Heat index

Nora Roberts’ iconic sizzling bestsellers notwithstanding, the typical Christian romance author usually draws a discreet veil over love’s more physical expressions. Love stories with this sanctified-not-sweaty form of whoopie are known as “closed door” romances (also referred to as “clean” or “sweet”).

Kisses in these pleasant, non-threatening tales fall into two main categories:

1. The heroic, self-controlled buss: Gentle and tender, promising more to come once the ring is on the finger.
2. The life-pledge kiss: More intense but, don’t worry, it immediately precedes The End. The writer nicely but firmly closes the bedroom door on the newlyweds and relies on the reader’s imagination.  

Seriously, this genre’s Ps and Qs can be daunting for the aspiring author. I even found an actual CHART detailing what can and can’t be done in any given scene, depending on the desired heat index or the publishers’ house rules. To tongue or not to tongue, how much neck in necking, handsy restrictions, how far south the hero can travel, noise level and frequency for moans and groans. Who knew?

To make sure I keep to the straight and narrow (every pun intended), I signed up for LiteraryScape‘s recent Historical Christian Romance Writer’s Virtual Summit and subsequent Kiss Scene Critique. And wow, what I learned in that smooching workshop set me free to write heat from the heart when it comes to love scenes.

That’s thanks to our instructor–the darling, daring Julie Lessman, aka The Queen of Kisses, whose tagline is “Passion with a Purpose.” She taught us the ins and outs (yep, another deliberate pun) of crafting a steamy-yet-sweet love scene in a giggly, info-packed session.

Julie, an incredibly generous and frankly funny bestselling romance author, hangs a mirror on her computer to check for realistic reaction facial expressions, calls on her husband to help her block the mechanics of tricky embraces, and has amassed an epic synonym list to keep her narratives fresh and exciting. She confessed her detractors accuse her of everything from setting up stumbling blocks to aiding and abetting the Enemy with her passionate prose.

If we write a really juicy, swoony scene, she warned, critics will come out of the woodwork. But readers will eat it up.

Part of the Zoomed workshop was having Julie critique our kiss scenes. Per usual, the lone extrovert (me) was tapped to go first. My submission was read aloud (every author’s dream and nightmare) and Julie offered very encouraging, super-specific feedback from her marked-up printout, calling out ways I could ramp up my heroine’s all-important “ah, sweet mystery of life” moment.  

I took her wise suggestions to heart and spent hours rejiggering my scene, keeping her principles of a knockout literary kiss in mind:

• It can’t sound like step-by-step instructions
• Show increasing intensity
• Pay attention to rhythm of words
• Watch for confusing point-of-view shifts
• Don’t use the same word in the same sentence, paragraph or page if you can help it (guess how many ways you can say “lips”? Think eyedropper, not shovel, when using familiar terms)
• Use powerful, not wimpy verbs

Emboldened by her friendliness, I emailed Julie my revisions and she pinged back the words every fledgling author wants to hear: “Absolutely WONDERFUL!!! You nailed it to the wall!” She offered a final cherry-on-top tweak and I gratefully garnished the scene with a version of her suggestion. She kindly loved that, too.

Why are luscious love scenes so crucial in Christian romance? Julie avers this generation of readers, weaned on Fifty Shades of Gray (the #1 bestseller for a decade!), won’t be attracted to uplifting, God-honoring romances if the stories don’t deliver genuine fireworks. And Julie, for one, is bringing the heat. It’s all part of what she calls “romance-ology”—the art and science of keeping it clean but making it sexy. (Get to know Julie here.)

And before questioning the propriety of heart-pounding passion in Christian novels, may I suggest a rereading of the Song of Solomon?

You might want to bring a fan and some smelling salts.

O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! Song of Solomon 1:2

Exclusive subscriber-only bonus! The WINTER Marline Mail features a snow-meltingly swoony smooching scene, so if you haven’t signed up yet, for goodness’ sake, please do so below! I can’t wait for you to get a sneak peek of my sweet-yet-steamy screwball love story.