March 6, 2008
Your Love Scenes
Do you see a pattern? I do in mine, and I also see them in the books that I enjoy the most.
First, let me state upfront. My love scenes aren’t cookie cutter. They are all unique to the particular hero and heroine’s story.
BUT…..
I’m beginning to see a pattern. The first love scene is always–always–a slow seducti
on. No slam bam thank you ma’am. No frenzied coupling. No wild, sheet tearing, bed knocking sex. Not to say it’s not good. Oh, yeah, it’s good, but it’s not … um … wild. It’s sensuous, but not frenzied. My heroes usually take their time, and they go on and on like energizer bunnies. But the most interesting pattern is that the sex usually doesn’t happen until the last quarter of the book.
Think about your love scenes. Do you see a pattern? Are they usually fast, slow, long, short? Overall, do they take place toward the beginning, middle or end? If you’re a reader, what do you prefer? Hell-fire hot sex in the first few chapters or a slow seduction that ignites towards the end?
Talk amongst yourselves….
Do you see a pattern? Are they usually fast, slow, long, short? Overall, do they take place toward the beginning, middle or end?
Depends.
(I know, that’s an awful answer, lol).
If it’s meant to be hot-hot, I think I do hawt and fast at the beginning, slower middle, and either near the end, but probably with more detailed description.
If it’s more romantic in flavor, the entire book may be a sensual build-up to the love scene at the end.
As a reader, I must confess–I like the slow seduction. But it has to hold my interest in other ways to get me there too.
I remember when I first joined writing groups, I was talking to a writer and she warned that I be carefull of the “pattern”. She laughed when I asked what the heck she was talking about and she said: First time is in bed, him on top, second time she’s on top, third is in the shower. I thought she was nuts–then low and behold SEVERAL books I read after that were exactly like that. (Most were from the mid-nineties) I think now with the influx of erotica, you can really vary it up and make it so much hotter even if you write less erotic romance.
(Worried Raine, checking memory…)
Nope. Not following that pattern. (whew!).
Hmmm.
Don’t think so. (so far….)
I like the hot quick feverish scene at the beginning. You can slow them down after the blush is off the rose. :)
Finally, a chance to use this icon!!!
I never really thought about the love scene like this. Usually, for my characters, the first time is a “we weren’t really planning to do this” thing. One or both are resisting. To a point. So it becomes a slow, yet heated seduction. And it usually spirals out of control.
I like a love scene after the first quarter of the book, but whether it happens there or the midpoint is dependent upon the characters. I don’t think my characters ever get through 2/3rds of the book without
.
(Yay, got to use it again! I am ridiculously juvenile today.)
I totally love a hero who can barely control himself. I like to call it frenzied restraint.
Raine,
I like the slow seduction because most times it’s due to HOT sexual tension. I love when the author teases and makes me wait for the h/h to get together.
Dennie,
OMG, I’ve seen this particular pattern before in MANY books, in fact, one recent read had it!
Vanessa,
Good for you! :-)
===============
Bernard,
Oh, so you’re into the ripping the clothes off and bumping into walls and furniture kind of love scene. LOL!
Lynn,
Mine aren’t necessarily “we didn’t plan this” type of couplings. It’s more like, “we’ve been fighting this long enough, let’s go for it!”
“Oh, so you’re into the ripping the clothes off and bumping into walls and furniture kind of love scene. LOL!”
Yea, I think it mirrors many first interludes. In a book, it allows tenderness and deeper attraction to build after the frenzy. Also, a hot first episode can be used to stun the characters, making their subsequent meetings more hesitant and touching.
My heroines always go first
Um no seriously, I never really thought about it.
Bernard,
I can see how that would work. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever written one of those. I’ve seen them plenty of times, and they worked for the most part, even in film.
Cece,
What do you mean your “heroines always go first”? LOL! That comment is so loaded I don’t know how to respond.
I’m with you.
Slow and easy. Before and after.
Something out of my own novel:
She was lying face downwards on her terrycloth towel, a breeze toying with her fine blonde hair. I reached out to stroke that hair, so spanking clean, and the woman turned to face me with her full pale blue eyes, wide apart and a little crazy, the high California cheekbones and a mouth as wide and pretty as an idyll’s.
We were lying in the grass before a Mexican spa, one of a dozen in the central plateau, the hot springs of Los Antes, lush and tropical in a benign late February sun. Before us steamed a pool, hot as a bathtub, fat old tourists squatting therein like latter day versions of souls being cleansed in Dante’s purgatory..”
Hah. Any excuse:
Ivan I LOVE the imagery!
Thank you cece.
Coming from a jurneyman(woman?) writer like you, it’s a compliment.
Cece,
You’re a bad girl.
=======================
Ivan,
You’re a very bad boy.