How To Write A Novel Scene | Writing Mini Course

Here's the most important point you can take away from this article: the civilized approach writing a love scene doesn't work. In fact, it leads to the poorest result of all: predictability.

You've read before: the leading man and woman dislike one another intensely; something changes and they see another side of the other; in spite of their best efforts to deny it, they find themselves attracted to one another; and ultimately they fall into a passionate embrace.

Do you really want to write that one again?

The Best Love Scenes

The participants in the best love scenes not perfect specimens and the circumstances are obscure and somewhat confused. In a word, they're authentic.

Getting Started On That Love Scene

Start by imagining your own most interesting and emotionally-moving sexual experience. Write out a free association narrative about the images, scents, colors, texture, dialogue, weather, and other aspects that trigger your memory.

Then, complicate it.

Assume that your memory of the event has been neutered by the passage of time (because it has). We all tend to remember the past in an unrealistic light, obscuring and shading over the petty annoyances (Could you stop that whistling?); the inconvenient bodily functions (I have to pee.); and the wanderings of your mind (Did I lock the car door?). So instead of writing that simplistic and ultimately, predictable story, shake it up.

Have your female character imagining a former lover, while her words are only about the man in her arms. Have your male character fear that he will not achieve arousal, and keep this truth from his lover until it can no longer be hidden. Have your characters wear blindfolds, so that all of the narrative description is tactile. In other words, create some kind of slanted, asymmetrical aspect to the story. Make your characters, and the reader, work for it.

Please Don’t Make It Porn

One of the most frequently asked questions is how explicit to make a love scene. The answer is simple: less explicit than what you would want to read.

It is axiomatic that the most sexually-charged organ of the body is the mind. That is where your story will be experienced, and you need to cater to the mind’s unique way of perceiving. A writer must suggest rather than explain. Describe how it feels to run a finger along a thigh; to feel blankets bunched between your body and your lover’s; to be out of breath and not really know why. Keep it subtle.

Conclusion

To sum up, love scenes are done best when they follow no particular formula, but instead, come from the heart. Less is more. Of course, you should also keep in mind that the research is frequently much more fun than the actual writing. But take a few moments to get it down on paper, anyway. Readers like to watch.

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