Since this is a writer's mag and I write romance, I thought I'd take some time and
write something useful for new writers of romance. (Or at least I'd try - you never
know what can be useful as everyone has a different approach to writing.)
Anyhow...I was chatting the other day with a talented new writer and she made a
confession - she has trouble writing love scenes. And then, while blog-hopping, I
saw two other authors saying the same thing. One said she made them too
jerky, and the other said she didn't know which words to choose without either
offending readers or offending herself.
That got me thinking back to my beginnings at writing love scenes. The thing
that held me back was thinking "My mother is going to read this." That would be
enough to paralyze anyone. And worse, "Maybe my Dad will read it!" (Well,
extremely doubtful - men read books about World War One and car racing, not
Jack the Stripper. But I had to get over that, so I did. And I did it by first
sketching out the scene, and then going back to add the details. I started to work
like that, and because it worked so well for me, I have continued to use that
technique.
It goes something like this: I'm writing the book, and I get to a place where
there has to be a love scene, so I'll write, (the names have been changed to
protect the innocent) Zach shut the door behind him. Dora spun around at the
sound. She hadn't expected him to follow her. She took a step back and hit the
bed. Off-balance, she tripped and would have fallen but Zach caught her. (I ad
some dialogue here, but it's just a rough draft.) His touch sent waves of heat
through her. (Now I'll describe the physical things they have to do.) Dora's fingers
trembled as she undid the buttons on her blouse. (Now, check to make sure
your character is wearing the same clothes in the beginning, middle, and end of
a scene; if that morning she pulls a sweater over her head, she had better not
unzip her sweater when she takes it off, and then button it when she gets
dressed again! - and I've see male characters unzip their pants and then button
them up after, which always intrigues me and makes me wonder if the
characters haven't switched pants...)