by Melissa Eskue Ousley, Associate Editor
As a writer, one of the best ways to improve your craft is to read often and widely, making note of what appeals to you. What captured your attention? What lessons can you take from an author’s writing style that will help you strengthen your own writing? Is there anything you would do differently if you were writing the story?
As an editor, I’ve read my fair share of romantic scenes, and I recognize that it’s difficult to write about sex in a way that keeps readers turning the page rather than getting turned off. Like navigating romance in real life, writing about seduction can be challenging. It’s all too easy to get it wrong and end up with something that is at best cringe-worthy and at worst makes your reader want to throw the book across the room.
I recently read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and I’m happy to share that not only is the story engaging from the very first page with interesting, nuanced, and sometimes morally gray characters, but the romance is spicy in the best way (just ask her rapidly growing slash obsessed fan base). Without sharing spoilers, here’s a look at what she does right with steamy scenes.
Character Development
Yarros has taken the time to flesh out her characters and it shows. Characters are vividly described. We know about physical traits such as scars, stature, facial features, and mannerisms, and she also reveals intimate details about characters’ personalities and emotions. We know what her characters desire and what they fear. As their stories are revealed, we understand that even villains have reasons for their choices and behavior.
But she doesn’t describe these characters by simply listing traits one after another—i.e. he was six-foot-four with piercing amber eyes and wore size XL flight jacket. Instead, she seamlessly weaves these details into the dialogue and action, showing us facial expressions, body language, and how characters interact with each other. This brings characters to life and makes them relatable, so readers have an emotional connection, raising the stakes when characters are in peril.
Yarros is also thoughtful about point of view, staying in one character’s head for the entirety of a scene or chapter. This is helpful for the sake of clarity and readability, and it gives us a peek at that character’s inner world.
Banter, Flirtation, and Sarcasm
A mistake authors sometimes make in writing about romance is not developing relationships between characters. Without a real relationship—whatever that looks like, whether it’s friends who fall for each other or enemies to lovers—sex scenes will fall flat. If characters and their connections to others aren’t authentic and familiar, creating emotional intimacy as well as physical intimacy, romance can feel one-dimensional, without depth, and it’s hard for readers to engage with the writing.
We need to see a relationship grow, and a great way to do that is with banter between characters. Perhaps it’s flirty one-liners or sarcasm masking attraction, but witty banter is genuinely interesting and engaging. Intelligence is sexy. It’s fun to date someone with a smart mouth, who can keep you on your toes. Give your character comedic lines, and the lure is irresistible. The characters in Fourth Wing are fluent in sarcasm, and that makes for an entertaining read.
Emotional Connection and Tension
Showing emotional connection between characters goes beyond dialogue. Smolder in prolonged eye contact, a subtle smile, or the raising of an eyebrow—hints of attraction woven into conversations and action go a long way in describing relationships between characters. Tension does too—restraint as a character stops themself from getting too close to their love interest, or hands nearly brushing as two characters pass in a hallway…a slow, steamy burn in building romance can be enticing, making intimate scenes more satisfying. It can be helpful to write a scene from different characters’ perspectives to experiment with what works best. Conflict can raise the stakes. What are your characters afraid of losing? What would they do to protect the one they love? In Fourth Wing, the stakes are life and death, and characters must learn to trust each other both for love and survival.
Consent
Consent is sexy. It’s also necessary for safe, healthy relationships. It’s possible to write about conflict between characters and still keep relationships consensual, balancing power dynamics. Sexual violence is never okay in real life, and it’s jarring and repulsive on the page as well. Unbalanced dynamics—whether a difference in characters’ ages, wealth, or societal status—can lead to one character dominating or controlling their love interest, making a relationship coercive. But even morally gray characters can value consent, and in Yarros’s book, consent is asked for explicitly, without making the scene awkward. It’s handled with skill and normalized. The fact that her characters care enough about each other to ask actually makes the scenes even more spicy because it shows greater depth and intimacy in the relationship.
I would go so far as to say that if you want to learn how to write romance, Fourth Wing is a textbook example of how to do it with finesse. It’s also a pretty good primer if you’re looking to step up your own dating game—with legions of fans (mostly women) raving over the series on Bookstagram and Booktok, the author is clearly doing something right. What do readers want? A wing leader. If you know, you know.
Melissa Eskue Ousley is an award-winning author of fantasy and suspense novels, many of which are set in Oregon. Her dark fantasy, Constellations of Scars, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was a Grand Prize Finalist, First Runner Up in Science Fiction/Fantasy, and a da Vinci Eye Finalist with the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Her suspense novel, Pitcher Plant, won a 2018 Independent Publisher Book Award. She has over nine years of experience as an editor and is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association. She has worked with various authors and publishers on books in a number of genres including fantasy, suspense, biography, and nonfiction. She has a BA in English from the University of Arizona, an MA in counseling from Chapman University, and a PhD in higher education from the University of Arizona. Melissa enjoys living on the Oregon coast where she can hike and walk on the beach. She’s been known to nerd out over marine biology and loved volunteering at her local wildlife center, caring for injured owls and hawks.
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