The hero and heroine in my work-in-progress are not cooperating. Not
only are they not getting along (after all, we expect some of that in a
romance, even a science fiction romance), they don’t seem to find each
other interesting. Their eyes don’t meet across a crowded room. Their hearts
don’t thud in their chests. They don’t breathe hard when they’re together.
They have no passion. I’m considering sending them to chemistry class.
Creating sexual tension between your hero
and heroine is no easy task. It’s not a matter of having them bicker for a
hundred pages or so, then putting them in a room (or a spaceship
cabin) together for a few hours to let nature take its course. (You think I’m
kidding. I can’t tell you how many dozens
of books I’ve read where that is exactly how the author thought it was
supposed to work.)
Just like there has to be science behind a chemical reaction in a lab, there have to be good reasons for the
chemistry that happens between your couple. Only then will the sexual tension
you create be believable. And if you're clever with the catalysts you use in their relationship, the reaction will heat up on its own.
First, there has to be a reason they will be
attracted to each other. What qualities does he have that she is looking
for—not just in a man, but in the
man? What is it about her that makes her special to him? What makes them irresistible to each other? Why can’t
they walk away?
Second, there should be equally powerful
reasons why it’s maybe not impossible, but certainly life-altering, for them to be together. Maybe they have to defy
their families, or their crew, or their governments. Maybe one has to leave a
past life behind and go with the other into a new one. Maybe both have to
jettison old ways of thinking or behaving or simply have to overcome emotional
old wounds. In any case, love should shatter their old lives and recreate a new
one in its place. This is not without risk and/or danger.
Of course, you can’t come up with these
reasons without answering the most basic question about your hero and
heroine—what are their goals? What do
they want, in the context of your story? That question gives you their motivation—everything they do is because
they want X. We all know the good guys and the bad guys in your story want
different things. But in the best of all story worlds, even your hero and
heroine should want different things. That leads to conflict, which leads to sexual tension.
How does this differ from the
bickering-into-bed scenario I mentioned earlier? Let’s look at Rayna Carver,
the Rescue agent heroine of Fools Rush In,
the third book in my Interstellar Rescue
series, and Captain Sam Murphy of the pirate ship Shadowhawk, the book’s hero.
At the outset of the book, Rayna wants only
to get to the spaceport at LinHo so she can continue her mission to infiltrate
the slave labor factory of Kinz. Murphy, who has intercepted the slave ship on which she was embedded undercover, wants only to get the rescued slaves to
safety. He thinks she’s crazy for wanting to complete her mission; she thinks
he’s arrogant for trying to stop her. Yet they’re both intensely attracted to
each other because she can’t resist his compassion and he can’t resist her brave
determination (ironically, the very things that push them apart).
Over time, they realize they have more in
common—a hatred of slavers born of personal experience, a shared code of
ethics—and passion grows between them. Yet as circumstances make it more
inevitable that Rayna will have to complete her dangerous mission, a new source
of conflict emerges. Sam’s protectiveness clashes with Rayna’s independent spirit.
All of the sexual tension in Fools Rush In, arises naturally out of
who Sam and Rayna are as people, out of what they want and how they go about
getting it in the course of the story.
As we speak, I’m asking my WIP
characters some tough questions about what the hell they really want and what they plan to do about it. “What is it you see in him, girl? And if
she’s not all that and a bag of chips, why don’t you just leave her?”
I’m expecting some lively discussions in my
head over the next few days. And some combustible chemistry on the page to
follow.
Fools
Rush In, Book 3 in the Interstellar Rescue series, launches October 18. It’s available for
pre-order on Amazon
NOW!
Cheers,
Donna
Great post, Donna, with some excellent advice on creating tension.
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