Arts >> Books >> Fiction

How to Write a Kissing Scene

Whether you are writing a romance novel where they are obligatory or an action story where they are expected or a drama where they may just provide some tender relief, knowing how to write a kissing scene can significantly enhance your reader's pleasure. The problem is trying to strike the balance between a romantic, touching scene and the "too much information" detail that may turn some away. Learning how to write a kissing scene isn't difficult, but it does take some practice to set just the right tone.

Instructions

    • 1

      Set up the background details. This doesn't just apply to creating the location where the kissing scene is to take place or how the characters arrive. It also refers to the background give and take of the characters as they have progressed through your story. Very few books start with the kissing scene on the first page. As Carolyn Campbell points out on Writing World, the scene actually starts much earlier as the two characters who will kiss play the game of mutual attraction, sending signals and attempting to understand the signals sent.

    • 2

      Factor in the personality of your characters. As you bring them together for the big kiss, it is important to keep them behaving in a way that is consistent with who they've been up to this point. As Campbell says, a woman who is a smart talker won't suddenly forget how to speak and a man who withholds his feelings won't suddenly start letting them all spill out for no good reason.

    • 3

      Bring your characters together. Again, it is important to keep the context of the story in mind. It isn't completely unrealistic to discover your young lovers meeting in a beautiful garden during wartime, but you might want to change day to night, put them on opposite sides of the war effort and force them to meet in the garden because of the censorship they'll receive from others should they be discovered. The reasons they are coming together can help guide you into how they close the physical gap between them to finally bring their lips together.

    • 4

      Focus on the sensual rather than the sexual. According to romance novelist Rita Herron, "readers read romance for those tender emotional moments between the characters. Build up to the love scene, and make it emotional." You can make things seem more emotional by devoting greater attention to sensory detail-- touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. This doesn't have to be about the bodies. Focus on the sweet scent of the night flowers opening to the moist air of the night for example. This approach enables you to be highly suggestive without losing the emotional involvement of the moment.

+:
+:

Fiction

Related Categories