“I NEED FOR THEM TO KISS!!!” That was the message that flashed across my computer screen in inch-high letters one morning, both urgent and threatening, from one of my manuscript readers. Halfway through Bitten to Death she’d had about enough of the romantic tension building between my two main characters, Jaz and Vayl, and by God if I didn’t pull some action out of the hat I think she might’ve come over to my house and beaten the scene out of me!
Well, hey, I guess we’ve now seen the down-side to the slow burn.
So, okay, Jaz and Vayl didn’t jump into the sack the second they met. My approach to Urban Fantasy is this: give readers a pure dose of reality so they’ll totally buy the fantasy. Which is why my heroes worked together for months before romance blossomed. It made sense for them to use that time getting to know each other. People do that all the time, right? Plus, they really did have a ton of baggage to sort through before they could even begin to consider dating.
Even so, after finishing Once Bitten, Twice Shy, moving on to Another One Bites the Dust and then Biting the Bullet, I couldn’t seem to keep Jaz and Vayl from hurtling toward each other like a couple of horny teenagers at a Foo Fighters concert. My editor actually had to crack a few knuckles to get them to chill. Ahh, passion. It never subsides for long, does it? The second you turn your back your characters are locked in a closet, moaning and making slurpy sounds. Which isn’t always healthy when your tall-dark-and-handsome’s a vampire!
On the bright side, anticipation is such a cool part of romance. I think because it really gets your head in the game, both as a writer and a reader. In my stories, the touches are exchanged seldom enough that every one of them becomes meaningful and intense. The action is so fast that the moments my lovers find themselves alone together triple in importance. Every look, every conversation, every decision, affects the relationship until it almost becomes a character in itself. And allowing it to build slowly, over time, makes for a more convincing eternally-ever-after.
So, while we’ll have no slam-bam in my books (and I can see how that might be slightly disappointing to some) what we will have is something amazing and fun. Hopefully a relationship that’s continually new and worthy of exploration. And an excuse for someone, somewhere, to use the word “scintillating” when they describe Vayl and Jaz’s romance. Which is a much better word than “slurpy,” although maybe not quite as hilarious.
–So I’m curious, how do you like to see romance unfold? X-Files or Two-and-a-Half Men? Or does it depend on the story? Can’t wait to get your feedback!–
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Marisa
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 4:07 am:
Hey Jennifer – Welcome to RNTV and congratulations on your upcoming release Bitten to Death. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into it. (I bet you get that a lot)… hhmm… X-Files or Two and a Half Men? Now X-Files drove me crazy after a while – I mean Muldar and Skully took so very long to finally, shall we say, recognize each other. Of course when they did it was so very sweet and I must say romantic and even in some parts of my libido, worth the wait. And I have to say, sometimes, the H&H, just jumping right in is not only jarring but can be unbelievable. Yet, in the right hands, the attraction and acting on attraction quickly can be both believable and enjoyable. For me, it all depends on the author, the plot and the characterization. If I’m really enjoying the dynamics between the H&H, then the tension and long awaited pay off is often worth the wait – sort of like life, only better.
Maria Lokken
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 5:55 am:
Hey Jennifer – Great post! I am totally a slow build kind of woman… slow…slow…slow. Makes it all the more worth while. When the H&H jump right into it, doing the slurpy… I usually just roll my eyeballs.
I like a story that progresses, romantic tension mounts, and then bang – you’ve got your happily ever after.
SallyR.
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 6:33 am:
Fast, fast, fast. Yep, I’m all into instant gratification! Mulder and Skully drove me INSANE, insane I tell you. There’s a slow burn and then there’s the grinding to a halt that stops all movement, and that’s just something I can’t indulge in.
I guess when it comes to my H&H I do like the fast burn and then the slow getting to know you part. Yes, I know it’s backwards, but, for me at least, it makes it more interesting.
MaryKate
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 6:55 am:
Hey Jennifer! Welcome! And congrats on your new release.
