by Angela Ruth Strong, @AngelaRStrong
There’s almost nothing better than a kissing book, and according to a recent review, the kissing scene in my latest novel ranked right up there with scenes written by the queen of kissing books, Pepper Basham. So it’s safe to say I can write my way around a lip lock. But if you want my advice on how to do it, I’d suggest that the best kisses are more about the emotional aspect than the physical.
Build up to an emotional kiss by focusing on the basics. Your characters must:
- Think about kissing. If your characters are going to think about kissing, then they first have to be attracted to each other. That doesn’t mean they’re gorgeous. It means they find each other irresistible. In fact, their flaws make them a better fit for one another.
In my upcoming novel, Fiancé Finale, Nicole grew up as a pastor’s daughter where everyone was fake nice to her then gossiped behind her back. This attracted her to Charlie because he erred on the blunt side. While his flaw offended others, she appreciated knowing where she stood with him.
Unfortunately, his flaw got in the way of their relationship as flaws often do, and they broke up. The book begins years later when the couple must work together. At this point, Nicole is glad Charlie has grown a beard, so she doesn’t have to look at the face she once found so handsome. Of course, as she falls for him all over again, she falls for that beard too.
Just remember to be subtle about the growing interest. For example, I don’t tell the reader Nicole is starting to like Charlie’s beard. I have her wonder how kissing him with a beard might be different than her memories from when they were younger.
- Almost kiss. In the sitcom New Girl, the actors who played Nick and Jessica had so much chemistry that the director had to physically separate them when shooting a scene until it was time for their characters to become a couple in the show. This is our job as romance writers. We aren’t trying to get our love interests together because we already created them to be the perfect fit. Our job is to keep them apart until it’s time for them to become a couple.
The hero and heroine feed off each other’s energy. They understand one another in ways most people can’t. They care more deeply. Thus they are also able to call each other out on their blind spots. Like Pop Rocks and soda, they respond bigger in their interactions.
This is what made writing Husband Auditions so much fun. When Kai listened to a song on his earbuds, Meri popped one in her own ear and sang along. When Kai confessed that he’d been engaged before, they ended up in a face-off about how he’d given up on love. And after her flip flop floated off a waterfall and he had to give her a piggyback ride down the mountain, he twisted around to question, “Anything else you want?” I made it clear he would have kissed her if she hadn’t been too afraid to ask.
- Kiss! If you followed the basics, your characters and your readers have been waiting a long time for the first kiss. Expectations are high. It can’t be just any kiss. It needs to be both meaningful and memorable.
You make the moment meaningful by setting the scene in a location that fits the characters and the theme of the story. In Hero Debut, Karson is a police officer and Gemma is a writer taking a citizen’s police academy as research. She’s embarrassed herself a lot in his class, so having him give her private shooting lessons creates the perfect backdrop for her to redeem herself as a student and for him to figuratively lower his weapons long enough to become allies.
To make it memorable, you bring the characters together in a way only the two of them could connect while at the same time moving the plot forward. This kiss is both incredible to experience and fantastic at how it affects the story. For Karson and Gemma, it means they should have been as cautious about watching out for the triggers in their relationship as they were about gun safety.
While I love a good lip lock, I will confess that I once wrote a romance novel without any kissing simply to see if I could. It might have been unexpected, but I gave the reader everything they needed from the list above in order for them to imagine the most incredible kiss as soon as they turned the last page.
Because what’s better than a kissing book? A kissing book that leaves you swooning even after you reach the end.
Gemma Bennett is the leading lady of her own life, and her true love is writing screenplays. With her trusty pink notebook in hand, she signs up for the Citizen’s Safety Academy to research her newest blockbuster hope, a rom-com with a police officer as the hero. And the fact that the handsome and heroic Lieutenant Karson Zellner is the one leading the training? Well, who can blame her for wanting to spend evenings with the man she swooned over months ago when he responded to a call at her apartment?
Karson already has his fair share of problems before Gemma shows up, and he’s not exactly a fan of the ditzy blonde who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The last thing he needs is a damsel in distress to rescue; there are plenty of people in real need of his help. The fact that she seems to think his job makes him a superhero is just one more strike against her. This isn’t a movie, and he feels like the furthest thing from a leading man.
Gemma can’t seem to stop doing the worst, most embarrassing things at just the wrong time. And as time goes on, Gemma begins to realize that the scripts for a perfect screenplay and a real-life happily-ever-after are two very different things. Can she step out of her own way to find the hero her story needs?
Angela Ruth Strong survived breast cancer, works as a flight attendant, and uses her own crazy life experiences as inspiration for the stories she writes. Her books have earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been nominated for a Christy, won the Cascade Award, and become Amazon bestsellers. She and her husband also got to play extras when her novel Finding Love in Big Sky was adapted for film. To help aspiring authors, Angela started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho. Visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com.