Before we get started today you all get to spend a bit of time with author Mary Sullivan.
Building Sexual Tension
Jonel, thank you so much for having me here
today!
I’d like to share my method for building
sexual tension into a story. I don’t
like to use sex scenes as a substitute for plot or character development, or as
filler, so I dig deeply to set up the tension that will eventually lead to a
satisfying sexual conclusion that makes sense within the context of the story.
In my October Superromance, NO ORDINARY
HOME, the challenge was that the characters are so different from each other. The
hero, Austin, is a straightforward, salt-of-the-earth deputy sheriff in my
fictional small town of Ordinary, Montana. The heroine, Gracie, is a
down-on-her-luck drifter. What could they possibly see in each other?
Before even considering building in sexual
tension, I had to build up their characters, to make them attractive to each
other in more than just a physical sense, although there is plenty of that,
too! So, I deepened the physical attraction with character. Gracie comes to
appreciate how trustworthy Austin is. It has been a long time since she has had
anyone in her life on whom she could depend, and trust without reservation.
Austin learns that, beneath Gracie’s rough and tough shell, resides a woman who
is kind to her core. Life has not managed to beat that kindness out of her.
I tried to emphasize the things that were
missing in themselves that they saw in each other.
Austin has given Gracie a few meals, which
strains her staunchly independent spirit. Taking anything from anyone does not
come to her easily. The only way she can repay him is by giving him a haircut.
She
approached uneasily, regretting now that she’d offered to do this. In her need
to pay him back, she hadn’t realized this could be dangerous to her.
Touch.
Six years of deprivation. She’d been starving. She craved touch. Had known too
little of it, even before she’d run away.
She
settled the towel across his back and broad, muscled shoulders. The warmth of
his body seeped into her through the slightest touch.
Good-looking,
fit, generous, decent. The man was perfect in every way, or would have been in
another time, under different circumstances.
Guard
your heart, Gracie.
Later, Gracie is leaving Austin because she
has some money coming to her. She has needed Austin to drive her as far as
Denver to get to a bank. They are saying goodbye and she is finding it far, far
more difficult than it should be. The man is, after all, a relative stranger.
“I
guess this is goodbye,” he said and grasped her hand in his much larger one,
engulfing her fingers with his calm, sure strength.
Why
did she feel like crying, as if maybe she was walking away from the best man
she would ever know? Certainly, he’d treated her well, but so had others. Some
others. Not all. Not many.
Holy
mac and cheese, how could a handshake be so devastating?
He
tugged, gently, and she yearned forward. He leaned close, closer, his breath a
caress on her cheek. Then his lips were on hers, warm and tender and firm.
In
his kiss was the heat of summer, the shimmer of sheet lightning, the earthiness
of morning dew.
His
palm cradled her cheek, his thumb and forefinger angled her chin where he
wanted her. His tongue played hide-and-seek with hers, so sweetly.
A
dangerous kiss, it whispered intimate promises to her naïve daydreaming heart,
promises that would hurt when they weren’t fulfilled.
She
slid her lips and hand from Austin’s, slowly, memorizing the feel of him, to
take out one month, one year, one decade from now when she was living alone and
hiding from the world, and feeling the lack of love in her life. She almost
certainly would live alone. In the future, how could she ever find another man
as good as Austin? She would need a memory to sustain her, like this, of him.
In
the end, there was only one thing to do. Walk away.
Things don’t work out for her in Denver.
Fortunately, Austin is around to help her pick up the pieces.
Gracie grew up as a child star. She came to
understand that most people gave her affection and attention because of her
fame rather than the person she was inside. Everyone wanted something from her.
The only one who loved her purely was her grandmother who died a long time ago.
Gracie loves helping senior citizens. On her travels, she stops regularly at
senior’s and nursing homes, where she spends hours giving free manicures and
pedicures and singing classic songs they all love. It is a labor of love for
her, in memory of her gran.
After one such visit, Austin comes to pick
her up.
She
turned to find Austin in the doorway watching her.
Yes,
she wanted to say, there are people who like me and who would want to see me
again, for myself. Here she was neither a movie star nor a charity case, but
just Gracie Travers, a woman who treated them well, who helped take care of
their bodies and who bolstered their spirits with her songs.
In
Austin’s eyes, she saw admiration reflected, as though what others thought of
her rubbed off on him, but she didn’t want that. She wanted him to see who she
was of his own accord, and like who he saw. Her. Just her.
She eventually leaves Austin again to set
out on her own, to find a way to live the rest of her life without the money
she thought would be available as a lifeline. Her relationship with him is a
lopsided affair as long as she feels like a charity case, so she will have to
find a way to make a permanent life for herself somewhere.
