Author Liesel K. Hill's Musings on Fantasia...
Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romance. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Using the 12 Steps of Intimacy for Non-Physical Romances
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| Picture Source |
So then that got me thinking about people who don't write racy scenes. I write romance in, and I'll do a love scene every once in a while, but I keep it at a PG-13 rating. Of course YA is all the craze right now, and as a genre, generally those writers need to keep it at a similar rating. And then of course middle grade on down rarely has overt romance, but could you write, say, a young, puppy-dog type romance, with almost no physicality to it, but still use Linda Howard's 12 step progression?
I think you can. But it's trickier. And requires deeper thought. So lets go through this.
1. Eye to body contact.
2. Eye to eye contact.
3. Voice to voice contact.
Okay, chances are these three things will remain largely the same in any relationship because 1) they don't require actual, physical contact between two people. And 2) because this could be the start of any kind of relationship, not necessarily a romantic one.
4. Hand to hand contact.
Now this one depends on what you're writing. If you want a physical connection but want to keep it PG-13 or even PG, this one's still okay. But what if you're writing, say, a romance where two people are too shy or in some way unable to have a normal romance. Could you convey step 4, a progression in intimacy, in some way other than have them actually touch or hold hands?
I think you could do this through dialogue or how these characters interact (other than physically). So perhaps they could just talk with one another and reveal something about themselves that most people don't know. This shouldn't be something super-secret or super personal. This is just the hand-holding step after all.
5. Arm to shoulder contact.
6. Arm to waist contact.
Same things apply here as apply to #4. Just come up with more personal things for your characters to reveal to one another that doesn't include physical contact. Of course you can use the plot/world of your story to help with this stuff. Depending on why you're staying away from the physical aspects of the romance and exactly what your characters interactions consist of is what will affect what they reveal and how/why they reveal it.
7. Mouth to mouth contact.
So the one thing that would be different about this step from the previous three is that the characters must reveal or share with each other something that they not only they haven't shared with others, but something they specifically wouldn't share with anyone other than the other person in the romance. Because let's face it: personal things can be revealed in non-romantic relationships. But you wouldn't romantically kiss someone you have a non-romantic relationship with. So this has to be something that would ONLY be revealed to them.
(I know this is vague, but the details will depend entirely upon your characters, your story, your plot, and your world.)
8. Hand to head contact.
This one, again, must be something that would only be revealed to the specific person in the romance, but it can be deeper, or just a further branch off of #7.
9.-12. These become even trickier when we aren't talking about physical contact. I'm not entirely sure intellectual sex is a thing. But this is a great opportunity to get creative. Is there some way to represent emotional or intellectual consummation of the relationship? Well that depends entirely on you and your story. You may not even need to take it this far. If you're writing YA or middle grade, you may just get to step 7 or 8 in the emotional progression and leave it at that at the end of your story.
So I'm not sure if this makes sense to anyone. My point is that the 12 steps of intimacy can be used in a symbolic way to show the progression of a relationship, even if you're not dealing with the physical side of things.
Just something I was thinking about.
(Creds to Linda Howard for the 12 Steps of Intimacy.)
Has anyone ever used a progression like this for intellectual romance?
Monday, September 7, 2015
4 Tips to Writing Better Romance
So this past weekend, as I do every year, I attended the League of Utah Writer's annual fall conference. This conference is always great, which is why I always go. They have fantastic classes, I get to network with other authors, sell a handful of books, etc. I even taught a class myself this year. So, as per usual, you'll probably see a few conference-inspired posts over the next couple of weeks.
So on Friday when I got there, the first thing I did was go and set up my author's table, piling books, bookmarks, cards and other swag all over it. The woman at the table next to me was Amy Jarecki. I'll admit that I didn't particularly recognize her, but her name sounded familiar to me. She, on the other hand, said she recognized me, and asked if we'd ever met. Neither of us could remember a particular time, but we both attend this conference regularly and figured that must have been it. (The next day she figured out a specific time she remembered me from. It was a workshop we both attended a few years before. I still didn't remember her specifically (I felt so bad!) but I did remember the workshop.)
Anyway, we hit it off and started talking. She is actually a VERY successful romance author. Now, I don't read or write genre romance, but I quickly realized that this woman knows how to sell her books. So I picked her brain about it, and she was more than happy to share with me. I was so stoked! So, the next day, when I was trying to decide which class to attend during a certain hour, I decided to attend hers.
It was, of course, on writing better romance relationships. And since I--and most authors--have romance in their stories, even if they don't write genre romance, I figured, why not? Oh I was so glad I did! I learned so much!
So I give full credit for these tips to romance author Amy Jarecki (check out her website HERE) and to Linda Howard for the steps of progression.
1. Create plenty of conflict within the romance
A. The two characters at the center of your romance should have opposing goals (external
conflict/plot)
B. They should also have opposing emotional life paths (internal conflict)
2. Define your characters' personality types. Amy suggests a book called Are You My Type? Am I Yours? by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele. This book goes into detail about the nine personality types. There are plenty of personality systems you can use. Pick your favorite and use it actively. It will enhance your characters and their interactions with one another and deepen the reality of your story.
