Need advice

[romanajo123]

 To all my fellow writers,

If you write it, how easy or difficult does writing romance or romantic scenes come to you?  I have recently realized...I'm not good at it. (I tried my hand at writing one or two pieces earlier this year and in the past, which I either will not post or am embarrassed by since they are attempts at romance that devolve into Cliche Storms. ) And are there any tricks to getting it right? 

Comments

[john_amend_all]

I feel your pain — I remember abandoning one Jamie/Victoria fic at the point where he was supposed to express his undying love for her. I found that if I took inspiration from Dorothy L. Sayers' thoughts on advertising:

the most convincing copy was always written with the tongue in the cheek, a genuine conviction of the commodity's worth producing—for some reason—poverty and flatness of style

... then it was at least easier to write romantic scenes, because I wasn't trying to take them seriously. Whether my readers, if any, found the result any more convincing I don't know.

[romanajo123]

Good advice. I haven't tried writing much tongue-in cheek before.

(awww your icon is cute ^^)

[john_amend_all]

Isn't it? I asked for it (and this one) back in the days when redscharlach was doing requests.

[thisbluespirit]

I find it hard too! I think mostly it's a lot self-consciousness and embarrassment, but also lack of practice and things.

I find that I find it easier with original characters (I'm not sure why; maybe because it's the only way the poor souls will ever have a love life) but the main thing that helped me was writing S&S fic and trying to work out how to ship three weird inhuman Elemental beings in their own specially weird way. Which is fairly amusing, but the point really is that Elements are very much aware of moments of time, of the taste/feel/texture of things, of another person's being and something really clicked with me when I thought about writing shippy stuff with a slightly more sensual emphasis rather than the technical sexual one or the romantic/sentimental one that always seems OTT.

However, I think the first thing is to make sure the characters are still always themselves. You don't need to follow them through the bedroom door; you just have to make us want them to go through it and wish them the best. So, not so much big declarations of love (unless they're the sort who would), but little things they do for each other, how they feel about each other, worrying about how the other feels etc. I don't know! I still wind up being gen when I'm supposed to be shippy, so when you've cracked it, let me know...

[thisbluespirit]

And sometimes you can just cop out like this: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3606378

(Well, probably not exactly like that, but leaving everything to the reader's imagination. "An interesting silence ensued." etc. etc. If you get really stuck. (Heyer actually tends to end her romances this sort of way, where you don't have a description of the act, you have somebody's reaction to it, but obviously it is often a humorous device.) But can be used in emergencies with little shame!)

[romanajo123]

I read the link. That's a pairing I wouldn't have expected. xD

And thanks. I've tried it with original characters (in stories I'm kind of ashamed to post anywhere) and they seemed to turn out more than a little trope-y as far as the romance went.

[thisbluespirit]

I think we all write so differently, it's hard to say what will help.

And, thanks! I didn't mean that was a shining example of anything, of course, but I do remember when I posted it on LJ someone made some comment about the sexytimes that happened there and I was highly amused, because actually, all that happened was me writing: '"Gosh!" said Charley'. So maybe sometimes we just shouldn't worry too much!!)