Monday, April 12, 2010
Cue Barry White and Find a Cold Beverage
We’ll start with a page count update and those who jumped on the speedwriting rowboat can let us know how the rowing went this week. Happy to report that I have hit my page goal two weeks in a row now. That means sixty pages since March 29.
This week was looking rough with eight pages needed last night to hit my thirty. Thankfully, ten pages poured out sometime between nine and eleven Sunday night and I managed to get a few pages ahead. Which is good because it’s ten o’clock Monday night as I’m writing this and I still have no idea what this blog is going to be about. Heh.
Now starts the “winging it” portion of today’s blog.
Last Tuesday, Santa asked if sexual tension can carry a book. The resounding answer seemed to be YES. This week it’s time to find out what exactly is sexual tension?
I have go-to authors I know I can count on for sexual tension. Books where steam literally hovers between the pages. Elizabeth Lowell is one of those authors. I haven’t read her more recent Romantic Suspense books, but reading her older work requires a tall glass of ice water and the occasional open window. If you ever get the chance, check out her Gem series – AMBER BEACH, JADE ISLAND, PEARL COVE, and MIDNIGHT IN RUBY BAYOU. These were her early RS efforts and well worth the hunt to find them. But consider yourself warned, you’re going to need that water.
Another author with mad sexual tension skills is Lisa Kleypas. For me, the tension is more palpable in her contemporaries. In SMOOTH TALKING STRANGER, the hero, Jack, delivers some of most panty-melting lines I’ve ever read. Take this for instance…
“I respect you,” he murmured. “And your views. I think of you as an equal. I respect your brains, and all those big words you like to use. But I also want to rip your clothes off and have sex with you until you scream and cry and see God.”
Hold on, let me get some water. *fans self* Okay, where were we?
Yes, sexual tension. Believe it or not, Jack and Ella do not have sex after he speaks those words. Even after he follows up with stuff just as good. No idea how Ella managed to say no. Boggles the mind, but she did.
And when they didn’t have sex, THAT ratcheted up the tension. To me, this is a big part of pulling off this trick. Raging hormones and lusty words, no sex. Not until later, anyway.
What I’m finding lately is that authors (and it would seem their editors) believe sexual tensions happens when they let the reader hear (for lack of a better word) the characters thinking about sex. The hero watching the heroine, admiring her cleavage, thinking about all the things he’d like to do to her. This can be sexy, titillating even, but there’s no tension there. It’s a man thinking about sex. This is nothing new. And the heroine isn’t even involved!
For there to be tension on the page, there have to be sparks between the characters. You should open the book and have freaking sparklers sending tiny bursts of light onto your nightstand or into your bath water, wherever you happen to be reading. (Don’t you love how we always think of reading in the bathtub? Can’t remember the last time I did that.)
Sexual tension is another element you have to show and not tell the reader. All this thinking about cleavage and firm thighs and loose cravats and flashing ankles - it’s telling. Show me the characters bouncing off of one another. Show me the hunger and the restraint, and you’ll have me hooked until the restraints come out for real. (That one’s for you, Chancy.)
For the sake of throwing out some more names, other authors I believe have mastered sexual tension are Jennifer Crusie, Nan Ryan, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And we can’t forget Nora. No idea how she does it, but for me, she keeps the tension up even after the H/H have had sex. She’s a master that one, but then that’s why she has the “la” before her name.
Who are your go-to authors for sexual tension? When does it work for you. What can ruin it for you as a reader? Do you have tricks for writing it? Any and all examples are welcome, be it from your fav author or from your own work. I don’t think we share enough around here. Let’s share!
This week was looking rough with eight pages needed last night to hit my thirty. Thankfully, ten pages poured out sometime between nine and eleven Sunday night and I managed to get a few pages ahead. Which is good because it’s ten o’clock Monday night as I’m writing this and I still have no idea what this blog is going to be about. Heh.
Now starts the “winging it” portion of today’s blog.Last Tuesday, Santa asked if sexual tension can carry a book. The resounding answer seemed to be YES. This week it’s time to find out what exactly is sexual tension?
