Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Sexual Tension

I've spent a bit of time up in the middle of the night this week and with all this new "free time" you'd think I'd get somewhere on my WIP.  It's hard, though, to make significant progress when typing with one hand.   So, when I get fed up with the hunt and peck method, I've been reading Anna  Campbell's latest effort, My Reckless Surrender.

I could sing the praises of this book--its well-drawn characters, the marvelous intrigue, Campbell's masterful storytelling--but I'd like to focus on its sheer sexiness.  Campbell's writing is chock full of sexual tension.  Not that there isn't sex in the book-- there is.  And though its well written, it's all the other things around the sex that are making the book so sexy for me.   The characters are incredibly in tune with each other and the hero is sweetly chivalrous.   It's all very romantic and sigh-inducing.

So of course, I start asking myself if I manage this effect in my own stuff.  My answer?  I have no idea but I'm sure as hell going to try.

What do you think builds sexiness?   Romance?  Explicitness?   Hyper awareness or some kind of sweetness between them?  What books do it well and why do you think so?

I'll try to get here as much as I can but play amongst yourselves.  Hal's going to wrangle the comments today.  And be nice to the monkey.  Little bastard ran off with my new kiddo's eye patch.

80 comments:

Tiffany Clare said...

Anna Campbell is a master at all those things! Toni Blake is a master at it in contemporary. They both have that raw emotion dripping from the page. For pure sexiness and a little action I like Lora Leigh. She's totally my crack.

I think it's in the little details that suck the reader in and make them hyper aware. It's the thoughts your characters have about each other. Those one or two sentences between the hotness that build on the tension already amped up on each page.

Get lots of rest, Marnee!

Bosun said...

Can't believe I still haven't bought this book. Must get around to that. I love Anna's writing.

I also love the books where steam rises off the page from sexual tension. Elizabeth Lowell is a master at it. And I want my readers to feel the tension sizzle through the book, but I'm not sure my stuff reaches the spontaneous combustion levels. The truth is, that's not my strong point and they say play up what works, so my angst outweighs the sexual tension.

Then again, someone might read my stuff and say the total opposite. LOL! This is the problem with being the writer, I'm too close to know if it's in there or not.

hal said...

Tiff - I love that hyper-awareness between characters as well. Isn't that how it goes in real life when you're attracted to someone? No matter how far across the room they are, you know every slightest movement :)

hal said...

Ter - I haven't gotten my hands on it yet either, and it's driving me mad! I think a trip to the bookstore is in order today.

I'm better at angst than tension too, and really, the two are just opposite ends of the same "reader experiences emotion" spectrum. But I think you're very right about writers being too close to it to realize. I wrote this fanfic once that I genuinely did not think as angsty. And *everyone* made comments on the amount of angst. A couple years later, I read it again, and was floored by the amount of angst I'd inadvertently packed it with. But when we're writing, it's not like it's agnsty to us!

Hmm, now I want to track down Anna and ask her if she sees the sexual tension while she's writing, or if it just happens through her voice....

Donna said...

I'm still waiting for my copy of Anna's book to show up -- B0rders managed to send the package to an old address, and I've been waiting for over a week since FedEx TOLD me it would be forwarded. Aaaugh!

I'm reading a book that's about to get set down permanently -- the characters TALK about how sexy they find the other person, but for some reason it doesn't FEEL that way. I'm trying to figure it out, because when other authors do this, I'm faint from all the tension! LOL

Bosun said...

Hal - We definitely need Anna back to ask her. LOL!

Donna - I'm finding that more and more lately and I was wondering it if was just me. The hero noticing and thinking about her cleavage, even what he might like to do with that cleavage, does not amount to sexual tension to me. The awareness is of each other, the sparks flying around the room, not the basic physical attributes themselves.

Does that make any sense? You can have attraction without sparks, maybe that's what I mean. There needs to be something more for the sparks. Now, if I only I could pinpoint "what" constitutes *more*, I'd have it all figured out. LOL!

Donna said...

Bo'sun, it definitely makes sense. And I'm puzzling it out myself. For me, I think the *more* has to be -- the people aren't interchangeable. The hero has to be admiring HER cleavage, without you feeling like if you slipped someone else's cleavage in there, he'd be having the same response. LOL

I'm going to quaff some more coffee -- see if I can get my words in the right order.

I just got off the phone with B0rders and my order has been re-sent. Yay!

Hellie said...

I'm reading Tessa Dare's One Dance with a Duke (I know! A duke! But it's soooo GOOD!) and I'm loving it. I think the sexual tension is spot on.

