I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I wrote a lot of kissing in a recent fic I did for a zine, but was not as happy with it as I could have been (I cut out details from a lot of scenes because I was constantly aware that I was going to go over the maximum word count).
And in my ongoing original fiction project, there's going to be a lot of kissing because I want to develop the relationships slowly, and also to have some characters staying 'kissing-close' even after they realise that a full-on relationship isn't going to work out for them.
I really must nag my betas about how well they think this scene works (Richard, an Oxford academic, has been working late and James, a first year student he has just befriended, has fallen asleep on his settee):
He draped the blanket over the boy, then crouched by James' head. In a different version of history Richard and Olivia might have married, and by now had children not that much younger than James. Richard wondered if that, combined with all the other coincidences relating to his past, was what drew him to this friendless, fatherless boy. He smoothed James' fringe back from his face, then leaned forwards and brushed his lips against the boy's forehead. James' hair smelled of mint, and something that could well have been apple. His skin tasted of salt and Imperial Leather.
As Richard drew back, he saw those obscenely long, brown eyelashes flutter. He froze, embarrassed. What would the boy think of him? What had he been thinking?
James half-opened one eye and squinted at Richard.
"I guess that means I can come back?" he murmured.
That scene is going to have a lot of significance for both of them later, hence I want to get it exactly right.
no subject
And in my ongoing original fiction project, there's going to be a lot of kissing because I want to develop the relationships slowly, and also to have some characters staying 'kissing-close' even after they realise that a full-on relationship isn't going to work out for them.
I really must nag my betas about how well they think this scene works (Richard, an Oxford academic, has been working late and James, a first year student he has just befriended, has fallen asleep on his settee):
He draped the blanket over the boy, then crouched by James' head. In a different version of history Richard and Olivia might have married, and by now had children not that much younger than James. Richard wondered if that, combined with all the other coincidences relating to his past, was what drew him to this friendless, fatherless boy. He smoothed James' fringe back from his face, then leaned forwards and brushed his lips against the boy's forehead. James' hair smelled of mint, and something that could well have been apple. His skin tasted of salt and Imperial Leather.
As Richard drew back, he saw those obscenely long, brown eyelashes flutter. He froze, embarrassed. What would the boy think of him? What had he been thinking?
James half-opened one eye and squinted at Richard.
"I guess that means I can come back?" he murmured.
That scene is going to have a lot of significance for both of them later, hence I want to get it exactly right.
Gina