Or: I couldn't come up with a clever subtitle for this.
I don't know if you know this about your resident Saturday, but I'm not the best at action-type scenes. They're really hard for me to write and it takes a lot of revision for me to like the final result when I write them. You know what is easy for me?
Make out scenes.
No, seriously. There's so much possible emotion in kissing scenes. Besides the, er, obvious, there can be guilt (if the character thinks they're not kissing the "right" person), fear (if the two characters making out are friends and one character is worried about losing their friendship), sadness (if it's a kiss goodbye), guilt (if they don't feel the same way as the other person, if they like someone else too, if it's their first kiss with someone of their gender), disbelief (if one character has had a crush on the other for a long time), nostalgia (if the two characters have broken up), SO many others.
Then you have things like the physical senses. What the other character smells like (aftershave, perfume, rain, paint, cinnamon), tastes like (gum, peaches, toothpaste), where their hands are (on the other character's back, shoulders, holding their hands, cupping the back of their head or sides of their face), how they're standing or sitting (in a chair with the other character leaning down with their hands on the arms, leaning against a door, in a car, this is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book).
Who initiated the kiss? What are the ramifications? Will someone be angry about the kiss? Should these two characters be kissing? Will their parents, friends, the world approve? Will they trust each other after? Is this the start of a relationship or a secret they won't talk about?
I honestly could gone about this for a long time but I'll move on and tell you why I'm talking about this in a blog post.
The book I'm currently writing, Berserk, is as of now 17,500 words long. I'm on Chapter Eight. This is my second draft. And do you think there's been a make-out scene?
Nope.
I don't even see one happening for at least another 10k. You guys have no IDEA how weird this is for me. And it's making me a tiny bit insane. *cough* Just ask my crit partner.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go yell at my characters some more. :P The weirdos. Who won't make out.
Peace and cookies,
Laina