I think that sexual tension, if done right, enhances the story. I think you’ve gotta give the reader a little something though. IMHO, Linda Howard is the best of the best when it comes to creating sexual tension. I always end up mentally screaming “JUST DO IT ALREADY!!!” when I read her books. But in a good way. In the way that has me turning pages as fast as I can to get to the “good stuff.”
I think that it’s a fine line to walk though. Wait too long, and you’ll lose me as a reader, do it too soon, and I can’t relate to just being “overcome” and jumping in the sack.
SNORT. What a pain in the butt reader I am!
Gannon
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 7:31 am:
Hi Jennifer! Welcome to RNTV.
Sexual tension is important to the story, definitely, but you can’t make the reader wait too long. Like MK said, feed the reader tidbits as you go along, so by the time the “big moment” comes, the reader is as worked up as the hero and heroine! Whew!!
It’s hard to buy when the characters jump straight into bed. I’m all for lust at first sight, but that’s going a bit too far and too fast.
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 7:52 am:
Hey Jennifer! Is it August 12th yet
Seriously though. I think it depends on the story for me. If the book is going to be a ’series’ length adventure (4+ books)then I like the romance to build. I like to see when suddenly the heroine notices the little pangs of jealousy she feels and didn’t understand at first or when the hero acts overprotectively then tries to brush it off when his comrades push him on it. Its cute and fun you know? Its like teasing friends who don’t quite realize how they look at each other but everyone else in the room is whispering ‘are they together yet?’.
Single titles, or even books that only have two or three to the series, I like the romance a little quicker because already the story is short and if they don’t get together until the last half of the second book its kinda like ‘wow okay. that took long’ especially in series where there’s an evil threat and the end of the second book leads to the seperation of the characters through evil manipulations. Then I feel gypped because they were only ‘together’ for half a book and the first half fo the third book (if not more) has them APART.
ps: is it August 12th yet? XD I will have to re-read the first three books on my vacay then pray the bookstores get it in while I have money.
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 7:53 am:
Hi Marisa, thanks so much for the chance to be here. I’m having a blast already!
Hey, Maria, I’m usually the eyeball-roller too. (That’s my 21-year-marriage preceeded by a six-year courtship talking.) Sometimes I’m okay with a quickie, but that’s usually because I never really cared about the characters to start with. Which means the author hasn’t pulled me in, so the story’s not working, is it?
SallyR, that is definitely an approach I hadn’t thought of before. I can appreciate how you don’t like being frustrated as a reader though.
Thanks, MaryKate! I know exactly what you mean and have been there myself. I think what I’ve been trying to communicate with my couple is a reality readers can swallow. You get deep enough into crap, you’re just not ready to commit until you’ve dug your way out. But the wonderful part of that is that somebody could love you enough to wait.
Yeah, Gannon, you’re absolutely right. And where is that line? I think it’s different for everyone, so you know some people are just going to throw up their hands while others are going to applaud. I can tell you that book five (One More Bite) will make everybody very, very happy. I caught myself grinning several times while I was writing it.
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 7:58 am:
Oh, man, Alexandra, I couldn’t sit still as it was! Come on August 12! I just got my copies yesterday and they’re SO COOL! (Just can’t get over the cover–Orbit’s Art Department rocks. I think they sit around Starbucks all morning going, “How can we make Jaz look even more kickass next time?”)
I love your point about the series length adventures. It directly falls in with my editor’s point of view as well.
Maria Lokken
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 8:45 am:
Jennifer – the cover is WAAAY Cool – love it.
Been married a long time myself. I remember many years ago a co-worker was excited, she was going on a first date… she slept with him, on the first date. My thought – girlfriend, you should’ve built up the sexual tension and waited for the third date. But I was wrong, they got married a year later. Goes to show, it’s all personal opinion.
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:29 am:
I’m kicking myself for not pre-ordering on Amazon (they have it in stock already so chances are it would have shipped early to me ;.;) but since my bank account is reading negative two thousand (I exaggerate) its better to wait I guess. I’m so impatient though!
