CRACK! Spitout the gum, cut the chatter and eyes on the board. This is Sr. Julie Asumpta forpart 2 of our continuing course on romantic tension in our writing, and I don’twant to hear any groans from the boys in the class, is that clear Walt andVince???Lastsemester, we covered Kiss-ology 101, so I suggest those of you who missed thatclass take a refresher course here because I will fail you at the drop of ahat, capiche?
THWACK! MaryConnealy—put the gun away, now!
Everybodyelse, listen up. Ruth Axtell and I taught a workshop at ACFW last year entitled“A Kiss is NOT Just A Kiss: Romantic Passion in Our Writing” and since ACFW just ended yesterday, I decided it might be fun to do a refreshercourse utilizing last year’s handout. For those A students who attended ourworkshop last year at ACFW, rest assured there will be new material withenhanced ideas and new excerpts from my upcoming books to keep you from fallingasleep. Again. For those D studentswho did not attend our workshop,consider yourself lucky. All of the material covered today should be fairly newand—praise be to God—you can bone up on Kiss-ology without listening to mesing!
KA-POW! Miss Logan Herne—I don’tcare if you are related to the Pope or not, you will put that chocolate andthose dime LI novels away right this instant or you will be excommunicated fromthis class, is that clear?
Allright, students—shoulders straight, eyes on the board.
Fourteen “Suggestions” to“Warm up the Pages withRomantic Tension”Lastsemester’s course (Kiss-ology 101) covered points 1-8, so this semester’scourse (Kiss-ology 201) will cover points 9-15. Then in my October Seekers blog(Kiss-ology 103), we’ll finish with point 17, The Caveman Kiss (which you don’twant to miss!!) and excerpts of the TOP favorite kisses of the Seeker’sPLUS—blow the whistle, Miss Hillman, please—the favorite kiss of one luckySeekerville commenter from Kiss-ology 101 and 201. So … let’s get started withpoints 9 through 15, shall we?
1. Using Internal Male Dialogue2. Making the Most of Touch andResponse3. Maximizing Use of Beats4. Utilizing Dual Point of View5. Escalate Tension with Anger6. Using all Five Senses7. The Non Kiss8. Cashing in on the Kid Factor9. Use Emotionally ChargedWords and Active Verbs to Enhance Mood10. Capitalize on the Element ofSurprise11. Expose Desire in anUnwilling Character12. Implement the Concept ofForbidden Fruit13. Effectively use Dialogue toEscalate Tension14. The Accidental Kiss15. The Mental Kiss16. The Caveman Kiss
9.)UsING emotionally charged words toenhance the mood of the scene. Here is a paragraph from A Hope Undaunted where Luke’s angermanifests in dominance after Katieslaps him. Notice that I used as many chargedwords as I could (i.e. devour, consume, guttural, ravage, etc. all underlinedbelow) to enhance the drama of an already tense situation.She tried to shovehim out of the way. “I’m going home.”“Not yet,” he whispered, blockingher in with a push to the wall …In a catch of her breath, hetook her mouth by force, his late-day beard rough againsther skin. A faint moan escaped her lips and all resistance fled, burnedaway by the heat of his touch, leaving her weak and wanting. His mouth roamedat will, no longer gentle as he devoured her, ravenous againstthe smooth curve of her throat, the soft flesh of her ear. With a gutturalgroan, he jerked her close with powerful arms, consumingher mouth with a kiss surely driven by the sheer will to ravage.
10.)CAPITALIZE ON the element of surprisefor both the hero and heroine. Surprise is always fun, but never more so than in a love scene. It’sfun to shock a hero and heroine with a kiss neither expects, because let’s faceit, catching a guy (and a gal) off-guard with a kiss provides top-notchromantic tension. Here is an example of a surprise kiss from Winter Is Past by Ruth Axtell Morren, where the hero surprises himself—and theheroine—with his first kiss. The moment of surprise is underlined.