I think there should be awareness, definitely, but too much "hyper" awareness gets on my nerves. And not in a good way. And granted, the hyper awareness I'm reading is usually in the guy's POV, so it's probably not too far off the mark and it's romanticized up a bit that he's all drawn to the silkiness of her skin or her hair instead of how great her tits look in that top...but sometimes when its done, it just grates. It needs to be blended with something. Banter. Sweetness between them. Something. It's sorta like foreplay--you need to switch it up frequently or I start to notice what you're doing and I'm no longer enjoying it.

However, I've read books where the lovers are FRIENDS and they bond over something SWEET...and then there is no hyper awareness of any kind, and that just seems lame. (See, you can't win with me. You really can't.)

I need it all. I want it all. I deserve it all.

Good thing, laAnna delivers it all, eh? And Tessa Dare... *LOL*

Hellie said...

I think the 'hyper' awareness that annoys me is the kind that annoys Bo'sun and Donna--the one where it could be anyone's cleavage. *LOL*

Bosun said...

Damn it, I need that Tessa book too. WHY do they put all these terrific books out at the same time?

Bosun said...

That's exactly it. He's admiring her girls and not her. Which, as Donna pointed out, could be anyone's girls. LOL!

But on the reverse, when the guy is drawn to the heroine like he's never been drawn to anyone before and they haven't yet said hello to each other, I'm out. An attraction, sure. Has to be. But giant magnatron pull of "must merge our souls or I'll die" variety is too much.

Perhaps this is why I'm not particularly a para girl. LOL! But I know it works for others!

Hellie said...

Yeah, the "drawn to her like no other girl" has to be cleverly done and it's so rarely cleverly done. I've occasionally bought into it--I either have to be in the right mood or the stars are lined up or the characters are particularly believable...but usually I think, "Great, now I think this guy's an asshole" and it's no longer fun for me.

I don't believe in love at first sight. But strangely I seem to meet a lot of guy who DO believe in love at first sight. I'm beginning to think it's a guy thing. I don't think any girl over the age of 19 believes in love at first sight...and any girl below 20 is a stupid teenager and can't be trusted anyway.

Donna said...

Gah -- these discussions tear me up. I always feel like, "OMG, this is what *I* do in MY books!" LOL

Bosun said...

Donna - No freaking! There can be an instant attraction. She intrigues him. There's something different about her. But for him to instantly compare it to the "like no other before" is the line for me.

Even if you feel strongly attracted to someone, no guy goes right to "like no other". He can recognize that she's different. He can really want to know more about her. But as Hellie says, it has to be cleverly done.

Or maybe the trick is to be subtle. If I'm eased into the situation and by the time we get to the "like no other" point, I've progressed there with him, then I'm with you.

Donna said...

LOL -- the freaking comes from no matter WHAT we discuss, there are people on both sides -- so I invariably do one or the other!

I need to step back while I'm working on revisions or I'll paralyze myself, and won't be able to get them done. :) Must be one of those days where my Muse is killing me softly. LOL

Hellie said...

We're all freaking. I have all the sexual tension and wonderful sex of a nun in my stories. However, Terri is always kind enough to lie to me and tell me it sounds much better than I think. I'm sure yours is the same. Yours is much better than you think.

hal said...

okay, I'm trying to keep up with this conversation, but you three have flown right by me :)

Donna -- I definitely know what you mean, and I think it's a telling, not showing issue. The characters can *say* they feel attracted to each other all they want, and talk about being attracted, but if you don't *show* that attraction, then I'm just left thinking, what the hell are they talking about??

So of course, that goes back to asking how you show attraction without telling, and without going so far past the mark that you do the "me sees soulmate...must merge souls or me dies" that Hellie hates!

hal said...

Hellie - I've actually never read a Tessa Dare book, and that sounds like the perfect one to start with :) *adding to my bookstore list*

I think, for me, there has to be a healthy mix of the attraction (her chestnut hair sparkling and drawing him in...blah...blah...blah) and them actually bonding over something. It can't just be hyper-awareness of the psychical - I agree, that gets old FAST.

But if can admire her glowing chestnut hair and cleavage while helping her sneak out to take punch to a younger sibling...(or something, anything, where there's an actual *relationship* building), then it works for me. As long as it's done well. If it's done crappy, then...well...

hal said...

I don’t think any girl over the age of 19 believes in love at first sight…and any girl below 20 is a stupid teenager and can’t be trusted anyway.

