Romance

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I'm not strong with romance. Seeing as I rarely experience romantic attraction to people, and never have had sexual attraction to anyone at all, writing romance is hard for me. I kinda have to wing it, and assume I know how to describe the feeling. Have I ever been in love? No not really. I'm a seventeen year old boy with no social life who spend his time writing and drawing rather than actually talk and engage with girls. Because that is the one thing I really, really suck at.

So obviously I'm the best person to dish out advice on writing romance.

So I've heard, writing from experience is good for romantic feeling within a character. But, I do not know what that feeling is. Describing a crush is easy, but I have no idea what falling in love is like.

-Does character A struggling keeping or making eye contact with character B? Does character B find it easy to look into A's eyes?

-When one character finds the romantic interest looking at them, do they get flustered? Blushing isn't the only way to get flustered. I don't blush, because of my skin tone. Keep in mind, if your character has darker skin tones, the less visible blushing will be.

-Do the characters mimic each other?

-Do they get nervous? Don't just make them blush and stutter. Make it hard for them to make eye contact. Or maybe they start tapping their foot/bouncing a leg due to anxiousness. Do they pick their skin? What are their nervous habits?

-Character A remembers tiny details about B. Details like their favorite color, how they refuse to use blue ink, hidden birthmarks, how their eyes change color in the sunlight, etc.

-uncomfortable laughter or smiles

-Love confessions... in another language

-Make them agree to everything the other says

-Always sitting close to each other or leaning in the other's direction.

-Finding ways to touch (not sexual). Bumping shoulders, brushing hands, "you have food on your face, let me get that for you", brushing hair out of the other's face, etc.

Kiss scenes:
I've never kissed a person. Why am I writing this.

I've kissed my cat.

That's it.

-The eyes will dart from the lips to the eyes as if anxious.

-Changing the pitch of their voice lower or higher.

-Eye contact!

-Touching the other's arm.

-Pressing foreheads together or cupping the cheeks.

-Very close proximity.

-Make em nervous if it's the first kiss.

When I've written kiss scenes... which I haven't really... I try to make them short and sweet. I find it awkward when the characters add detail to the kiss and it lasts forever. The description drones on and on and it makes me uncomfortable. Why do that when you could make it cute?

I'm my book, Land of Armonia, I have yet to make an official kiss scene between the two MCs. However, there's a scene towards the end where the boy kissed the girl's cheek. They're in a tough situation, and it's a way to say goodbye to her as he's not sure he'll ever see her again. And because she's a stubborn character, she literally doesn't think anything of it.

The scene is short, and sweet. You wouldn't notice it if you were skimming, which makes it all the more precious in my mind. A short lived treasure if you will.

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