Simonremoved his spectacles, rubbing his eyes, too tired for the moment to move awayfrom the door… Then he turned to Althea, who had risen, the ball of yarn in herhand. He found himself near enough to touch her. She stood, probably waiting forhim to step back. He didn’t oblige her. He just stood there, looking at her,caught by a sudden, overwhelming desire to hold her and be held by her. Heneeded something she had—wanted something… Unable to articulate even to himselfwhat it was, he stood mute.He had seen her as thecomforter of his child. And lately he had come to see her also as perhaps theonly thing that stood between himself and insanity, like a steady rock in themaelstrom of his life. He had fought with everything in him to avoid seeing heras a woman. Buthe couldn’t anymore. Hiseyes traveled the length of her, comparing her freshness and honesty with theartifices of the society women he’d just come from; he observed the rise andfall of her breast, the heightened color of her cheeks, and with a certainty,he knew that she was just as aware as he of their position as man and woman. Hetugged at the knot of his cravat to keep himself from reaching for her andkissing her until he forgot everything else. The very thought filled hissenses. The only thing that stopped him was the knowledge that if he took sucha step, he would never recover. Every instinct, every fiber of his being, toldhim this woman was like no other he’d known. (Kissfollows. Sorry, you’ll just have to read the book…) 
11.) Exposedesire in an unwilling character. There is something so emotionallycharged about a person whose romantic vulnerabilities are exposed (i.e. theconcept of still waters running deep). Dormant desire is a human condition weall relate to and when it’s brought to the surface, sparks can fly. Here is a scene from book 3 in my Daughtersof Boston series A Passion Denied,where the hero is attracted to the heroine, but refuses to admit it because he seesher only as a little sister and good friend. But the heroine has other ideasand implements a “plot” devised by her sister, Charity, to breach Brady’sdefenses with a kiss.“Beth, are we okay?” He ducked his headto search her eyes, then brushed her hair back from her face. A smile shadowedhis lips. “Still friends?”Friends. A deadly plague only a kiss could cure.Resolve stiffened her spine. “Sure, Brady … friends.”He smiled and tucked a finger under herchin. “That’s my girl. Now what do you say we pray about some of these things?”He leaned close with another quick kiss to her brow, and in a desperate beat ofher heart, she lunged, uniting her mouth with his. She felt the shock of heraction in the jolt of his body, and she gripped him close to deepen the kiss.Waves of warmth shuddered through her at the taste of him, and the essence ofpeppermint was sweet in her mouth. “No!” He wrenched back from her hold withdisbelief in his eyes. Toolate. She had never feltlike this before. Years of seeking romance from flat parchment pages had notprepared her for this. This rush, this desire … her body suddenly alive, andevery nerve pulsing with need. All shyness melted away in the heat of herlonging, and she pounced again, merging her mouth with his. John Brady, I love you!A fraction of a second became eons as sheawaited his rejection. His body was stiff with shock, but no resistance came.And in a sharp catch of her breath, he drew her to him with such force, shegasped, the sound silenced by the weight of his mouth against hers. He groanedand cupped the back of her head as if to delve in her soul, a man possessed.His lips broke free to wander her throat, and shivers of heat coursed throughher veins. In ragged harmony, their shallow breathing billowed into the night whilehis arms possessed her, molding her body to his.“Oh, Brady, I’m so in love with you,” shewhispered.Her words severed his hold as neatly asthe blade of a guillotine. He staggered to his feet, and icy cold replaced thewarmth of his arms. She opened her eyes and saw pain in his. She grabbed hisarm. “Brady, can’t you see? You love me too … not as a friend or a sister, butas a woman.”“God help me, Beth, I can’t love you thatway.” He stared like a zombie, chest heaving with jagged breaths that swirledinto the cool night air, drifting away. Justlike her dreams.
