Our 42nd wedding anniversary inspired this month's topic…ROMANCE!
Romance is key to my writing. Yes, steamy moments are important, and I enjoy writing those scenes, but romance/passion is the foundation and is so much more than steamy sex.
The Penning Passion course I took a while back gave me tons of information on ways to build passion through ever increasing levels within my story and add to the romance. Afterall, where is a great romance without passion.
So, what is passion? The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers many definitions. I'd say the following work for my purposes: "intense, driving or overmastering feeling or conviction" or "ardent affection" or "sexual desire."
I learned about methods of building passion by using the stages to intimacy. Before the course, I employed that in Sparks Fly. Accidents do happen. Since the course, I've applied what I learned in my writing of Playground Antics.
In Sparks Fly, Caleb and Ivy are "enemies," because she doesn't trust him. They gradually take note of each other's charms. Sensual touching progresses and grows steamier as it moves along. Sparks fly between them, and passion ignites like a fire igniting when the proper elements are added.
In Playground Antics, as I shared in posts on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/RomanceByDeGroot), Beth is hesitant to act on her growing interest in Jace because of concerns over a conflict of interest in a project she runs. As the story progresses, their interactions work through the twelve stages to intimacy. The result? Passion grows. Bless his heart, Jace follows Beth's lead and displays a willingness to wait for her.
Romance can also be a subplot or B-story within the story. Accidental Attraction contains a B-story of Zach and Emily's friends, Ben and Julie. Playground Antics also has a romantic B-story involving Jaxon and Allison. In this story you learn more about these characters than you did in Accidental Attraction.
You can find romantic sublots in many genres. Watch for them as you read your favorite mystery or thriller or whatever you may be reading. I enjoy the Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride, the Inspector Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd, and the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris. All are mysteries and often have romantic subplots. Romance is all about us.
For me, writing romance is all consuming. You could even say it's my passion!!