How To Make A Scene More Heartfelt
I’ve written another post about love/romantic scenes sort of similar to this one, called Kiss Scenes 101: How To Write The Perfect Kiss. If that would be useful to you, I definitely recommend you check it out.
Use appropriate vocabulary in context of the scene. Try not to use words that would hit your reader like a truck in the middle of what is supposed to be a sappy, heartfelt scene. It will bring your reader’s moment to a screeching halt, and ruin the whole vibe.
Don’t gloss over what your character(s) is thinking and what is rushing through their heads in the heartfelt moments of your story. If the voice in their head is flipping out and thinking of all of the ways they could ruin their first kiss but they don’t have time to complete a thought and all of a sudden everything is happening and their thought process is interrupted by the love interest’s lips meeting theirs, illustrate that for your reader. Most of the time, the unspoken reactions to what’s going on is the best part of the actual scene.
Please, please, please don’t forget that in a heartfelt scene, it’s not just staring at each other and thinking loud enough for the reader to hear. There is actual communication going on, even if only non-verbal, and it’s important to include dialogue. This also touches on the previously mentioned vocabulary point: please keep a bit of believability in the actions of the characters. Chances are, a high school boy wouldn’t part from a kiss and seriously say “you’re the wind beneath my wings, darling”. That will make your reader laugh, and in some cases that’s a good thing, but when you’re trying to tug the heart strings, leave the cheesy, face-palm worthy moments out of it.
A really good thing to include in heartfelt scenes is connections to other bits of the story, like the very beginning of the story when the main character was clumsy and had a silly little crush that has turned into something so big that the character is now reflecting on in a serious turning point of their relationship. Or maybe the main character is crying over a break up and is walking around their once shared home, the memories that the reader has already read and experienced are replaying at hyper speed, making the character break down before the reader’s eyes. Connections can make the scene bitter, sweet, or both at the same time.
Kind of like making connections, references to certain details of the story can make the reader feel faux nostalgia, and can make the scene even more amazing. Maybe the love interest quotes something the main character said when they first met, or something drifts through the main character’s head that brings the reader back to a previous heartfelt scene that was meant to stick with them.
♡ Reader’s Ability To Relate To The Situation ♡
Ok, so this is the big one. One of the biggest parts of reading scenes like this is being able to read the emotion, recognize it, and feel it personally. This kind of relates to that stereotype that girls read crappy romance novels after a breakup and cry about their lost relationship (been there, honestly). Well, there’s a catharsis that comes with this, and in order to make a scene really hit the reader, you need to take advantage of the opportunity to magnify the strong emotions. To do this, make the details relatively vague or relatable to the majority of people. Regular things that a person would think or do in that situation that a person can read and use to put their self in the role of the main character. It’s important to pay close attention to the little details when it comes to making a scene relatable, because it can make or break the scene altogether.
Request a prompt list/writing advice/playlist/study help post here
andulkaphoto
yousharknotpass
2087
pixelskylines
dededos
prguitarman