Hereis another example of unwilling desire from Janet Dean’s wonderful novel, A HarlequinLove Inspired Historical, Wanted: AFamily, where the heroine has reservations about a handyman she hired whowas passing through town. Once again, note that there is very little graphicdescription (ie. involving mouth and other suggestive body parts):
He stepped closer and closerstill, until he stood mere inches away. Tiny gold flecks bordered the darkmesmerizing pupils of his eyes glittering in the lamplight, and then settlingon her lips. And stayed. “I see you every day. Everyday your beauty socks me in the gut. Not just outside, but inside too. And Iwonder what it would be like to hold you in my arms.” His Adam’s apple rose andfell. “Do you wonder that too?”She couldn’t look away.Couldn’t speak. Could only nod.“May I kiss you?”Every rational thought fledher mind as she looked into those clear pools of jade. And saw nothingalarming. What if... What if Jacob Smith was the caring man he appeared? Whatif she could trust and lean on him? What if God had brought Jacob here to mendmore than her house? To mend her hurting heart? Knowing Jacob would turn to Himin God’s timing?With all those questionsburning in her mind, Callie looked at Jacob’s lips, soft full, slightly parted,waiting for her answer. The slight pressure of his hand under her jaw feltright, as no touch ever had. She wanted his kiss. Wantedit badly. Refusing to heed the warnings churning inside her, she rose ontiptoe, the only answer she could give. As she slid her arms around his neck,her shoes clattered to the floor. His lips captured hers.Gentle, teasing, sending shivers down her spine and curling her toes inside herstockings. He pulled her closer and she clung to him then raised both palms tocaress the sandpaper of his jaw. The pressure of his lips grew stronger,bolder. She returned the pressure, her response to the man leaving herweak-kneed and wobbly. Jacob’s breathing grewrapid, matching hers. Oh, when had she ever felt like this? His fingers splayedin her hair, sending pins to the floor, unleashing her hair—and triggering herfaltering common sense. Chest heaving, gasping forbreath, she pulled away from his arms. Like a starving man, his eyes devouredher. Something passed between them, something unspoken yet powerful. Sopowerful it frightened her. She took a hurried stepback. “Goodnight,” she said then fled the kitchen, leaving her shoes and thelast remnant of her composure behind. 12.) IMPLEMENTTHE CONCEPT OF FORBIDDEN FRUIT.Use the concept of “forbidden fruits” between the hero and heroine, so thatgiving into temptation will carry a high price for either one or both. In thisexample from A Man Most Worthy byRuth Axtell Morren, the hero not onlykisses the boss’s daughter—but an underage girl—and is promptly sacked.
Nickfocused once more on the [chess]board between them. “I’malmost a woman now.” Heraised startled eyes to her. Where had that thought come from?Herviolet eyes stared guilelessly into his. He kept his voice neutral, for fear ofwhat she might read in it. “You have a few years yet.” Withanother sigh, she lowered her gaze to the chess pieces. Nickfollowed suit, determined to keep his thoughts on the game. He waited for herto move, his heartbeat thudding between his ears. What had she meant by thatremark? He mustn’t forget himself around her, he cautioned himself, as he foundhimself doing countless times each day in her company. “Checkmate.”Amusement laced her tone. Hisglance jerked up. “What?” He followed her slim fingers, which held the queenshe’d just moved. “How is that possible?”
“See?”She gestured over the board. “If you move your king here, my knight will knockhim off. If you move your king in the only other square, my other knight willget him.” Hestudied the only two possible moves available to his king, his brow knit. Howhad she done that? Shesat back with a satisfied sigh. “Maybe if someone had been paying closerattention to his game, he wouldn’t have left himself open for attack.” Helooked across to her laughing eyes. “Maybe if someone felt more comfortablewith her skills, she wouldn’t have to rely on distracting me with idle talk towin the game.” “Iwon fairly and squarely. If you allow yourself to be so easily distracted, Ican’t be held responsible for your loss. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my queenshall take your king to her castle and lock him in her tower.” She lifted bothhis king and her queen off the board in one swoop. Withoutthinking, he seized her hand in midair. “My king will call out his legions ofknights to rescue him—” Shegiggled, pulling her hand away but he held it fast. “If you want your kingback, you shall have to pay the ransom,” she said with a thrust of her chin,her laughing blue eyes glinting with challenge. Hetightened his hold on her hand imperceptibly. “And what do you demand for therelease of my king?” “Akiss.”
13.) EffectiveUse of Dialogue to Escalate Tension.Nothing cranks up romantictension like anger, as indicated in this scene from A Passion Denied, where Marcy and Patrick O’Connor, who, by the way, havethe best marriage on the planet, get in a tense fight that is almost foreign totheir characters. Not only are anger and gruff action utilized to build thetension, but at the end of the scene, short, bullet-fire dialogue withoutspeaker attributions or many beats is used to escalate it.