LOL!!! I totally agree. There's certainly attraction at first sight. But love? No way.

hal said...

the freaking comes from no matter WHAT we discuss, there are people on both sides — so I invariably do one or the other!

Don't forget, too, that there are exceptions to EVERYTHING, and we're talking in huge generalities. Even the cliches we swear up and down we hate can be handled perfectly in the right voice.

Hellie said...

Must be one of those days where my Muse is killing me softly.

It sounds less like she's trying to kill you softly than she's trying to bludgeon you to death.

Julie said...

Ooohhh Jeez. You guys are making me think to much!

Even if you feel strongly attracted to someone, no guy goes right to “like no other”.

Neither do most women. Most sane women any way. I'm fairly sure that I was strongly attatched to my DH the first time I met him. But I spent the first six months of our relationship denying to myself how attracted I was . In fact someone else had to tell me. Even then I was like “ You’re mistaken … surely? I can’t be in love… Its not in my schedule. I don’t have time for this.”
Seriously. I didn‘t. I Didn’t want It. Wasn’t looking for It. But … there I was. Being lectured to by a woman I had never met before. A 47 year old professor who was supposed to be interviewing me for one of the best programs in the country at the college of my dreams… but instead of welcoming me to her school she’s telling me that I have to choose.
Between career. Or love.
WTH? I wasn’t in love.

So maybe that’s where the best kind of tension is? Its not just about fighting the sexual attraction. Its about fighting the elemental distraction of your life becoming “our” life.

Does that make sense?

Hellie said...

I definitely know what you mean, and I think it’s a telling, not showing issue. The characters can *say* they feel attracted to each other all they want, and talk about being attracted, but if you don’t *show* that attraction, then I’m just left thinking, what the hell are they talking about??

That's it exactly! That's how some are able to do it but not others! It's showing versus telling...

Donna said...

Sorry for spilling my angst all over the ship. LOL I've been struggling with The Bleak Moment with my characters, and I think I've managed to get it from Pale Grey to a Darker Grey. . .and I think I can get it to Bleak, but not Black. So I'm freaking out thinking it's going to disappoint some reader somewhere if it sees the light of day.

Grrrr. I need to crawl back into a hammock. . .with a Hottie. LOL Before you guys decide to throw me overboard. :)

Hellie said...

I want to clarify: I don't hate soulmates. I believe in soulmates; and I like paranormals, even with that cheesy "I found my soulmate" stuff. But it's got to be well done. What I don't believe in is LOVE at first sight. Lust, you bet. Attraction, of course. Hatred, most definitely. But not love.

Unless it's for a pair of shoes. Then I could believe in love at first sight.

Hellie said...

So it sounds like we've got the formula now:

ATTRACTION x BONDING x SHOWING = SEXUAL TENSION

Bosun said...

Hellie - For the umpteenth time, I'm not lying! LOL!

Oh, the showing instead of telling attraction stuff. Now that freaks me out. LOL! Yes, Hal, it's relationship building. There's a point in my MS where they're fighting but she's just stormed into his house in a fireball of rage and her hair is soaking wet. She's actually still dripping. So he realizes that she walked out of the shower, threw on some clothes, and stormed the two blocks to his house.

So while he's bobbing and weaving and trying to argue back, all he can think about is her in the shower and then in nothing but a towel and licking that drop of water off her neck. LOL!

There's a whole lot to that scene, but there's sex in there too. ;)

Donna said...

Also, sexiness is in the eye of the beholder. I had an ex-boyfriend who. . .well, let me SHOW you what I mean. LOL

Him: Oooh, that is so sexy!
Me: I'm eating a peach!

So you just never know! I find it incredibly sexy when a hero is indulgent with the heroine, esp. with the characteristics others might find odd. But that's just me. :) It shows up a lot with my characters though.

Bosun said...

And Julie hit the perfect word. It's something ELEMENTAL. It's deeper than the surface and has more to do with what's going on in the brain than anywhere from the neck down.

So throw something elemental into that formula it's perfect! LOL!

With this, we can RULE THE WORLD!

Donna - Blacken it up, girl. You can do it! And no one is going to be disappointed. But even if, by some strange stretch of the imagination, they are. You still did your best and told your story. You can control all of it, but you can believe you gave it your best and that's something pretty dang good.

Bosun said...

That was supposed to be "You CAN'T control all of it." Damn keyboard.

Hal - I bet you eating a peach is very sexy. LOL! I dated a guy once who found the strangest things sexy. The very things I most disliked about myself, he found sexy. It is true, you really never know.

hal said...

that was Donna eating a peach, not me. I can't imagine looking sexy while eating anything (except maybe a banana.....okay, too far..)

hal said...

