:: Cher Gorman :: Sexual Tension

Sexual Tension: Want to But Can't

Creating wonderful sexual tension between my characters was one of the hardest things for me to learn as a writer. At first I forced the sexual tension. I randomly added passages of intense attraction between my hero and heroine in scenes where it wasn't appropriate to the story or my characters and their conflicts.

In my mind, I thought this is what romance readers wanted to read. They want characters that are hot for each other. They want characters that have incredible chemistry. They want characters whose pheromones mingle and catch fire. Right?

Yes and no. We all love to read those books where the hero and heroine practically leap from the pages. As we read, we can feel the intense attraction between them, the push and pull, the resistance to what they are feeling.

When you were single and dating did you ever meet someone whose chemistry spoke to your chemistry in the most elemental way? A person who made your libido sit up and howl? When this happens chemistry can be your worst enemy. It can make you say and do things that the sensible, rational part of you is screaming at you not to do. But, you can't resist. Why?

When this happens the results can be disastrous. You may know this guy will more than likely take your poor heart and stomp it into something unrecognizable before he is finished with you. But, you may let yourself be lured anyway by the attraction between you and the conflicts going on in your life at the time. Two things are usually at work. One: Basic chemistry, physical attraction. Two: Your emotions.

How do we as writers balance chemistry and emotions between our characters without letting one overshadow the other? An editor told me that sexual attraction between characters should be natural. It should grow from your story and the conflicts between your characters. This is the key. For me, the sexual tension and attraction between my hero and heroine is a delicate mix of "want to but can't" (physical contact) and each characters emotional stakes or (emotional contact.) They touch emotions deep inside each other that they don't want to be touched.

Here is an example of one of my fumbling attempts at creating effective sexual tension. My hero and heroine have a secret baby together plus they have some intense conflicts in their past which I won't go into here. In the first draft of this book, all my hero and heroine thought about or talked about was basically this: "I'm sexually attracted to this person."

They spent most of their time kissing instead of talking and thinking about their goals, motivations, and conflicts both external and internal. I'm telling you that I wrote chapters and chapters of nothing but this! A different setting, but the exact same thing over and over. Then finally toward the very end of the book I decided now was the time to tell the reader some important stuff about their past and their conflicts. Duh!

In retrospect, I am glad I made this monumental mistake because I finally learned how to create sexual tension without making it forced or inappropriate. I learned where the primary focus of my scenes needed to be: on my character's internal GMC. I re-wrote the book with wonderful results. This particular story went on to win the Outreach Award of Excellence.

Touch your reader's hearts. Pull them "heart first" into your story by touching the hearts and emotions of your characters. Then add the pheromones. Your readers will love you for it.

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