She was met with a coolblast of air when he snatched the covers from her body and flipped on thelight. “Get up, darlin’, I’d like to hear all about your evening.”Marcy sat up and put ahand to her eyes, squinting at the blinding light. “Patrick, have you beendrinking?”His laugh was not kind.“Yes, Marcy, I have. A man will often do that when he learns his wife has beenunfaithful.”She pressed back againstthe headboard, alarmed at the brutal look in his eyes. “That’s a lie! I havenever been unfaithful.”“Not physically, I’msure.” His look pierced her. “At least, not until tonight.”Fear paralyzed her. “Ifought him off, Patrick, I swear I did. He’s a liar.”“Funny, he said the sameabout you.”He took a step forward,and she cowered back. Her husband had never laid a cruel hand on her. But thisman was not her husband. “Patrick, you’re tired, and you’ve been drinking. Cometo bed, and we’ll discuss it in the morning.”“Did you kiss him?”“No, of course not!”“Did he kiss you?”She gasped for breath.He gripped her arm and shook her. “Answer me!”“Yes!”His eyes glittered like ice. “Well, Mrs. O’Connor, and how do Icompare?”
14.) THE MENTAL KISS. Tome, one of the most effective ways to add romantic tension is by starting outwith an innocent scene that escalates into fun or tension. Then, in a single throb of a pulse, it culminatesin the moment when both parties suddenly realize an attraction. An attraction sostrong, the mental desire for a kiss creates a spark of romantic tensionwithout one lip ever touching the other. This is what I was striving for inthis scene from A Light in the Window: AnIrish Christmas Love Story when the hero and heroine (a much younger Marcyand Patrick from the excerpt above, by the way, before they are a couple) experiencethat taut moment where a mental kiss teeters on the threshold of action duringa water fight between two “friends” doing the dishes at the church soup kitchenwhere they both volunteer. Her laughter turned to squeals when she tried to getaway, but he clamped a steel arm to her waist while he held the rag dangerouslyclose to her neck. “Repeat after me, Marceline,” he whispered, eyes issuing achallenge. “Patrick, I’m a brat, I’m sorry, and I will never do this again.”Pulse sprinting, she giggled, eyes flicking from himto the rag in his hand, weighing her options. “And if I don’t?” One dark brow jutted high as his smile eased into agrin. “You won’t have to bathe tonight, darlin’.”His words warmed both her cheeks and her temper.“You wouldn’t,” she dared.“Only one way to find out.” There was a bit of thedevil in his eye, the rag dangling precariously close to her neckMarcy sucked in a deep breath. “All right, Patrick,”she said, skin tingling with mischief and eye on the rag, “I’m a brat, I’msorry, and I … won’t promise—”Lunging, she whipped the rag from his hands so fast, he never saw it coming,christening him with dirty dishwater like Father Fitz christened babies in theback of the church.He hooked her waist before she could escape, and herhigh-pitch giggles merged with his husky laughter as she flailed in his arms, adeath grip on the soppy rag thrashing over their heads. Dishwater flew everywhich way while he tried to reclaim it, but Marcy hid it behind her back withsqueals of laughter. Locking her to his chest with one arm, he circled herwaist with his other, his breath warm on her cheek as he grappled to claim thewin.Near breathless, she tried to wrestle free. “Give … it … up … Patrick,” she said, her words punctuatedby shrieks and shallow rasps, “you will … never, everwin …” Her words seemed to paralyze him, and in a singleheave of her breath, his body stilled against hers. She could feel the raggedrise and fall of his chest, the hot press of his arm at the small of her back,the wild hammering of her pulse in her ears. All at once, she was painfullyaware of his nearness, bare inches away from the dark stubble that peppered hisjaw. His hard-muscled chest was so close she could almost feel the dampness ofhis shirt while the familiar scent of spices and pine whirled her senses. Hisbreathing was ragged like hers, warm and sweet with the faint scent ofchocolate from his chocolate cream pie, and when his gaze lowered to her lips,heat coiled through her so strong, it sapped all moisture from her throat. The silence roared like the blood in her ears as he stared, a battlewaging in his eyes that eclipsed to a dark fervor, shocking her when it quiveredher belly. “I will never give up, Marceline,” he whispered, his lips parted to emit shallow breaths. Fire singed when hisglance flickered to her mouth. “T-take it …” she whispered, alarm curling in herstomach. Dear Lord, had he meant to kissme? Prodding the rag to his chest, she pushed him away while heat throbbedin her cheeks. She took an awkward step back, gaze on the floor as she buffedat her arms with brisk motion. “Goodness, Miss Clara will have our heads,” shesaid with nervous chuckle, unable to look at him even yet. “You win, Patrick—Isurrender.” She forced a casual tone and attempted to side-step him on her wayto the broom closet.Her heart seized when he halted herwith a gentle hand. “Marcy …” His voice was somber and steeped with regret.“I'm sorry …”“For what?” A deep voice sounded fromthe door, shattering what was left of Marcy’s calm.
