This week RWA/NYC members share their observations
about adding humor to their writing.
LAUGHTER IS THE NEW SEXY
by LaQuette
When writing about love
things can get…heavy. If you write
erotic romance, well then you can add hot to that mix. Romance is supposed to be passionate and
intense, making readers flip pages with wild abandon just to see what happens
next. So, if intense passion is good,
then pouring a never-ending amount of drama and angst to add to the intensity
should make your story even better, right?
Well, not always. There really can be such a thing as too much of a good
thing,
High-conflict and passion are
useful tools in a romance novel. They
hook and keep your reader's attention.
However, if there's never a lull in all the excitement, your story can
lack the emotional currency necessary to help your readers fall in love with
your characters and keep them from believing in the love your protagonists have
for one another.
As someone who writes a good
bit of erotic romantic suspense, things can get emotionally and physically
heavy quickly in my books. But with all
the passion and attitude my characters are throwing back and forth, it can
quickly become overkill if I'm not careful.
Whenever I find that my characters are doing too much on the page, I
think about adding a healthy dose of levity (or in my case flippancy since my
characters seem to do sarcasm so well) to the scene to help some of the
intensity dissipate.
Now, I know you're probably
wondering why I would want to slow things down with laughter when the heat is
turning up on the page. Slowing things
down when things get really intense is a way of delaying gratification. Pulling back when your characters are
obviously ready to rip each other's clothes off can leave your reader breathless,
aching for the satisfaction the next passionate high is going to bring.
It may seem counterintuitive,
but those few moments of laughter will help elevate the tension between your
characters if placed appropriately in the story. Not to mention, infusing humor into your
writing, especially during moments of passion and angst takes skill. Being able to pull it off successfully is an
opportunity for you to flex your writer's muscle and show your reader a few of
your tricks.
I know it may sound weird,
laughter and romance, or laughter and sex don't seem to be synonymous on the
surface. However, if you dig deeper, the
similarities between the two can be closely linked. Think about it. Laughter is fun, exciting, and seductive. It can be light and sweet, or explicit and
raunchy. Without difficulty, it wouldn't
be much of leap to suggest those descriptors can also be used to describe sex.
In my opinion, it's obvious that just
like love and attraction, laughter belongs in a romance novel too. The only thing you have to do is figure out
where you want to put it (full disclosure, I really didn't mean that to sound
as provocative as it probably did. But
you get the point). Keep it sexy!
LaQuette-President
of RWA/NYC, is the 2016 Golden Apple Award Author of the year winner. She
writes bold & sexy tales for diverse characters who are confident in their
right to appear on the page. Represented by Latoya C. Smith of the L.
Perkins Agency. Visit her at
NovelsbyLaQuette.com and LaQuette@NovelsbyLaQuette.com
No comments:
Post a Comment