I have go-to authors I know I can count on for sexual tension. Books where steam literally hovers between the pages. Elizabeth Lowell is one of those authors. I haven’t read her more recent Romantic Suspense books, but reading her older work requires a tall glass of ice water and the occasional open window. If you ever get the chance, check out her Gem series – AMBER BEACH, JADE ISLAND, PEARL COVE, and MIDNIGHT IN RUBY BAYOU. These were her early RS efforts and well worth the hunt to find them. But consider yourself warned, you’re going to need that water.
“I respect you,” he murmured. “And your views. I think of you as an equal. I respect your brains, and all those big words you like to use. But I also want to rip your clothes off and have sex with you until you scream and cry and see God.”
Hold on, let me get some water. *fans self* Okay, where were we?
Yes, sexual tension. Believe it or not, Jack and Ella do not have sex after he speaks those words. Even after he follows up with stuff just as good. No idea how Ella managed to say no. Boggles the mind, but she did.
And when they didn’t have sex, THAT ratcheted up the tension. To me, this is a big part of pulling off this trick. Raging hormones and lusty words, no sex. Not until later, anyway.
What I’m finding lately is that authors (and it would seem their editors) believe sexual tensions happens when they let the reader hear (for lack of a better word) the characters thinking about sex. The hero watching the heroine, admiring her cleavage, thinking about all the things he’d like to do to her. This can be sexy, titillating even, but there’s no tension there. It’s a man thinking about sex. This is nothing new. And the heroine isn’t even involved!
For there to be tension on the page, there have to be sparks between the characters. You should open the book and have freaking sparklers sending tiny bursts of light onto your nightstand or into your bath water, wherever you happen to be reading. (Don’t you love how we always think of reading in the bathtub? Can’t remember the last time I did that.)
Sexual tension is another element you have to show and not tell the reader. All this thinking about cleavage and firm thighs and loose cravats and flashing ankles - it’s telling. Show me the characters bouncing off of one another. Show me the hunger and the restraint, and you’ll have me hooked until the restraints come out for real. (That one’s for you, Chancy.)
For the sake of throwing out some more names, other authors I believe have mastered sexual tension are Jennifer Crusie, Nan Ryan, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And we can’t forget Nora. No idea how she does it, but for me, she keeps the tension up even after the H/H have had sex. She’s a master that one, but then that’s why she has the “la” before her name.
Who are your go-to authors for sexual tension? When does it work for you. What can ruin it for you as a reader? Do you have tricks for writing it? Any and all examples are welcome, be it from your fav author or from your own work. I don’t think we share enough around here. Let’s share!
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42 comments:
Well, I don't know...all my heroines say "yes" pretty quickly... I have one scene...I'll think about posting it...
I'm gonna nominate Sandra Hill and her Jinx series. Those Cajuns can talk a girl out of her...whatevers...pretty easily. But she has them saying 'no' quite a while!
I'm getting ready to write the love scene. I mean, they've f*cked, frolicked, played, but this is the making love scene. A whole different ball of wax...and I want some tension there so I an have it relieved. But more a tension dealing more with the is this just another bit of sex or... type of tension. He knows, she doesn't and it's going to enter her head this time...
And it's really more a rewrite than a first write...
I'm hoping ta be inspired by ya, Bo'sun! And get this written today!
First, I need to apologize for rehashing a topic we've covered a couple hundred times. But since ST is what I've been working on in the WIP for the last few days and I really did write this late (stupid weekend driving), it was the best I could do.
Chance - That "making love" scene is a big one when the couple has been romping in the sheets for a while. Nora is a master at that as well. Making sure the reader feels the same click over to something new, something more, along with the characters is not easy to do.
You'll have to let us know how it goes. And do share. I'm not sure what I have with me here at work, but I'll try to find a bit from My Anna that will fit this topic.
