By What makes a good love scene? Better yet, what makes a great love scene? That might be an odd question from a writer who’s moved from mainstream westerns to inspirational, but I think about it a lot. I especially considered love scenes when I was working on “The Christmas Dove,” my contribution to The Magic of Christmas (Harlequin Historicals, October 2008). Time to gush . . . I can’t help it! I am thrilled to be in this anthology with Carolyn Davidson and Cheryl St. John. It’s a dream come true for me.
Now where was I? Ah, yes. Love scenes . . .
We all know that romance novels are about deep emotion, that we read them for the relationships and the journey to HEA. Some subgenres have taken liberties with HEA, but I’m an old fashioned girl. For me, HEA means marriage or the promise of it. I want rings and vows, and I like epilogues that show the characters a few years down the road. I want to know they’ve stuck together.
Which leads us to sex . . . Not to get bizarre, but it’s glue. It binds men and women in a way nothing else can. It’s intimate. It makes us vulnerable. Once the thought is in our minds, it sticks. It’s powerful stuff, which is why I want to always treat love scenes with the utmost respect. That doesn’t mean idealizing a love scene, i.e., making things all perfect and pure. In fact, it means the opposite. My HHs all have what I call a “sex too soon” scene. It’s the place in the story where the characters make a big mistake. They either cross the final line and regret it, or they come close and back away, singed and stinging from their vulnerability.
One of the things I love about historical romance is that sex is dangerous. Without reliable birth control, pregnancy was a huge risk for women, far more so than today. Back then, a woman put everything on the line when she gave herself to a man. If she conceived, her life changed forever. Even if she didn’t get pregnant, she was in danger of losing her reputation. It’s my personal belief that risk inspires respect. It gives value to our accomplishments, actions and sacrifices. I wonder if, in our modern times, we’ve lost both the risk and the respect when it comes to sex. I’m personally troubled by books, movies, television and music that do less than honor something that’s truly amazing.
Whether I’m writing an inspirational or a mainstream, falling in love puts my characters at risk. Sex has to matter to the characters in profound ways. For some stories, the bedroom door needs to be opened. (This is true for my HHs, especially Abbie’s Outlaw.) For other stories, it doesn’t. Sometimes just looking at the door is enough to convey the risk and not opening it is a sign of respect. (This fits my Love Inspired Historicals.) No spoilers here regarding “The Christmas Dove,” but risk and respect are the key themes.
So what do you think? What transforms a good love scene to a great one? Let’s talk!
Hi, Vicky!
Great subject here and one I always ponder when writing a love scene. I love what you say about risk in the love scenes of Historicals. It always pulls me out of a story if that element of risk is absent. Historical characters, IMO, have to at least think of the risk of conceiving a baby and the societal attitudes toward sex before marriage.
I have a question of my own. How many of you skip love scenes? Just flip the pages in a hurry to get back to what happens next? I can raise my hand. The best love scenes are those that further the plot. If you skip them you miss something important to the story.
Diane
Well said, Victoria! I liked the way you compared sex with glue. I like to think that in a romance, especially a historical romance, it does have the quality of binding two people together and that the first time together is monumental–a committment of hearts and souls. Or it should be (as I’m thinking of Kathleen Woodiwuss’ The Flame and the Flower where it wasn’t–but grew into it.)
Loved the set up for The Christmas Dove. I already like the hero and heroine–overcoming previous mistakes. Makes me want to root for them.
Hi Diane, Hi Kathryn! It’s great to see fellow HH authors! No matter where I go writing-wise, HH will always be my home. Not only did my editors let me take chances, they encouraged it. A writer couldn’t ask for better support.
Hey, Vickie,
Yes, yes, and yes! Sex has become a standard date night activity so I appreciate the historical perspective. Besides your books (and yes, Abbie’s Outlaw came to mind), I think of Lois Richer’s Mother’s Day Miracle that effectively leads up to the bedroom, closes the door (literally by the heroine) and opens it a short time later. All the impact is still there and the fact that the couple is in a marriage of convenience allows for a lot of the respect discussion while keeping within certain bounds. But the point is, a well-written love scene can simply be an anticipated allusion (not illusion :-)) rather than graphic detail or rushed into.
Regardless of whether a book is searing sheets or Christian inspirational, I appreciate writers with your viewpoint.
Peace, Julie
Vicki, I like your description of risk and respect. One of my primary complaints about alot of current historical fiction is that authors seem to just gloss over the huge risk having sex out of wedlock poses for the heroine. The idea that attraction alone could overcome such overwhelming obstacles just doesn’t seem realistic to me. So the sex-that-leads-to-love in an historical I find either unrealistic or anachronistic.