Ter - that scene sounds awesome! I love it! Incidentally, I went to a camp once at an absurdly conservative college, and one of the rules posted in the dorm rooms was that you weren't allowed to leave you room with wet hair, because it might lead men to lustful thoughts, and that would be a sin. LMAO!!

Bosun said...

I love that the camp thought they could in any way stop the men from having lustful thoughts. LOL! That's too funny and sooooooo impossible.

Bosun said...

Oops. *scrolls up* How did I get that mixed up? LOL!

Well, I'm sure BOTH of you are sexy eating a peach. I'm guessing it has something to do with that juice rolling down your chin.

Okay, THAT might be too far. And who could resist the banana joke? A stronger pirate than us, that's who...

Donna said...

Bo'sun, thanks for the pep talk -- you're absolutely right, and I'm getting on my OWN damn nerves today. LOL

Oh, and I love that scene you describe, esp. with him "bobbing and weaving". LOL

Julie, you're right about the elemental distraction -- it changes life in an epic way if it's more than just lust or attraction, so the fight-or-flight kicks in. :)

hal said...

I almost went to the juices on the chin thing, Ter! Besides, if anyone hadn't caught on by now that we all have dirty minds, they should walk the plank

Donna said...

Well, I’m sure BOTH of you are sexy eating a peach.

Wait -- now Terri has Hal and I in a threesome with a peach. LOL

hal said...

I'm game if you are, Donna ;)

Bosun said...

Donna - Don't worry about angsting up the place or whining too much. That's why we're here. Today is your day to spooge - okay, not the right word - spew - not better - to muck up the decks with some woe is me. Have at it and we'll keep smacking you back to sanity. LOL!

That is one of my favorite scenes. And by the end, he's totally won her over and she's all soft and says something really sweet. It's a turning point in their relationship for sure.

hal said...

And by the end, he’s totally won her over and she’s all soft and says something really sweet.

Ahhhhhhhh! I LOVE those scenes. You're making me want to read this. Do you have enough readers yet??

Bosun said...

Peaches! Okay, you can each have your own peach. LOL! But, if you....

No, I'm going to rise above it. Rise above the really easy ones.

Julie said...

I’m with Tiffany on the importance of “ the little details”.
Georgette Heyer was a master at writing Small Details. Small details that became an integral and significant part of her story telling tecnique. IMO. The woman could change the whole tone of a scene with a the tilt of her heroine’s chin… a delicate hand twisting a handkerchief … the slightest of movements could … would … change the direction of the story. Heyer is Magnificent at showing how the little is, in reality, something Big.
And
Hal is right on point when she says that a writer must show the *relationship* building.

Bosun said...

By the time I pass this thing around, I won't have to worry about getting it pubbed. LOL! Everyone will have read it!

Trust me, when I get this thing whipped into shape, every pirate will have her own copy in her inbox. :)

hal said...

Excellent. I worry the same thing sometimes, that everyone will have already read it. I just make people promise to buy it if it ever gets published (both cheap AND manipulative!) (and YES, I will race into the bookstore, waving my credit card in the air like a madwoman if yours gets pubbed!)

Donna said...

I’m game if you are, Donna

LOL -- just gotta wait til it's peach season! *checks calendar*

Terri, I can't wait til that book is in my inbox. Don't go there. You know what I mean!

Julie, I love Georgette Heyer too -- and one reason is because of all the banter. That's the sexiest thing in the world to me (not that you guys need to know that! LOL)

Bosun said...

Hal - You must change BOTH of those "if"s to "WHEN"s. LOL! An all pirate booksigning is in our future, you just wait. (And the hotties will usher readers around, of course.)

Renee said...

Anna is totally a cut above the rest. One of my cps has a way of building the sexiness and I'm always amazed at how well she does it, and with ease. She's a natural. Anyway, I'm constantly doubting my ability to pull off the intensity of the sexual tension. Hopefully I'll learn sometime in the next twenty years or so.

Bosun said...

Renee - I haven't seen enough of your stuff to know about the sexual tension, but you have intensity in spades. And I'm betting the sexual tension is in there, but as we've mentioned, we're too close to see it in our own stuff.

Donna - I too am a lover of banter, but I've yet to read a Georgette Heyer book. I know! What am I waiting for?! Okay, will move that up on the "to do" list.

hal said...