I don't think this is a rehashed topic at all. I think it's very appropriate timing, since I had to deal with this in some recent revisions. I was told there was a LOT of sexual tension, but I needed more sex scenes. LOL So I had to figure out how to add one a little earlier in the book, without destroying the tension.
And I'm going to respectfully disagree with ya, Bo'sun, on THINKING about sex/the other person NOT creating tension. I think it does, because whenever you think about something you can't have, it makes you want it even more! (This works for dieting too! LOL) Of course, I'm sure it's how it's done too.
Thanks for the reminder about Elizabeth Lowell -- I haven't read it for years, but she had a historical Western series that nearly singed my eyebrows. I've got to read those again. Wonder where I stored them. . .
For there to be tension on the page, there have to be sparks between the characters.
That's a great distinction that a character thinking about sex, without the interaction between the characters, isn't typically sexual tension. It makes sense that it would be hard to show chemistry between the characters without the other present for a reaction.
I've definitely made that "mistake" of basically having my heroine (maybe the hero) have a daydream about the other when it probably would be better for the conflict (sexual tension) to be shown and the internal thoughts be more of a reaction to what had occurred.
Oh, gosh, gotta run!
Congrats on the writing progress! (My big plans for writing in May have hit a glitch because I won't have a break from school. I registered for two more summer classes that begin the week after finals...I'm obsessed with finishing in two years!)
Donna - I will concede you have a point. I'm guessing like most aspects, it's all in how it's written. The hero "noticing" her cleavage, even admiring it, doesn't do much for me. If it's an encounter, they are alone in an alcove, she's as flustered as he is, the forbidden dance and all that, there would be tension there.
The devil is in the details, as they say.
I'm finding I like when both characters know it's going to happen, it's just when. And one is fighting harder to put off the when. But deep down, she/he knows it's going to happen. Lots of *thought* going on there as well.
Go get 'em, Melissa! Don't blame you at all about the two year deal. Took me three and a half. But looking back, it feels like it blew by now.
For the ST to be tangible, there has to be lots of building up to the big deal. I can see where a daydream could add to that building up idea. But yeah, for the real tension, there needs to be the interraction, the push and pull. With only one character involved, there's more push and less pull.
Then again, Donna is right that if he's pushing and pulling himself back, that can work too. But to me, that's more in the "heat level" than the "tension level". It's such a fine line!
Which is probably why this is so damn hard to create. LOL!
I know what you mean. Sometimes it does feel like the "sex thoughts" are just put in there to try to create tension that doesn't exist between the characters. It has to be specific to the characters, for one thing, not just a random "nice rack" kind of thought. LOL
And I totally agree with you about both characters KNOW it's going to happen -- but they're fighting it off for various, legitimate reasons. The fun (and the tension) is from them trying to resist giving in. LOL
That's it, Donna. That's what's bothering me lately. "Sex thoughts" for the sake of "sex thoughts". LOL! It's not enough, ya know?
The other great part about them holding out for the sex is when they finally get to the sex, you can build the mental foreplay even more. Say the heroine has been holding out. And then one day, she decides to give in and let it happen. And she knows it's going to be that night.
Now you have all day to play with. She's going to be thinking about while she's loading the dishwasher or working on that needlework. While she's getting dressed [insert looking at herself in the mirror and seeing what he sees here] or getting to wherever she's about to see him.
All that "Not gonna happen!" turns into "Happening in T-10 and counting". Doesn't that sound fun to write? LOL!
Wow, dead in the water already. This has to be some kind of record. LOL! Somebody send up a flare. Anybody?
It sounds wicked fun to write! And even better to READ (so get it done -- I'm waiting!) LOL
Okay, I'm off for a few hours. Helping a friend get ready for a food festival tonight. I'll try to check in later this p.m. when I come home to change. Now you know it's gonna happen -- you just don't know WHEN! LOL
Geez, Donna, the tension is going to kill me. LOL!
Have fun and bring back some samples!
I'll be back to comment, I promise. But heading off to a meeting and won't be back on line for an hour or two...