LOL, Diane, I often skip the love scenes too, unless there is something interesting or lyrical in the writing. Very seldom do the mechanics of the process do anything to advance plot or change relationship. Maybe what the characters realize or decide before or afterward does–but the sex couldn’t be very intense if they are **thinking** about goals, conflicts or emotions while engaged in it
BTW, Vicky, I’m loving the LIH! Enjoyed Bounty Hunter’s Bride and just finished Hannah Alexander’s Hideaway Home, a WWII set book.
Looking forward to the Christmas anthology!
Hi Julie! It’s nice to see you here. I’ll have to check out Lois Richer’s book. For me, the trick with an inspy is keeping the door closed without ignoring what’s going on behind it. What’s a love story without physical attraction? Not very realistic, at least in this writers opinion : )
Diane’s question about skipping love scenes flips that coin. What’s physical attraction without a love story? Not very interesting, at least in this writer’s opinion : )
For me to write a love scene, the sexual aspect of the relationship has to be focal point of the romantic conflict. That’s true for each of my HHs. I have a battered woman who’s afraid of intimacy (Abbie’s Outlaw), a grieving widower who’s holding back his body out of fear of falling in love (West of Heaven), a mature heroine who’s weighing her virginity against the risks (Midnight Marraige), and a hero dealing with the responsiblity of fatherhood (Of Men and Angels).
One of the reasons I’ve moved into inspys is that I haven’t had a fresh idea that absolutely calls for a consummated love scene. The ideas I have are all for contemporaries. Now that would be interesting …
And Julia, I’m glad you’re enjoying the LIHs. Me, too! I just bought the June books. Can’t wait to start reading!
Well, I often skip to the love scenes. But it does amount to the same thing. If the love scene is not very good and does not further my interst in the characters, I will not be tempted to read the whole book.
Whether the door has been taken off its hinges or bolted from the inside, the love scene must do more than simply further the physical relationship. And it can not just be there because the author wants to increase the heat. love scenes have to work very hard as they are a place where tension can be lost. I do so agree with Diane that if you can take out a scene (any scene) and it is not missed than that scene does not belong in the book.
And do the characters need to think about the consequences — it depends on the characters and their specific situation. There are many who don’t think, and then suffer. While others knowingly take risks because it fits with their personality. I do however think that the author has to be concerned with the societal milieu and to understand why a character might make a choice that is different from the one one would expect.
The old question — why.
Hi Victoria,
It has always surprised me that so many historical heroines skip blithely into bed with the hero without giving a thought to Possible Consequences! You are right, without reliable birth control, and with the stigma attached to having a child outside wedlock, it really was a different world.
I enjoyed your excerpt on the other page :)))
Best wishes
Carol
Who posted before, but as usual my internet connection is on the blink and it didn’t get through!
Hi
This is Senior Editor Linda Fildew – responsible for acquiring all those Harlequin Historial and M&B Historical romances you’re all reading. I’m popping in and out of the blog today and will be joined by editors Suzanne Clarke and Mimi Berchie if you’d like to ask us anything about the historical line.
What periods do you like best? Is there a particular type of hero that pushes all your buttons?
Really look forward to hearing from you.
Great post! I enjoy really hot books, but I think that books where you don’t see anything can be just as hot. It’s all about how the sex is treated. How it’s used to create and heighten the connection between the characters. Respect is a great word for it.
Sex scenes are boring if they’re just there for an attempt at tittilation. And I’m not one for skipping love scenes 🙂
Wow, Vicki, a great discussion. It’s easier to put in a hot love scene than it is to make the scene matter to the characters and – as you say – be worth the risk to the woman.
In one of my Regencies I had the hero use condoms. The reality was that men used condoms in the regency, and before, to protect themselves from venereal disease. Not to protect the woman from pregnancy. So, no matter what, our ancestresses were at risk every time they had sex.
Some high born regency ladies would leave town to deliver. Most of them were married to men they didn’t love and had lovers. They had sex with the lovers, but within the framework of a loveless marriage. Tough stuff for women.
So, this is a great topic. Thanks for starting it.
Hi Vicki (and waving hello to Linda Fildew too)
I love your thoughts about lovemaking as the glue that binds the story and characters. I’d never thought of it that way, but it’s so true.
I’ve been guilty of skimming love scenes in books, so I’m very careful when I write mine, to make them matter. The build up, the emotion all have to be there first and if it is, then a good love scene can really cement the story!
Linda – looking forward to meeting you in SF in July!