The first night she leaves Austin, though,
she gets into trouble. In the past, she has managed to fight off anyone trying
to take advantage of a woman alone, but not this time. The man is both drunk
and high, which gives him an unnatural strength. Über-responsible Austin has
followed Gracie to ensure her safety. He saves her and takes her back to his
hotel room where she will be safe. After the brutality of the attack and
Austin’s anger with Gracie for being, in his eyes, too independent, I strove to
find a way to turn the truly ugly tension of that conflict in a different
direction.
“What
are you doing?” she whispered.
“I’m
going to kiss you.”
“Why?”
“Because
I have to do something or I’ll yell this place down. You frustrate me, woman.”
“Woman?
You sound like a caveman. I have a name.”
“Quiet.
You talk too much.”
Before
she could protest, his lips were on hers, seeking and demanding.
Gracie
felt his kiss to her toes, felt it everywhere, as though bubbles were dancing
in her stomach and diminutive fairies were jumping for joy in her brain.
More,
they shouted. Give us more. They danced jigs. They threw fairy dust into her
bloodstream.
When
he pulled back, she said, “I don’t talk too much.”
“You
do.” He kissed her again. Just what she wanted.
The
fairies whooped and danced some more. The fairy dust in her blood floated and
twirled. The fairies sang love songs. “A kiss is just a kiss,” she told
herself.
But
no.
Not
this one. This was THE kiss, the one that would go down in every history written
from this point on, in the annals of romance, as the best kiss ever.
Austin
drew away and Gracie sighed. He knew his way around a woman’s lips. “You’ve
been practicing.”
He
picked up his shaving kit and dropped it into this bag then walked toward the
door.
What—?
Where—?
“What
are you doing?”
“Going
to get a room of my own. I can’t stay with you tonight.” He walked out of the
room.
His
rejection stunned her. It shouldn’t hurt. It did.
Fine.
She didn’t want sex with him, anyway. Truly.
The
fairies disagreed. They pouted, railing against the unfairness of life that
they should be left excited and eager and wanting, while Austin had apparently
felt nothing. They crossed their little arms and stomped their tiny feet.
Holy
Hannah, how was she supposed to sleep tonight?
It was still quite a few scenes later
before they make love for the first time and, even then, there is a bit of
twist to shake up the reader, but I hope all of this set-up managed to create
enough tension to make the reader as happy to finally reach the sexual consummation
of the relationship as the hero and heroine were!
Mary Sullivan grew up amid the cultural pop and fizz of an urban cosmopolitan center. Despite this, she writes about small fictional towns in Montana and Colorado, and populates her stories with cowboys and ranchers. After she discovered Harlequin Superromances, she knew she wanted to write her own heartfelt stories of love, hope, relationships and happy endings. Harlequin published her first novel in 2009. The Ordinary, Montana, series has won both awards and great reviews. Her eleventh Superromance, No Ordinary Home, comes out in October of 2014.
She will be teaching a romance novel-writing workshop at Inspire! The International Book Fair in Toronto on Sunday, November 16/14. http://www.torontobookfair.ca/programming/workshops/#!mg_ld=1732
She loves to hear from readers! Connect with her via her website, Facebook, or Twitter: @MSullivanWrites.
Author: Mary Sullivan
Published: October 7/14 by Harlequin
Length: 384pgs
Format: paperback
Genre: contemporary romance
Shelf: review
Rating: ★★★★★+
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Gracie Travers has a secret. She's not the down-on-her-luck drifter she appears to be. Once America's sweetheart, Gracie needs to keep below the paparazzi's radar until she's thirty. Then she'll get her money and get off the street.
But one small mistake brings Deputy Sheriff Austin Trumball into her life. He's attractive and oh-so-dangerous. If he learns who she really is, her anonymous days are over. Worse, Austin's hard to resist, and their connection is terrifying. Soon he makes her want what she can't have--a lover, a family and a home of her own.
My Review:
This is one of those rare stories that really and truly highlights the goodness in humanity. The characters are remarkably real, yet genuinely good people, even if their lives aren’t easy. I literally felt my heart break at one point. Not only are the characters genuine and heartfelt, they are also very well developed. I loved getting to know them throughout the novel. I also appreciated how the characters never stopped growing. They weren’t static but rather real individuals that you find out tidbits about throughout.
This is definitely one that stands out in the sea that is the contemporary romance genre. My copy of this novel will definitely become dog eared and well-loved in short order. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to all lovers of contemporary romance.
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