I'll find a scene to post, might stir things up! ;)
Now I'm down to pity comments with promises of future comments. *sigh* Fine, guess I'll do some real work. Probably shouldn't keep moving this stuff around and actually process is already.
I really love the tension between Bones and Kat (Jeaniene Frost) and the early tension between Ranger and Steph. The tension between Al and Rache (Kim Harrison) is sort of sexual power play. I don't buy the tension between "Pierce" and Rache. Of course, I don't think "Pierce" is Pierce. I think he's Minias.
But that is neither here nor there.
I loved the tension between Haven and Hardy (Blue Eyed Devil- Lisa Kleypas) and have to agree with LK's skills. She's phenomenal at ratcheting up the tension between characters. I enjoy the tension and the game more than the actual character sex scene. I like to write sex scenes, don't care to read them.
Hm, who else do I enjoy. Early books of Keri Arthur were great with the tension. So were Laurell K. Hamilton.
And I'm not even going to say Stephenie Meyer. That whole hot and cold crap annoyed me to the point I had to fix it in a fan fiction and insert it in my mind as written story line.
You lost me in the first paragraph, but I'll agree with all of it as I trust you on this topic.
Hardy is walking, talking sex. There's is nothing about that man I do not like. At times, the tension between him and the Travis family was the most potent aspect of that story.
So do you think Hamilton has lost the sparks?
When I searched Google images for sexual tension, a pic of Edward and Bella came up. Needless to say, I skipped right over it.
I refuse to read anymore LKH simply because she went off the deep end and books were mostly sex with whoever Anita wanted to have sex with because everyone wants to fck Anita Blake. Everyone who comes within a 100 yard radius. Period. Annoys me. You lose tension that way. Hellie says the books are better now. I still refuse to read it.
And if Stephenie Meyer writes another book, I'm not reading that either.
Oh, Sin, you're going to LOVE STS. Seriously. Jack is off the tasty charts.
Off to find food. I shall return!
We need to find Sin some new authors. Or make Kim Harrison write faster. LOL!
Don't blame you one bit on any of these proclamations. I can't think of anyone I refuse to read, mostly because lately I'm not reading anything.
Hardy is liquid sex. Have not read Smooth Talking Stranger (yet, just bought it) but BED remains my favorite of the series and probably will be since it contains the ultra sexy Hardy Cates.
How is Jack compared to Hardy's alphaness? This will determine if I love the book or not. lol
I haven't read much lately in the past year either. I pick up my staple books for my bookshelves but haven't read many of them at all.
I'm on my lunch break from another day of frantically writing to make my Thursday deadline. Seven more articles to go!
I love the STS quote, Terri, and agree that Kleypas is superb at creating sexual tension. Y'all have to read Julie James. She has one scene in Just One of Those Things that could serve as a textbook for creating sexual tension. First, there's a motorcycle ride with the heroine plastered against the hero, and then there's a kiss, really just a brush of lips, but the prelude has lines like these:
"Jack put his hand on her hip. Such a simple touch, but Cameron's breath caught nevertheless. With her back pressed against the door, the only movement of her body came from her chest, her breathing short and quick in anticipation."
And it gets better before it ends with a light kiss because they are interrupted. Read this book! Trust me, you'll be glad you did.
Sin - Lisa couldn't write a non-Alpha if her life depended on it. And I don't blame her. When you're that good at something, why waste it?
You'll love Jack. Trust me.
Janga - I'm almost positive I have that book at home. And I'm not reading anything right now. If I get my pages done this week, I will have reading time over the weekend. I'll hunt this up tonight.
Sin - Try Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files.
I just fell off the Anita Blake wagon... I swear, she didn't have a glittery hooha, she had a supersonic glitter ball hooha and it got old reading about it.
When she dropped her werewolf boyfriend, I started to lose my attraction with the books.
And Sin? Just started the new Harrison...first time I actually am seeing the possibilities between Al and Rach.
I'm not really sure I get the sexual tension stuff. As I noted before, maybe I just naturally write slutty women who have no will power!?