Renee -- isn't it awesome when you can watch it appear on the page so organically? Yeah, I hope to learn how to do that someday too!

Donna said...

Terri, start with Beauvallet -- that's my fave Georgette Heyer, and it's not a Regency, which is what she's known for. He's a pirate, and their banter is delicious. And she is intrigued with him because of how he's intrigued with her. I read that book at least once a year. LOL

Donna said...

An all pirate booksigning is in our future, you just wait. (And the hotties will usher readers around, of course.)

The Hotties better do a little MORE to make sure those credit cards are out! LOL

Julie said...

Peach anyone? They’re firm and ripe. Fresh off the limb so they are warm and slightly fuzzy and juicy and eeeeewwwww … Donna you date naughty men. Really.
Sponge and spew are the right words, Terri. Cuz I’m gonna need a sponge to clean up the coffee that I spewed out. I’m still trying to clear my mind from that vision of Hal & Donna & a dude & a peach with on the beach where they bantered about life and their goals that they wanted to reach.
Thank you. Now I am scarred for life. And I sound like the Dr. Suisse of the fruit aisle!
Peach anyone?

Bosun said...

No worries, Donna. They'll banter with the ladies as well. LOL!

Okay, on the hunt for Beauvallet. I need something totally different from my stuff to read while I'm revising and something like this that I an enjoy and learn from is perfect.

I started Christie Craig's latest, but it's so good it made me start flinching. It wasn't pretty.

2nd Chance said...

I prefer nectarines, no fuzzy skins. Hmmm, wonder what the really says about me?

Sexual tension, jumping in late with this one. I tend to like the ones where they are both fighting the very idea of being attracted to each other. Not so much battling as enemies, but more questioning their sanity at the very idea of him? Sexy? I tend to think the guys have an easier side of this...everything is sexy if they are feeling sexy.

And there must be banter. Light banter with a touch of innuendo. And it's OK if he's noticing the girls of other women, as long as they make him aware of how much he wishes they were the girls of his woman...

Donna said...

I can't read anything GOOD when I'm in this state, so I sympathize, Terri -- I know exactly what you mean.

And Julie, I think you turned the threesome into a foursome. LOL YOU are the naughty one! LOL

Okay, I'm going to go do some revising. . .Don't laugh. I mean it. I am. Right now. . .I'm gone.

hal said...

As much as I adore Heyer's stroytelling, characters can only ejaculate words so many times before the 10-year-old-boy in me starts giggling wildly.

"Oh no!" the coxswain ejaculated. "Not the undead monkey!"

hal said...

questioning their sanity at the very idea of him? Sexy?

Chance, I always love that too. When you're horrified by the fact that you're desperately attracted to the other person, and therefore can't admit it, *especially* to him! LOL!

And banter with a touch of innuendo -- very fun!

Bosun said...

I will try not to giggle too much at the ejaculation.

(There's something I never thought I'd say.)

Bosun said...

I love the innuendo. Specialize in it in real life. LOL! Gets me into a lot of trouble, actually.

And that's it exactly, Chance, he's ruined for all other women. LOL! Happens a lot in Historicals, as well it should.

hal said...

LMAO!! She's a wonderful author, you just have to bear in mind the time-period in which she was writing. When it was okay for characters to ejaculate words :)

Renee said...

Did somebody say a Pirate Convention with a pirate book signing?

2nd Chance said...

And I do love it when they fight that idea that they are ruined for all other women... Try to turn on the charm with someone else, tries to engage in witty and sexy repartee...and it falls flat because they went from devastingly charming, to total twit.

And it's even better when she knows it and uses this new power to toy with him, even while questioning her own sanity.

And, of course, the friends always know.

Yeah, my husband finds the strangest things sexy...

hal said...

Try to turn on the charm with someone else, tries to engage in witty and sexy repartee…and it falls flat because they went from devastingly charming, to total twit.

I LOVE it when that happens!

2nd Chance said...

I love the idea of a pirate convention with a pirate signing... Maybe... I'll be at the Northern California Pirate Festival next Saturday. When my book comes out, I'll definately see about having a table set up to do just that! ;)

Hal - I think it's a sort of sexual tension. Not the soulmate, going to die if I don't have you right now stuff, but more of a spiraling to the inevitable and being tossed between enjoying it and clawing the sides of the shaft trying to get away.

The spiral shaft for those who just flinched.

Julie said...

I prefer nectarines too. Chance.
and being tossed between enjoying it and clawing the sides of the shaft trying to get away.?
Careful with the descriptive lingo. Chance. You’ll scare the poor hotties!

