Mary Gray - How to Write Clean yet Scintillating Romance

B odice rippers are some of the most lucrative books in the industry. So what if you write romance that isnt as steamy? I dont know about you, but I love reading and writing kissing scenes. And I dont write explicit scenes with sex .

If youre the same way, then youve happened upon the right book. In this brief nonfiction work, Ill cover how to write clean yet scintillating romance in ways you may not have considered. Ill share :

• The best piece of editorial advice I ever received (when my first publisher bought my first book from my first agent )
• A method I like to call action versus reaction
• How to escalate a kissing scene
• How to use rhetorical devices and setting to heighten heat

Are you ready? Grab your pens and pencils, jot down your notes in your favorite apps, or simply allow the juicy material to soak in .

W ay back in 2012, my first agent sold my first book. It was a young adult dystopian novel called THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM. I was assigned an editor and she taught me an incredible amount about craft. She helped me see when I was telling and not showing, how to make my setting come alive, and she helped me pull out missing thoughts from the protagonist .

But when my editor happened upon the first kissing scene in that old manuscript, she highlighted the tiny section and typed :

Tell us how it makes her feel .

When I first read that note, it gave me pause. How does it make her feel? What does that even mean? It makes my main character feel good. I didnt really know beyond that. But I wanted my book to be as strong as possible, so I settled down and brainstormed .

Initially, that kiss started off with something like, I walk into the room and we kiss and its amazing. Pretty bad. So, what to do beyond that ?

My first tactic was to break down the scene by every action and reaction .

In THE DOLLHOUSE ASYLUM, the protagonist, Cheyenne, is in love with the villain, and she goes to his place to see if he still feels the same way about her. Its a kooky little book, and we can see, firsthand, the unhealthy love she has for her captor. Shes dependent on him. So, in this scene, she watches for his actions, and then she responds with her own set of reactions. It could be the other way around, too. The main character could be responsible for the first action .

So, instead of the type of thing I had before, I walk into the room and we kiss and its amazing, I started with the first action :

Teo is here, urging me in,(action)and I cant think of a better arrangement where its just him and me, so I fall into his arms and breathe in his musky scent( reaction ).

Easy enough. Now, lets look at the next sentence :

He slides his gentle fingers down my arms,(action), leaving trails of fire across my goose-bumped skin( reaction ).

Again, nothing too difficult about that. He touches her, she gets goosebumps. How about another one ?

Drawing me to his sinewy body, he cups my face, and he looks down at me like were going to kiss(action). My heartbeats hammer, and the rooms spinning around my head( reaction ).

Stereotypical, as her hearts beating and the rooms spinning, so lets look at a final one :

I stare at his mouth(action), and he closes the gap, and just before our lips connect, I let my eyes flutter shut. Tremors of pleasure curl inside my chestthis is our second-ever kiss. I hold myself impeccably still, savoring the sensation of his tender mouth on my own, but its hard not to move because electricity crackles where we touch( reaction ).

As you can see, a lot more is going on than a simple action and reaction. Cheyennes feeling things, tension is mounting, so how exactly does that escalation happen? In Chapter 2, lets delve into that .

A fter spelling out my characters actions and reactions, I soon discovered that wasnt enough. The reader must see that the stakes are being raised, that the characters want more to happen .

And they must feel a crushing despair if these desires arent met .

Bestselling author, David Farland, talks about the necessity of escalating a book. Hes taught in many courses online and writing workshops that, to accomplish this, one must either :

Broaden or deepen the conflict .

To broaden a conflict, more characters would need to be involved. A mother, father, or friend would be brokenhearted if the romance didnt work out. Or, there would be other, unforeseen aftershock .

To deepen a conflict, feelings must be heightened. We have to know why a romance matters so muchhow exactly a protagonist feels about their love interest .

So, in my first kissing scene, I knew that I needed to show the urgency felt by Cheyenne. Prove her worry that it wouldnt last .

Seconds move much too fast, andtoo soonhe drops his hands from my face and pulls away. I have tofight back the urgeto grab him around the neck and kiss him again since hes not even looking at me; hes looking away .

Seconds are moving much too fast. Shes fighting back urges. She really likes him .

We should also show what the protagonist wantstheir deepest, most vulnerable thoughts. This helps us see how much it matters to them, and how crushing it would be if their desires arent met .

I want to be the lady he sees me to beto be good and proper and check my behavior, because with Teowe can be so much more. He makes me more .

Slowly, he turns toward me, and I expect him to marvel about his world, but instead I find his black eyes probing inside my own. Not questioning or studying, but it takes me a moment, but I know whathes hungering afterme .

She wants to be a good and proper lady, but shes feeling that resolve slip. And she can detect his hunger as well, which makes it all the more enticing .

Another way to deepen a conflictto escalate the main characters and, thus, the readers emotionsis to show us exactly what shes experiencing through the senses .

We should see what she sees. Feel what she feels. Though, remember, in kissing scenes, people tend to not see a whole lot, because theyre up close and personal with their love interest. As a result, other senses become heightenedsmell, taste, touch. Sound. In this section, my character shares exactly what she senses, specifically touch :