The Scene I Love to Hate

This week’s theme is scenes in writing we really don’t like to tackle.

Annie’s was transitions. Rebecca’s was sex scenes. Both valid points. I don’t have issues with either of those, though. I love writing love scenes. They're different for each book depending on the characters and mood of the story. Transition scenes are more difficult but necessary and I do like them too :-) The type of scene I don’t like to write are the ownership scenes that come directly after a love scene.

Yeah, those. They're kinda sorta like a transition scene but with more at stake.

When I write a sex scene, it takes a lot of energy out of me. When it comes to writing that “afterglow” moment, I just want to gloss over it. I don’t care for them, because I hate to read the mushy, mushy scenes so many romance writers do. Sometimes, when two people have sex, the change in their relationship isn’t immediate and in no way do the players have a change of heart ASAP.

Yes, characters can have that “aha” moment when they know things will be different, but a writer needs to understand it’s a process and the characters need to progress naturally into the “I think I love you” stage.

That makes it tricky. A writer can make or break a book in these scenes.

Give me a fight scene, a sex scene, an action sequence any day, as long as I can avoid the “aftermath”. Sure, they’re a necessary part of the book, but they make me shiver. But, because writing is a job and a writer's responsibility is to learn every aspect of the craft, I buckle down and write them. Will I ever make peace with them? Probably. Will I love doing them? Probably not.

Have a great day.