DVDizzy Forum

I'm in the process of writing a romantic novel and I am stuck with a scene. Anyone feel free to chip in, no matter sexual orientation since we are dealing with the universal theme of love here.

Without saying too much my two main characters, a man and a woman, become friends due to an event in which they crossed paths. Even though they saw each other as friends deep down they liked something in each other and are afraid of expressing it until one pivotal scene in which their true feelings come out.

The problem I am having is how they express that love. I was thinking of a very passionate kiss, but then I was thinking should there be some kind of physical affection involved? Should they have sex after their feelings are known? What else could I do to express how deeply in love they are with each other?

To give you guys an even better idea, the two of them are in denial about it at first because both have suffered greatly due to love and are trying to avoid being in a relationship for fear of being hurt.

So anyone feel free to chip in ideas and even tell us personal experiences.

Romance novels....so not my area of expertise But I'll try!

I'd suggest writing several versions of that scene. Write the passionate kiss version, write a version where they have sex. Or, since they are in denial, have it where they start to but stop.

After that, see which version you like best and perhaps write an extra paragraph afterwards for each to see how it would go from there.

Hope this helps (even if it means more work! )

Actually, there are already a couple of "false start" moments in the story already. Not to mention that this is a pivotal moment in the story so having that happen again would be anti climatic.

Hm, well it worked for me. I had trouble getting one chapter started for dialogue so I just wrote a couple other versions/starts to it and found that my third attempt worked better for getting the dialogue going.

Thought it might work for you as well

Chernabog_Rocks wrote:Hm, well it worked for me. I had trouble getting one chapter started for dialogue so I just wrote a couple other versions/starts to it and found that my third attempt worked better for getting the dialogue going.

Thought it might work for you as well

Oh no, not saying that your idea of writing different scenes was bad. In fact I think its an excellent idea since you can explore different paths you can take with the characters and find a solution you never expected. What I meant is that the false start idea has already been implemented and doing it again in a vital scene would make it redundant and anti-climactic.

I just want to show how the two characters finally embrace their love in a meaningful way without going into smut territory (their love is based on their feelings, not just their sex appeal).

You're wrong if you think that sex isn't about love. It very much is.
I have to say that I find the basic premise you told (two people become friends, want to love each other but for some reason can't do it but after several 'false starts' decide to do it anyway) has been done many times before and is a bit standard now. But if you write it in an original way it can still work.

KubrickFan wrote:You're wrong if you think that sex isn't about love. It very much is.
I have to say that I find the basic premise you told (two people become friends, want to love each other but for some reason can't do it but after several 'false starts' decide to do it anyway) has been done many times before and is a bit standard now. But if you write it in an original way it can still work.

Well, there's definitely a lot more to the story and their relationship. The reason I haven't explained it in full detail is because I haven't copyrighted the story and don't want to be plagiarized.

The false starts don't happen that often. I think its just happens once.

Finally, I never claimed it was original. It follows one of the seven basic plots with some alterations to the formula. Again, you would have to see the full story to get it.

As for the sex thing I made the comment because I asked other people and they suggested me to carefully plan that segment since sex can change a relationship.

Wait..I'm lost. What do you mean about "False Starts"?

I think it all depends on the individuals.

I mean, personally? Hey, you asked. Sex doesn't automatically mean I can tell if it's love, at least not in my experiences. There's such a thing as having awful first-time sex with someone you care for deeply, and great sex with someone who you can't imagine being with for the rest of your life. Intercourse is not, in my opinion, a surefire way to tell if this is the real deal. Time well spent is. Know a fucking moron for years, decades even, and if you know you would feel like the love of your life is gone without him/her, that's how you know it's love. But most people don't have that kind of luck, and I'm aware of this.

So I think I need to hear more about these two as people. How are they? What are their standards? What really says "I love you" to the both of them?

Pardon my language, but I think it's fine given the nature of this topic.

A passionate kiss is physical, still!