Here is an example of what I think of as sexual tension... Her POV, she's temporarily blinded and been 'rescued' by Captain Alan Silvestri. She has no idea what he looks like or how old he is. But she's convinced no one could possibly find her sexually interesting...
Alan turned her hand upside down, began to dally with her palm, sliding his fingertips up and down the lines. She wanted to pull away, but she also didn’t want to pull away. Her breasts ached, the nipples rose tighter than she’d ever known them. Her belly clenched… Shit.
He chuckled again.
She had to be sitting in a puddle.
“But why would I want to consider the sweet young things when what I want is here before me?”
She jerked her hand away, suddenly angry. “You like teasing an old woman? Don’t try to bullshit me! You want my purse, fine! Here!” She struggled to haul the bag of coins Sam had given her free of her pack. Plopping it on the table, she pushed back, into the corner and tried to glare in his general direction. “Don’t fuck around with me! I’m not stupid, I felt your muscles, your broad chest…you don’t want me!”
She heard nothing, thought maybe he’d left.
“You smell like apples. It’s quite intoxicating.” His voice came at her left side, close to her ears, the hair at her jaw line stirred when he exhaled. An arm settled across her shoulders. He nearly crooned, “I don’t need your purse. You’re not an old woman and I have every intention of f*cking you…” His hand cupped the back of her head as he finished that statement.
Okay, I am no expert. This is all subjective, after all. But I'm not sure I'd call that sexual tension. It IS a very good start to what could be a very good sex scene, but it's more sexual without the tension.
I'd call this interesting foreplay as introduction. LOL!
But that's a blurry line, the one between ST and just a sexual or sensual scene. Sparks of a different kind, maybe?
Yeah, that's me...sexual tension blurred as foreplay! I think I'm more biology driven than emotioally driven? Though she gets pissed when she thinks she's being toyed with.
Hee, hee.
It's almost like I dally with sexual tension after the fact... What did he really want? What was his real agenda? Why did I let that happen? Would I let that happen again?
When it ends up happening again, the mental games start all over again...
Sounds more like a sex and foreplay loop. LOL! But that's the thing, what read as sexual tension to one person is different from the next. My stuff would be considered tame so I'm likely to not appeal to those who look for the really hot stuff. Whereas your stuff they'd eat right up.
Thank goodness there's an audience for everyone out there.
:)
Hello again!
Chance, that "temporary blindness" you mention for your heroine to introduce your scene sounds like a method that rachets up the sexual tension. It's a great way to build in that erotic suspense by using the senses that I think is a big part of sexual tension. I think the hardest part of giving an example of sexual tension is that it's out of context and so interwined with the story.
One of my favorite articles on sexual tension has a part that says:
Each time the hero and heroine were in the same room, you wondered, "Will they touch?" Each time they touched, you wondered, "Will they kiss?" Each time they kissed, you wondered, "Will they make love?" Your anticipation of their next intimacy is the author's way of creating sexual tension.
I think this kind of says that it's an escalation of intimacy, which kind of solves the mystery of why I've been annoyed sometimes at the sexual tension element in a book enough to throw the book at the wall. I think it's because the hero and heroine "forget" what level of intimacy they are at and mess with the order. They might retreat back to a previous level (the confusing hot/cold thing) or skip a step (or two or three!) and ruin the erotic suspense of wondering what will happen next.
This article also has some interesting ideas of linking the setting to the sexual tension. I could see that getting really corny...but a skillful writer can pull it off! :)
http://www.sormag.com/push3.html
Melissa - Thanks... I just think my writing doesn't support this sort of sexual tension. I think because, for the most part, the relationship isn't the real focus of what I write. More where the H/H go together as an established couple? I'm not really sure of it...
Melissa - It looks like I should have just posted a link to that article and been done with it. And thanks for the link, I need to check that out.