And the Orbit Art Department DOES rock. Whoever came up with it should be given lots of candy and flowers. If I wasn’t moving I’d make prints of the covers for my wall (like I do with all the covers of books I love), but until I move I’m not sure how much wall space I’ll have (bigger room=more bookshelves so my lovelies don’t have to sit on the cold hardwood floor or take over my queen sized bed so that I sleep on the cold hardwood floor but that means less wall space).
I’m a fan of long courtships, which could be my Georgette Heyer love talking (or morals that don’t jive with my current generation, whichever). It does feel more realistic; flirting in an artform I never will excel at and the chase can be merry.
don’t mind the ninjas sneaking into your home Jennifer, they are merely book ninjas coming to snatch the book.
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:30 am:
Hi Maria,
You never know, do you?
I think my preferences have definitely changed as I’ve gotten older. (Have to point out I’m only 43 which, according to my fave experts, is the new 33! And really, I don’t look a day over 42!) Anyhow, I really enjoy the anticipation a lot more now than I used to. It’s kinda like that pre-Christmas build-up. Rubbing your hands together as you scope out the pile of presents, thinking, “Ooo, goody, goody!”
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:41 am:
LOL Alexandra! I have the first three covers on my walls right now (haven’t had time to frame numbers four and five yet), but only because I’m not planning on moving till my kids are out of college. You are definitely a girl after my own heart. I have slept with my books (used to read before snoozing until I began to write every night), but I haven’t yet given up my bed to them. However my library is in my bedroom. Very cozy!
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:50 am:
ah before we began moving into our new house (my father, sister, brother and me that is) I lived with my dad and bro in a very very tiny 2 bedroom apartment. my room was barely 8′x8′. when we first moved into the apt. I had maybe 100 books. Now as we’re leavingn and I catelouge my books (to make sure I don’t lose any) my database has over 1400 entries and those are just my novels. Doesn’t include my poetry collection, manga collection, American Graphic Novel collection, Japanese language collection or my Korean language books. ::sigh:: oh books why do you torment me?
Right now I have Maria V. Snyder’s ‘Study’ Book covers (the new ones from Mira, not the old ones from Luna) hanging on my walls as well as a very old print of Anne McCaffrey’s Rowan book cover, Serenity movie poster, Two Sailor Moon Linen prints, Farscape Poster, Clover poster and an art print of Colleen Doran’s A Distant Soil. and two Dragon Con posters from 2003 when my favorite actors from the Tribe visited.
My dad said he’d frame my favorite 4 since he doesnt’ want the mishmash that I have now making his beautiful home look like a disorganized mess ::rolls eyes::
PJ
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:51 am:
Welcome, Jennifer and congrats on your release. For me, it all depends on the story. Usually, I like the tension to build for awhile before sex comes into play only not too long unless you want to see me jumping up and down, screaming alongside MK. That being said, I just finished a book where the hero and heroine have sex the first night they meet and, in this particular story, it works. I really can’t imagine the story unfolding any other way.
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 9:54 am:
::Sigh:: 8ft by 8ft, not 8 yards by 8 yards. dangit i’d kill someone for a room that was 8 yards by 8 yards big!
Janey99
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 10:18 am:
I like the slow burn… the anticipation… and the pay off at the end. As a fan, I gotta say, I can’t wait until the release of Bitten to Death.
GoGoGirl
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 10:23 am:
It depends on the story line. Sometimes I’ll read a book and the H&H are wham, bam straight away, and it’s believable. Other times, I’m like what happened here? For the most part, it doesn’t matter to me when they get together, as long as I believe the story.
Buffie
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 10:35 am:
I love stories with loads of sexual tension. I totally love the big build up. But please don’t wait until the end of the book for them to actually get the deed done. And of course the characters need to be fooling around before hand
Just like everyone else has said, if the storyline works then I’m game for everything.
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 11:25 am:
Well, Alexandra, you could always tell him he wouldn’t have to paint if he’d just let you decorate with your covers. Tastefully, of course! I’m loving the sound of your collection though. Would probably keep me entertained for years! (And we’d all love more room. I’m planning on living in a stadium someday!)
