.”


Push Me, Pull Me (Mary Danielson)
http://www.writechic.com/2008/05/push-me-pull-me.html

“Push and Pull come in three types: Physical, Emotional, Symbolic”


Sexual Tension (Gabriella Anderson)
http://www.hodrw.com/sexualtension.htm

“After the initial meeting, the awareness has to build. It has to grow until it dominates how the hero and heroine respond to each other. This is the tricky part. It can’t grow too fast or the story will end before the conclusion. And it can’t build too slowly or the story risks becoming boring. It’s a balance, probably the hardest part of writing a romance. The sexual tension must be sustained from the moment of meeting through the middle, to the climax.”


Writing the Love Scene (Patricia Kay)
http://romance.fictionfactor.com/articles/love.html

“…you shouldn't be able to cut and paste this scene from one book to another. Yes, there are only so many ways two people can make love--the PHYSICAL act of love--but there are thousands of different ways two people can make emotional love.”