Pages

Tips On Crafting Love Scenes by Dani Collins

Please welcome author Dani Collins with her tips for writing Love Scenes. This is Part 2. Part 1 of Crafting Love Scene tips is on Happy Ever After. Check HEA for more tips!


Tips For Writing Love Scenes Part 2


1) Language

This is publisher driven. If you’re writing for yourself, use all the naughty words you want. Last year, I was reading a fellow author in Harlequin Presents (M&B Modern/Sexy in UK/Aus). I came across a word that rhymes with ‘clock.’ I was shocked! Not because the word offends me, but because we don’t use graphic language in a Presents. I contacted her and she admitted that it had been a copy editing error that allowed it. She wasn’t likely to get away with it again.

If the thought of being held back with your language raises your hackles, find a publisher who lets you write what you like. I grew up reading Presents and feel one hundred percent comfortable with euphemisms. But sometimes I like to hit an F-sharp and I can do that in my novellas for Montana Born. 

2) Size matters

I’ve written pages and pages to spell out the progression of a love scene and I’ve lifted a skirt in one sentence.

An Heir To Bind Them opens with a rather long love scene because Jaya is making love for the first time and was sexually assaulted in the past. She wasn’t planning to have sex with Theo so it starts with a goodbye kiss. That leads to fooling around and finally they take it to the bedroom.

I wanted to show how she was overcoming very natural and real reservations and why Theo was the perfect man for her. (Patient, respectful, honest.) To ring true for me, her trust needed to build in increments.

In other cases, where my purpose is to show that the characters have plateaued in a happy place of sexual compatibility, but they still have work to do on the relationship, I keep things short.

I keep saying this, but like every other scene, go into more detail when you’re at a turning point or the stakes are high. The more important any scene is to the overall story, the more words you lay down.

3) Maintaining sexual tension

This is tough! Don’t kid yourself that it’s easy, especially if your characters have already had sex. But here’s the trick: it’s tension. Your character is being pulled into two directions. On the one hand, sexual pleasure, yay! Of course your character wants that. Now, what’s drawing your character away from that?

Sometimes the other end of this balance is external: a plot element like career or a child or whatever goal your character is trying to accomplish. Sometimes it’s internal. Your hero believes he’s not good enough for the heroine. She is convinced he’s not as emotionally invested as she is and wants to self-protect by resisting him.

Done right, you can actually have terrific tension when they already know how good the sex can be.

4) Setting

Set the scene and make the setting relevant. For my Presents, I try to sprinkle the fairy dust of luxury into every scene, especially the first kiss and first lovemaking. Readers pick up Presents for the fantasy of exotic locations and glamorous lifestyles.

But I have a love scene in Hustled To The Altar set in the basement of a hotel. I deliberately went there because my characters are digging deep into the sludge of their souls. They shouldn’t be coming together when Renny is technically engaged to another man. It’s a very low thing that they’re doing so I put them at the bottom of an elevator shaft. It’s also a comedy, so I got away with it.

Which brings us to:

5) Tone

In my Presents, emotion and drama are paramount. I use angsty language and the sex, even when it’s great, is devastating on some level. There’s a bit of room for playfulness, but I usually save that tone for later love scenes and my other stories, like the Montana Born novellas.

Above all, remember that you’re writing romance. You can be earthy, but the ‘ideal’ version of earthy. However your characters are coming together, make it romantic enough that your reader releases a breathy sigh of satisfaction when it’s over. 



Award winning author Dani Collins wrote for twenty-five years before selling to Harlequin Mills & Boon in May of 2012. Since then, she’s turned in more than a dozen titles to Harlequin Presents, two erotic romances to HarlequinE and four sexy, small-town novellas to Tule’s Montana Born. She has even found homes for some of her previously rejected manuscripts, including indie-publishing her single title romantic comedy, Hustled To The Altar and signing with a small press for her medieval fantasy, The Healer.

Dani doesn’t have any hobbies. She’s too busy writing. Her current releases include, Seduced Into The Greek’s World, a June print and ebook from Harlequin Presents and His Blushing Bride from Montana Born, an ebook that can be found on most major platforms.

Stay current with Dani’s new releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:




 Dani Collins latest release:

Seduced Into The Greek's World


"I want you, Natalie. Not after five o'clock. Now."

Every woman has a fantasy she only dares dream about in the dead of night. But for single mom Natalie Adams, the reality of an affair in Paris with infamous billionaire Demitri Makricosta surpasses even her wildest dreams!

Demitri is astounded by fiery Natalie. One night isn't enough, so to quench his lust he insists she become his mistress. The closer Natalie gets to emotions Demitri has kept locked away, the more he distracts her with dazzling gifts and luxury holidays to ensure that seduction remains the only thing between them…


PURCHASE LINKS



Amazon: US | Canada | UK | Aus





 



17 comments:

  1. Thanks for these great tips.
    Congratulations on the release, sounds an awesome read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post! Great info. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure, Sandra. Thanks for stopping by :)

      Delete
  3. I guess there are lots of different levels of heat and language in erotica and romance, so writers just need to find the house that publishes what they want to write. That could be true for many genres if we just do our research. Thanks for the article!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true, Lexa! But it can be tricky, too. I have a friend who writes medicals for Harlequin and they can write as sweet or hot as they want, so in that line it's really about the reader finding the author who writes the heat level she likes.
      But you're right about the best thing being that you should write what works for you then try to find the place that heat level fits.
      Thanks for commenting!

      Delete
  4. Writing any scene is much harder than readers might think. Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karen. No kidding! Hope you're having a great week too :)

      Delete
  5. Great tips! Keeping that intensity high takes a lot of work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, the voice of experience, Jemi :) It does, doesn't it?

      Delete
  6. Wonderful tips. This is all very helpful. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Medeia, I'm so glad you're finding it useful! If you read the first half of this post, you know I struggle to write craft topics so I'm extra glad to hear this one worked for you. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's one thing I don't miss about writing romance novels...I had the hardest time with love scenes. Even describing kissing in a way that's original and not cliche was tough!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd probably have a tough time writing romance scenes. I do picture books. :) These are really good tips, for those who do write in this genre.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's a really hard thing to do right, probably much more so than most people would realise! I'm not a romance writer but I still think your tips are great. I have incorporated some love scenes but I'm no expert at them!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fantastic tips! Thank you for sharing them with us, Dani!

    ReplyDelete
  12. GREAT advice, Dani Collins!
    Thanks for the tip and looking forward to your new "Crafting Love Scenes". :-)

    Regards
    Jessica Lacy

    ReplyDelete