I took a class on sexual tension that gave the order of how intimacy progresses. Sight, touch of the hand, and so on. I do think my H/H are a little out of sinc, but it's because I keep writing scenes out of order. I wrote a scene and then decided I wanted to add something to the end of it. Which means I have to alter what's written after to match.
At this point, that's all going to have to be done in revisions. I think it'll be easier at that point when I can look at the entire work as a whole.
Oh, and Melissa has a good point about building the erotic suspense. It's like sexual tension on a whole other level. You've got that in spades, Chance.
It's a different approach, but it still works.
I just think my writing doesn’t support this sort of sexual tension.
Maybe drawing it would frustrate your audience? :) I think you do know your style and the very good sex scene(s) without a prolonged question of the "will they?" is also the right thing to do sometimes.
Bo'Sun, that article is really short, but for some reason I got more out of it than what it actually said, if you know what I mean! LOL
I do think my H/H are a little out of sinc, but it’s because I keep writing scenes out of order. I wrote a scene and then decided I wanted to add something to the end of it. Which means I have to alter what’s written after to match.
I've done this too! And to complicate things, in my first story I gave the heroine amnesia so that really messed up where they were supposed to be with intimacy! LOL
I can dig that! Erotic tension... yeah, I can go for that...
Melissa - You do know how to make things harder on yourself. LOL! I've bookmarked the link and I'll check it out later tonight or tomorrow. I've been reading over some pages for someone else (after I copped out and ordered pizza) and now I have to get my pages done.
Chance - That seems like a good description of your stuff. Your heat level is high enough that you'd have to move up to the erotic tension to keep it even.
I love this blog; I LOVE this topic; and I'm sorry I missed it because I was doing my freaking civil duty! (Not that I'm against doing civil duty; I'm quite patriotic and considering I'm quite unwilling to be military, serving on a jury is the least I can do--but it totally eats into my lurking on my blog time!)
Lisa Kleypas is my go-to sexual tension author. Eloisa James is pretty good, but I don't have to sit in front of open windows. (I like Eloisa for the realistic sex scene, but Lisa for the SEX CAN BE THAT GOOD sex scene.) I'm not sure I explained that right. I'm a little tired.
As a reader, sex too soon pisses me off. Even if it's part of the plot. It just annoys me. I guess I put a lot of importance on sex being close to love...so it's IMPORTANT. You don't just have it to have it. (Clearly not how I've always operated, but for my romances, that's how I want it to operate.)
As a writer, I'm not sure I can do this. I can tease...but mostly because I'm not good at sex scenes. At all. It's sad.
I totally understand what you mean about the difference between Eloisa and Lisa. Both fantastic authors in their own ways.
Do you hold the same standard for contemps and historicals on the "sex happening too soon"? I'll let more slide in contemps than in historicals.
Yeah, in contemps (and some paranormals), I tend to expect sex a little sooner. Historicals I expect a little more foreplay.
Unless:
1.) The heroine is not a Miss. If she's a widow, or a wife of convenience--I sorta expect sex sooner, so long as it's done right.
2.) Marriage of Convenience is the plot. Sometimes they have sex on the wedding night without knowing each other, it sucks, and then they have to fall in love...which can be harder. I would respect it more if the sex sucked more in the beginning, like a Eloisa book. I hate when they have great sex, hate each other, and then somehow fall in love. Annoys me for some reason.
Of course, there is always an exception and a well-done exception at that.
Yep, I'm with you. I don't think it has to be awful, but if it's like they've been at it for years, hard to believe. But it can be done well in a way that it reveals something about each character to the other. As long as it has as much purpose as any other scene, I'll go with it.
Sorry I had to miss so much of this great discussion! I haven't read any Lisa Kleypas yet, but now I can see I *need* to. :) If only for learning the craft!
Melissa, I liked that description of wondering what the hero/heroine's next step of intimacy would be. That's a great way of escalating things in a logical progression.
Okay, off to bed before I start babbling!
That's probably the real culprit. Not having sex too soon and "killing the tension"--but that the sex that is introduced earlier is not serving a larger purpose other than to be HOTTER.
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