Janga said...

The journey from sexual tension to a preference for necatarines over peaches has left me too dizzy to think what to say. I'll return when the world stops wildly spinning. LOL!

Bosun said...

Sorry, Janga. I think we have Friday-itis on a Thursday.

2nd Chance said...

I must be really wired strangely...it all made sense to me! ;)

Janga said...

No apologies needed. The discursive nature of this blog is part of its attraction. My own thoughts are so scattered today that I had problems concentrating. My problem, not yours.

Barbara Bretton defines sexual tension as "acute awareness of sexual possibilities." I like her definition because of its emphasis on what is possible, not on what is realized. That's why some of the old trad regencies were filled with sexual tension despite their lack of graphic sex scenes. It's why romantic comedies from the 30s and 40s still serve as examples of sexual tension even though they were pretty much kisses only. Just think about the Walls of Jericho scene in It Happened One Night. Think about the early days of Moonlighting. Everything was about possibilities!

The best of the writers who write hot romance (Elizabeth Hoyt, Anna Campbell, Toni Blake, to name a few) understand the difference between sexual tension and sex. They know the definition of "tension." End of Janga rant!

Bosun said...

I love that walls of Jericho scene, Janga. Those two had sparks! I like this idea of the possibilities. There are times when my hero does something and the heroine wonders what it would be like if... Like in the beginning he picks up her drunk and passed out sister to carry her in the house. For an instant she wonders what it would be like to be the one he was carrying. Is that the sort of thing?

That sounds really innocent now that I read it back. It is the first scene so I guess that's okay. And she does find out later what it's like to be carried by him. :)

2nd Chance said...

Yeah, my only problem with the idea of sexual tension, especially in regards to television series... I wish the writers would figure out that sexual tension does not have to end with culmination of desire.

Just because two people actually do succumb to the tension and are pleased with the outcome does not mean now there is no tension. I see it done in books. Wish they could figure out how to make it work for series!

They aren't doing too badly with Burn Notice and there are definite hints in NCIS that something happened with Tony and Ziva. (Blech.)

I'd love a good series where the lead couple are married and still fascinating to watch and are still pouring out sexual tension...

My rant is done now...

hal said...

acute awareness of sexual possibilities

Janga, I love this definition! Changing the focus from what you're physically attracted to to what's *possible* is inspired. I'm going to have to remember that one.

Donna said...

Hey everyone, just taking a little break from tormenting my characters.

*sets whip down on the bar*

I like that "acute awareness of sexual possibilities" notion, and Moonlighting did an awesome job of it. All that banter! *fans face* Anticipation heightens all that.

And I agree with Chance -- just because they got rid of this particular tension doesn't mean there isn't NEW tension (is it gonna happen again, what is he/she thinking, did they think it was as amazing as she/he thought it was) -- even MORE sexual possibilities!

Bosun said...

Hart to Hart is the only show I can think of where the couple was happily married and it didn't ruin the show.

I'll admit, I worry about Bones and Castle for just this reason. If they put them together, the show is gone. It's just what happens these days.

hal said...

I agree about Bone and Castle. Though with Castle, I think they could pull it off if he keeps irritating her as much as he does now *g*

2nd Chance said...

I think they could do it with Bones more than with Castle. He's so alpha and so is she, so they'd butt heads still, even if they were together. Even more, I'm thinking. And with her bluntness about sex, it could be delightful.

I could see her come back from the summer off with the decision that sex, yes. Love, no. And he don't realize that is where she's coming from, so he gets to use sex to convince her there is more to it than sex...

Castle? I don't know... that is trickier.

hal said...

And with her bluntness about sex, it could be delightful.

Excellent point, Chance!

Di R said...

Very thought provoking blog, Marnee!

For sexual tension in my ms, I try to follow the 12 steps of intimacy by Linda Howard. It gives me a progression to follow, with each step increasing the hero and heroine's awarenss of each other. At least I hope so.

Off topic-my aunt asked if I had anything she could read-I sent her the scene I entered into a contest. She replied that although she doesn't tend to read romance, she would definitely read more of it. Woo-Hoo!

Di

2nd Chance said...

And that makes you feel good! Yeah, Di!

Really leads into my topic for tomorrow's blog - ;)

Bosun said...

WTG, Di! And good for your aunt on having an open mind. She'll be hooked on romance in no time. LOL!

Very good point about Bones. That could work. Castle is trickier because Rick is more beta and I know she'd break his heart. She broke his heart already and then turned around and got her own broken.