3. Remember the power of FEAR. Plot out your characters' actions, reactions, motivations, goals and conflicts in detail. Of course we want to do this with every character and story even if romance isn't involved. But the main reason people don't get what they want right away in a relationship or claim love the instant it strikes them is because of fear. So this should be a dominant emotion in your romance arc.
4. Keep in mind Linda Howard's 12 Steps to Intimacy. This is just a logical progression to physical human intimacy. It's not rocket science or anything, but it's something to keep in mind when crafting a relationship. It basically describes the steps people go through in their physical relationships.
1. Eye to body contact. (Basically just checking one another out.)
2. Eye to eye contact. (If no romantic sizzle at this point, then the relationship will not progress to romance.)
3. Voice to voice contact. (Being flirty. :D)
4. Hand to hand contact. (First real fear is often felt here, but it's a major turning point in the relationship.)
5. Arm to shoulder contact. (She demonstrated this as putting arms around each other, but I really think it could be any contact that's between hand to hand and full body. Just leaning arm to arm could qualify, in my opinion.)
6. Arm to waist contact. (A bit more intimate than arm to shoulder.)
7. Mouth to mouth contact. (Ah, first kisses.)
8. Hand to head contact. (This one was interesting to me because touching someone's head can actually be more intimate than kissing, depending on the kiss. I just never really thought about that before. Interesting.)
9-12. From there we get more intimate touching, including hand to body, mouth to breast, hand to genitals and genitals to genitals. Whether you explore those depends on what kind of novel you're writing. Most romance novels are pretty racy. For me, I generally don't do that much detail in a love scene. (And obviously these steps weren't something anyone attempted to demonstrate in a writing workshop. :D)
So that was the gist of it. Follow those four tips and your romance--be it the entire crux of your novel or just a side plot--will be deeper, more real and more compelling.
(Btw, the unnamed couple in the second picture is Beth and Daryl of The Walking Dead. :D)
Anyone else have any tips for writing great romance?
So on Friday when I got there, the first thing I did was go and set up my author's table, piling books, bookmarks, cards and other swag all over it. The woman at the table next to me was Amy Jarecki. I'll admit that I didn't particularly recognize her, but her name sounded familiar to me. She, on the other hand, said she recognized me, and asked if we'd ever met. Neither of us could remember a particular time, but we both attend this conference regularly and figured that must have been it. (The next day she figured out a specific time she remembered me from. It was a workshop we both attended a few years before. I still didn't remember her specifically (I felt so bad!) but I did remember the workshop.)
Anyway, we hit it off and started talking. She is actually a VERY successful romance author. Now, I don't read or write genre romance, but I quickly realized that this woman knows how to sell her books. So I picked her brain about it, and she was more than happy to share with me. I was so stoked! So, the next day, when I was trying to decide which class to attend during a certain hour, I decided to attend hers.
It was, of course, on writing better romance relationships. And since I--and most authors--have romance in their stories, even if they don't write genre romance, I figured, why not? Oh I was so glad I did! I learned so much!
So I give full credit for these tips to romance author Amy Jarecki (check out her website HERE) and to Linda Howard for the steps of progression.
4 Tips for Writing Better Romance
 |
| Source Hawkeye and Cora, The Last of the Mohicans |
1. Create plenty of conflict within the romance
A. The two characters at the center of your romance should have opposing goals (external
conflict/plot)
B. They should also have opposing emotional life paths (internal conflict)
 |
| Source Can anyone name this couple? |
3. Remember the power of FEAR. Plot out your characters' actions, reactions, motivations, goals and conflicts in detail. Of course we want to do this with every character and story even if romance isn't involved. But the main reason people don't get what they want right away in a relationship or claim love the instant it strikes them is because of fear. So this should be a dominant emotion in your romance arc.
 |
| Source Kate and Sawyer of Lost |
1. Eye to body contact. (Basically just checking one another out.)
2. Eye to eye contact. (If no romantic sizzle at this point, then the relationship will not progress to romance.)
3. Voice to voice contact. (Being flirty. :D)
4. Hand to hand contact. (First real fear is often felt here, but it's a major turning point in the relationship.)
5. Arm to shoulder contact. (She demonstrated this as putting arms around each other, but I really think it could be any contact that's between hand to hand and full body. Just leaning arm to arm could qualify, in my opinion.)
6. Arm to waist contact. (A bit more intimate than arm to shoulder.)
7. Mouth to mouth contact. (Ah, first kisses.)
 |
| Source Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice |
9-12. From there we get more intimate touching, including hand to body, mouth to breast, hand to genitals and genitals to genitals. Whether you explore those depends on what kind of novel you're writing. Most romance novels are pretty racy. For me, I generally don't do that much detail in a love scene. (And obviously these steps weren't something anyone attempted to demonstrate in a writing workshop. :D)
So that was the gist of it. Follow those four tips and your romance--be it the entire crux of your novel or just a side plot--will be deeper, more real and more compelling.
(Btw, the unnamed couple in the second picture is Beth and Daryl of The Walking Dead. :D)
Anyone else have any tips for writing great romance?
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