I was not thinking your idea sounded "been done" of course the way that you do it will be done differently from any other person. Then again maybe it's because I'm not someone who reads a lot or knows a lot about comics or novels.

Prudence's idea sounds like a great way in real life to know if someone's your true love, but we like to know they're the love of our life a lot sooner, in our ideals! And it works more for stories...

Other than sex or passionate true love kisses, their can be embracing. Holding your love, not wanting to let them go. They could also talk, or have poetic thought bubbles expressing their great happy love with each other during the scenes they contact. Or in their facial expressions you can show how great it is for them to be with, and do those things with, each other, not just anyone. If you show sex, show that they are so greatly happy to be doing it with with each other, not just having sex with anyone. In the way that they do it.

If you had an idea other than sex to use, I would go with that one, though.

Course...I like the idea of saving sex before marriage. Make sure it's your true love, first...but...

Wait...I didn't know you could draw! Or is someone else doing the art?

Prudence: Once again, I ask because some people have told me that sex can change a relationship, for better or for worse.

I will try to explain the characters without detailing them too much (like I said since I haven't registered my stories yet and don't want to have my stories out in the open).

The two lovers in question both have suffered greatly because of love. In the female's case, growing up she thought her parents truly loved each other. But when they went through a painful divorce her views on love got twisted around. While this played heavily on her views on love what truly did it was an infatuation she had over a guy who was already taken. Long story short, it ended in a humiliating and violent incident at a prone. This affected her so much that she decided to focus on her career and put love way, way, way down on her priorities list.

The male he met a woman who understood him (in my story this man is quite unique. How so? You figure it out ). They truly loved each other. Enough that they were engaged to be married. But on the eve of their wedding she has an accident and dies. This affected the man and when the story starts he is still depressed over her loss.

When the two of them meet (won't tell you how they meet, sorry! ) they realize that the two of them are special and enjoy each other's company. But their true feelings are hidden well deep within each other because of their events that changed their views on love.

Long story short, since they loved so much at one point in their lives and it failed they are afraid of emotionally investing in someone in fear that their hearts will be broken again.

But it gets to the point where they can't hold that in anymore, so their love comes out and is manifested. The question is HOW that should be manifested.

Should they kiss? Should they pour each other's feelings through words? Should they have sex?

Note that right after this happens they once again go back to their train of thoughts and leave each other, making them even more miserable than before and leads to an emotionally dramatic happy ending.

Hope this helps since I left out many details.

Chernabog: When I say "false starts" I mean scenes in which the readers believe that they finally confess their love to each other, but go back to the starting point, resulting in "false starts". In my story, one false start is when they accidentally touch each other's hands and feel a strong force going through their hearts.

Duster: I can't draw even if my life depended on it . This story is hopefully going to be a novel. BUT if I find a medium where it can be successfully told (hell, I'll even take videogames) you can bet their story will be told.

Again, I'm not claiming that the story will be very original or groundbreaking. The best way I can explain it is that its a bit of a fairy tale/princess story set in modern day. I also think its a tad different from other romantic stories simply because of what is going on.

I hope one day I get to explain it all in full detail.

I bet it'll be original anyway. Remember, no one does, or even can do, the same thing exactly the same way.

Chernabog: When I say "false starts" I mean scenes in which the readers believe that they finally confess their love to each other, but go back to the starting point, resulting in "false starts". In my story, one false start is when they accidentally touch each other's hands and feel a strong force going through their hearts.

Ok, so it's different from what I'm talking about then.

When I say write the scene differently I mean open two or three word documents and try writing the scene as a kiss, as a sex scene etc. Then see which one you like best and put that one scene in the story.

For example, in my fic the chapter started in a cafe but as I was writing I had trouble getting the dialogue going. So I started the chapter all over again in a different document and wrote it differently and it worked. So I just continued writing the chapter.

The same goes for any chapters I write whether it's at the middle or end, if I'm stuck then I start writing it a bit differently, maybe backtrack a bit and write a different version of how it leads up to the point I'm stuck.

Hopefully that makes some sense >_>