Hey PJ, a valid point. A lot depends on the world of the story too. I’m always so concerned about the reader ‘buying in’ since mine can take you pretty far into what-the-hell? sometimes, that I have to be uber careful about how I treat this romance. In the next series I’m contemplating, my heroine is hot for my hero from day one and plotting various and myriad ways to get him in the sack. The humor lies in her spectacular failures, of course, but that’s another story!
Aw, Janey99, you make me smile, while at the same time wish we could do the happy dance together. Do you know the steps?
GoGoGirl, you make me wonder–is there ever a time when you’re actually upset that it’s happened too soon? One time I literally put a book down I was so disgusted. I was like, come on, I’m not that big of an idiot. Oh man, I hope nobody ever does that with one of mine. I’ll be crushed!
When I was a young English major, Buffie, we all tried not to giggle when our professor explained that every good story builds to a final climax. So, inevitably, writers will save to best to last. Having said that, I totally agree. Because I don’t, personally, think the sex is necessarily the best part of what you’re getting in the relationship. At least if you’ve written it right. But, since I’ve had the luxury of building Jaz and Vayl’s love through a series, as Alexandra pointed out earlier, I get to reveal the facets of what I think make a solid ever-after. Not always happily. Not when assassins are involved. But close enough.
AndreaW
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 3:21 pm:
Hello and welcome, Jennifer! Congrats on your new release!
I enjoy both (as long as it fits the story), but I love me some sexual tension. Sometimes the build-up is better than the actual deed.
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 4:05 pm:
lol its rather funny actually our contractor for the house told me dad he should just let him build the bookcases into the walls (gotta build my room in the basement anyhow) but my dad told him that would just give me incentive to fill the shelves and keep them full. This way at least if I fill all my shelves i’ll slow down long enough to weed through the books and make the heart breakingdecision of what to part with for new books to fit.
I’d love to just decorate my room in prints of my favorite books and the book cards I get occasionally (with books that I need to review), but alack I’m not the one paying so I chose a nice smokey blue color. i’ll take apic when its all said and done and post it to my myspace
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 4:50 pm:
Thanks, AndreaW! I agree, the build-up can definitely outshine the deed. So if you’re gonna draw it out, you’d better give me something seismic to top it off with. (Could we be foreshadowing here, Jen? Um, yeah.)
Hey, Alexandra, your dad sounds like a real gem. It’s tough to say goodbye to books though. It’s been ten years since we moved to our present house, and my hubby’s still mad that I talked him into getting rid of some of our titles. (It didn’t matter that he thought they were crap, most were missing their covers and some the last few pages of the story altogether. All books are treasures to him, once found, never to be parted with again. Period. BTW he’s on page 46 of Bitten to Death and says he’s really enjoying it so far. Wahoo!)
orannia
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 6:21 pm:
Sorry for being late (again
I like the slow build-up of tension. I guess it’s because I don’t understand the ‘jump right in’ scenario, but that’s not to say that it isn’t right. It really depends on the characters. When it all doesn’t work for me is when the characters have been described one way but they go and do something completely out of character and I’m like ‘huh?’.
All the best on your new release Jennifer!
orannia
Jennifer Rardin
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 6:45 pm:
Hi orannia! Thanks for your good wishes! You have a good point about characters acting ‘out of tune.’ Sometimes that’s a clue that things are not right in the world around them. Of course at other times the behavior is just a result of sloppy writing. I think the worst sin any of us writers can commit is to make a reader go, “Huh?” But it happens. Luckily readers are usually pretty forgiving, which I find to be a most lovely trait!
Alexandra
on Aug 5th, 2008
@ 10:07 pm:
my dad likes books, but he doesn’t understand my need to hold onto ALL of my books. he’s more of an academic when it comes to his books (roman history mostly) and has a library full of those, but since they’re ‘academic’ its totally okay to keep them. my 600 romances however are really just mind candy that I would be better off without ::shrugs::
its actually better then if I moved in with my boyfriend who doesn’t think I should read so much at all.
seriously it needs to be august 12th. thankfully i’ll have an entire weekend at Otakon to distract me