I love me a book with some good sexual tension. It’s an important piece of Vintage and I could really use some books with good 
examples of it. You know…all in the name of research.
I want it to build to the point where you want to shake the book and scream, “Just DO something already!!!” But then, I don’t want it to drag on so long that it’s just frustrating. The happy balance.
I can’t stand when people are all up on each other two chapters in, but I also can’t stand a constant cat and mouse game. So much to consider!
So, any suggestions? Comments? Just feel like saying, “Wud up?”
Side note, my child is so adorable when he wants something. He looks up at you with those big blue peepers and says, “Pwwweeeesseee!” Who could say no to that?
Oh, I’ll have to think on this… I’d like to hear what responses you get. Start a thread! :)
There’s a distinct difference between the ‘play’ sexual tension (the television show Firefly had a couple of good relationships simmering), and ‘produced’ sexual tension (umm… Moonlighting is the one which springs to mind, though there are others just as bad), and it falls to the wrong side all too often. I know, despite over two decades of reading, and watching television, that the crap is what it is – and there’s a lot of it – but despite being aware of the deficiencies, there are still small moments which redeem even the worst offenders.
I’m not sure if the “we really shouldn’t sleep together” line even belongs in fiction any more, given how much the world has changed in the last forty or so years, but some people need that safety in place. While ‘produced’ sexual tension is artificially extended and manipulated (cynically?), there is still a market for it. That market may not be as healthy as it was in the seventies or eighties, but it is still there.
The classic Hollywood they-hate-each-other-so-they’re-bound-to-fall-in-love message is still a complete puzzle to me. If that is the basis for their relationship, they’re bound to end up killing each other – or at least in real life they would. Maybe being outside of the target audience makes me slightly less enthusiastic about the awful, awful writing which passes for movie romances, but I was never, even for a moment, convinced by You’ve Got Mail, or any of the recent (okay, so maybe not so recent) romances.
Remember though, all of that stuff wasn’t written with me in mind as an audience member, so my opinion on the matter is subject to the usual scrutiny. :)
Yeah, I definitely don’t want it to feel contrived. I write YA, so sexual tension may not even be the right term, really (not at first, anyway) but that constant tugging from each side that keeps them apart is what I’m really wanting to acheive.
And I can’t stand the whole, “I hate you, but I really love you,” plot line. All of the people that I’ve known in real life who hated each other…well…they hated each other. Wasn’t exactly a breeding ground for love, ya know? But at the same time I am a sucker for chick flicks. I am a girlie girl, through and through. I can’t help it!
Ah!! I was SO thinking about Moonlighting! I loved that show and it had great sexual tension.
(Off to find old episodes on the web. :) )
Moonlighting was formula through-and-through. Hell, you could sit with transcripts (or the scripts themseves) and within an hour or so I’m willing to bet you’ll see the plot mechanics behind most episodes. One thing that the show did well (even if I detest the manner in which it was done) is polish the quick-fire formula of the forties for a new audience. There were some extremely clever people involved with plotting and dialog for that show, and they knew how to manipulate things like master puppeteers – you should, when the writers of these shows do their job correctly, get the plot of each episode into a single line of text. It isn’t Shakespeare.
Go look for the scripts, now.
When you have them in front of you, push the cast out of your mind and visualize the words being spoken by Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. It will surprise you, but the manner of speech, and a lot of the plot elements, harken back to an era when the audience expectation was much lower. A bit of His Girl Friday mixed into the ingredients is no bad thing, mind you. Bringing Up Baby should be another film you take note of.
A set assignment: Go watch old screwball romantic comedies, and see where the dialogue and plot differ from modern film and television. Katharine Hepburn films come highly recommended. I’m making this an order, not a suggestion – not enough people understand just how much work goes into a romantic film. On a slightly different note, you should also be aware, when writing a ‘light romance’, of the French influence – Eric Rohmer’s films display the softest of hands behind the magic, and any manipulation of the audience is barely noticeable.
Don’t anyone dare bring up Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, or there WILL be trouble…