15.)THE ACCIDENTAL KISS. Come on, you know what I’m talkingabout — the attraction is there, but the intent isn’t … until something as innocent as a kiss on the cheek sets passionablaze. In a second-tier love story from my April release Love at Any Cost, aninnocent thank-you kiss on the cheek turns in to far more between the widowedmatriarch and her brother-in-law — the fiancé she was once engaged to before hecheated on her and she married his brother. Bundled in a blanket around an outside fire, Caitlyn McClare rises to thank her brother-in-law Logan with a kiss on the cheek for a tender and noble gift he'd just given her.
Peering up, Caitlyn gently braced his jaw with herpalm, eyes shimmering with gratitude. “I don’t think I’ve ever loved you morethan right this moment, Logan McClare, thank you!” His heart seized when she pressed a kiss to hischeek, and almost by accident, he turned into her touch, their lips so close hecould smell the hint of hot chocolate they’d enjoyed around the fire. Theyfroze in the same split second of time, and his pulse thudded slow and hard ashe waited for her to pull away. Only she didn’t, and heat scorched his body. “Cait,” he whispered, barely believing her lipsnearly grazed his. He waited, not willing to push for fear she would bolt, butwhen her eyelids flickered closed, his fate was sealed. “God help me, I loveyou,” he rasped, quickly caressing her lips before she could retreat. Themoment his mouth took hers, he was a man hopelessly lost, bewitched by herspell. She jolted in his arms as if suddenly realizing her folly, but herefused to relent, his grip at the nape of her neck strong and sure, allowinghim a taste of the sweetest lips he’d ever known. A groan trapped in histhroat, and he devoured her, delving deeper with a passion stoked by twenty-sixyears of denial and longing. “God, help me, Cait,” he whispered, voice hoarseas he nuzzled her ear, “I need you in my life.” He felt it the moment the winds shifted, pulse skyrocketingwhen her blanket dropped to the ground and she melded into his arms. His mouth exploredwith a vengeance, the frenzied beat of her heart throbbing beneath his lips ashe grazed the hollow of her throat. He skimmed up to suckle the lobe of herear, and his heart swelled with joy when a soft moan escaped her lips. Bloodpounding in his veins, he wove fingers into her hair to cradle her face. “Marryme, Cait, please …”Her eyelids fluttered open to reveal a glaze ofdesire so strong, his mouth descended again, dominant and possessive until herlips surrendered to his. “Marry me,” he repeated, his kiss gentling to playfulnips meant to coax and tease. “I need you, Cait … and I want you.”In the space of a heartbeat, she hurled him away,breasts heaving and eyes wild. You’re a devil, Logan McClare, always lustingafter what you can’t have!”Sleet slithered through his veins. “No, Cait, it’snot true—I want you because I love you.” He reached for her, and she thrust back, furywelling in her eyes. “You want me because you can’t have me. And once you hadme, you would just throw me away again, returning to your old habits ofcarousing with women all hours of the night.”“You’re wrong—let me prove it, please. Marry me.”She shook her head, a scarlet curl quivering againsther neck. Her tone trembled with a violence that stunned. “I-don’t-want-you,and I-don’t-need-you, do you hear?”His anger surged, but he tamped it down with aclamp of his jaw, his words as hard as hers. “Really, Cait? Why don’t you tellthat to the woman whose body just responded to mine?”The lightening force of her slap shifted his jawclean to the right, the sound of it like a crack of thunder. “How dare you?”she whispered, tears streaming her cheeks. All righty then, that’s class for today, so your homework isto leave a comment for a chance to win one of my books. Anyone who wants extracredit, if you post a short sample of a kiss you’ve written, I will tossyour name into the pot for a chance to be included in Kiss-ology 103 in Octoberwhen I post a favorite kissing scene from each of the Seekers and YOU!!
So… on your mark, get set ... PUCKER UP!
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