Number 36 for this ask game if you’re still taking questions? 👉👈
https://www.tumblr.com/coralhoneyrose/811790530703917056
Hi!! I am, yes (even if I may be taking a while to reply to them >.<‘)! I’m here now, though 💕
36. How do you write kissing scenes?
OHOHO. When I looked at the list of questions this was one of the ones I was most hoping someone might ask because I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT WRITING KISSING. One of my very most favorite things to write.
When it comes to how I write kissing scenes, I’d say before I even get started I spend some time thinking about the primary, secondary and tertiary emotions the characters are feeling just before kissing (and also what that emotion tends to look like for that specific character, since some wear certain emotions differently than others). While there is definitely some room for variation, if you’ve written enough kissing, you’re often going to be using a lot of the same core ingredients between one kiss scene and another, and that means making them feel distinct from each other and ensuring they serve their function in the story winds up being a lot more about the “how” the characters are doing what they are than what they’re doing. The characters’ thoughts and feelings can guide a lot of that!
Best I can, I try to weave those thoughts and feelings in with the actions and sensory details so I’m not going TOO long without including any of those three. I really like using nature or elemental type imagery (water, fire, electricity, celestial bodies, earth) when describing the emotions in particular because they have this sort of…grand, cosmic energy to them and get at something that feels bigger than just two people putting their mouths against each other LOL. Sometimes I’ll look at lists of words I have saved on my phone for inspiration there, or I might use https://describingwords.io for ideas too.
Another useful question I ask myself is what the characters were doing just before they started kissing / what they were doing earlier that day. For example: What was the last thing they ate? Were they doing anything that might have impacted their body temperature or scent in some way? How would the other character experience kissing them in this exact moment vs if it were on a different day? Those questions help a lot with the sensory aspect, as does incorporating subtle interactions with the environment (are there objects for them to bump against? Specific textures or scents or sounds around them? Since people typically close their eyes while kissing, it leaves room for those other senses to come to the forefront.)
Once I have all those ingredients individually, I experiment with shuffling the order of the sentences around slightly until I find what feels most natural and flows best. I try to structure the kissing so that there’s a sort of….almost mini narrative arc? Like either a ramping up, or an interruption or de-escalation, but whether it’s external circumstances or an internal reaction, I do usually try and have it culminate in some way, if that makes sense?
OH AND ALSO. While it depends on the circumstances, for longer kissing scenes, I do really like including some dialogue in the mix—partially because it feels more natural to me and partially since I think it can present nice opportunities for making the scene more unique to the specific characters participating in it. Also I just….enjoy writing dialogue so 😂 it winds up in my kissing scenes too lol.
And…yeah! I think that about covers it! Or at least that’s everything I can think of for the time being. Thank you so much for sending the ask 💖
