After all these years of our cooperation, I thought I’d send you a letter. Just in case you’re asking yourself what the reason for this outpour is, there are several.
First, I’d like to say that I know it wasn’t always easy with me. Sometimes I have wanton neglected you, provided you with too much sun, too much snow or salt water. I let you experience dirt, mud, heat, ice, height, wind and air that cold, you nearly froze. I withheld the cream you needed, the humidity and once in a rare while, I paved you with makeup.
We both have come a long way together, and you went through so much with me, I felt I owe you an apology.
It’s time to realize; we’re facing the time when we aren’t silky and smooth anymore.
I discovered one thing today: you provided me with laugh lines. Nobody knows better that I love to smile and it shows. Thank you for them!
You don’t make me look grumpy and old – you make me look radiant, no matter what I put you through.
And I promise you something: no matter how deep these laugh lines get: I will never try to hide them by filling them with powder. There’s no reason. You show my humor. This bone flour is nothing but an agricultural damage.
You and I will be together for another very long time, and my laugh lines will get deeper. Maybe gravity will kick in. (Believe me, you’re not alone; the rest of the body is in that process too.)
But no matter what we’re going to face together, I hope we’ll never be losing our smile, our laughter, the sparkles in our eyes and our laugh lines.
I know I wasn’t always happy with you. But I figure, all in all, I could have gotten it worse.
I want to say thank you for going all the way with me – and I wish us both good luck for the future.
Until this day I’m very much convinced that this is probably the rhythmically best poem I ever wrote, and even though, its theme is heartbreak and sadness, I’m still proud of it. That’s why I submitted this poem to the Poetry Festival Page and had it read by a professional actor.
Today I was informed that the poetry reading had been published on their Website. I immediately clicked the link and found it, together with some information about myself.
“Let Your Soul Fry Free To Heaven” is performed by actress Becky Shrimpton and she does a fabulous job. Thank you very much, Becky! And thank you to “Wildsound Fest” who published it on their YouTube channel.
For some time now I realize that very often the book cover varies significantly from the story of a book. Quite pronounced it shows in the genre ‘Historical Romance.’
Now, don’t get me wrong! I don’t mind that much! Unless of course, the story tells us of a golden-haired beauty and the cover shows a black-haired gypsy woman I often don’t care.
I’m not complaining about anything within the book! Very often Historical Romance tells us a story of two loving people in the medieval times, being pushed into an arranged marriage by society and their families and falling in love for the first time. Blessings to them! Falling in love is an exquisite feeling and should be enjoyed.
Let’s see: When I researched for this blog post, I have seen the U.S. covers of some of Virginia Henley’s older books and liked them a lot. By continuing the research, I discovered the German book covers of Virginia Henley’s books and laughed loudly.
Oh – no! Not what you think! I love them. They’re beautiful, they’re artistic, they’re intriguing, and they’re sexy. Just what I’d been expecting of the story. – But they don’t show anything historical in the lady’s dresses as they were around 1300 when the stories are supposed to take place.
Within the story, Virginia Henley talked about wide, flowing robes, made of light and beautiful fabric, unique and sexy, showing the women’s ‘ripe breasts’ and feminine curves.
Now, seeing these wonderful dresses on the cover pictures and carrying these images through reading the romance makes the fun twice as nice. Seeing the beautiful sexy ladies and the strong muscular, handsome men and reading about their eternal love makes for an enjoyable time.
At this point now I have to be fair and add that I don’t ‘blame’ Virginia Henley for anything. She’s a great writer, and I enjoyed reading the few books I have from her.
But I’m afraid, right now I have to ruin our dreams of sexy medieval ladies in wide hot high slit dresses of silk and purest sensuality.
The sad truth is that medieval ladies in their gowns looked more like this:
I figure every nun dresses sexier than these medieval ladies. But I as well understand that it would be a little, let’s say, ‘difficult’ for a lady to show yourself as being enormously sexy in a dress where the man of your dreams has to peel you out of that very same dress like an onion.
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When it comes to reading a medieval historical romance book, I’m the first one to admit that looking at a book cover like this wouldn’t tickle my ‘need’ to buy that book in the first place, let alone read it.
Now I’m curious: When it comes to historical romance or historical fiction, what do you think? Are we, as writers, permitted to add a little fantasy, a little imagination and a little cheating when it comes to the fashion – either on the cover or within the story? Or should we be very strict in sticking to facts? Please let us know your opinion in the comments.
As with most things nowadays, there are even “user manuals” for kissing scenes available online.
I have been reading through quite some of them and created a list that seems to work for me:
Where does the kissing take place?
What is the occasion?
What can I do to increase the tension?
Description of the body reaction
End of the kiss
Let me explain my list a little more detailed:
Where?
– Describe the scenery
– Are they at an event?
– Are they surrounded by others?
– Are they alone?
– What is around them?
– A park?
– A romantic pavilion?
– A living room, a kitchen, an elevator?
Occasion?
– How many times have they met before?
– Is it happening on a date?
– If yes, is it the second date? The third one?
– Do they know each other well, or are they just about to get closer?
– Is it a kiss at an anniversary?
Increase the tension?
– Describe how they get closer
– Describe the closing of the distance
– Is either one of them closing the distance on their accord?
– Add some tension and ‘electricity’ to the scene
Describe how their bodies react?
– Talk about how they touch each other
– Describe how their skin reacts
– Tell the reader how they smell and taste
– Give details how they see each other
– Do they close their eyes?
– What do they hear?
– How do their lips feel?
– Do their tongues play with each other?
End of the kiss
– How do they separate?
– Do they regret the kiss is over?
– What did the kiss with their feelings and emotions?
– How are they getting a certain distance between them again?
Now, let’s see what we can do with this list and create a kiss-scene without boring the reader to death:
Annabelle was surprised to see Rick had taken her to an open-air concert of her favorite band. She had longed to see this band playing, but she never felt a rock concert being the epitome of a romantic date. Even more, she was taken aback to realize he had bought tickets directly at the stage. The hustle in the front rows would be enormous. The beaming and sparkling of his eyes kept her away from protesting. He seemed happy to have surprised her. The crowd around them surrounded them with noise and heat. Even though she only wore a t-shirt and a thin jacket, there was no chance she could get cold. Rick held her hand to avoid losing her. The concert was epic, and Annabelle’s hand was always held by Rick’s he held her by his side until the band played one of their rare ballads. Surrounded by fans who were jumping and applauding Annabelle felt her face suddenly pressed against Rick’s muscular chest. She took a deep breath. He smelled like honey and chocolate. She had taken a few secret whiffs before and had already thought, if the perfume industry would wish to increase their turnovers, they should have bottled Rick’s smell.
His shirt felt soft on her face, and she couldn’t resist rubbing her cheek on his strong chest, only a little bit. There was a lot of movement around them; eventually, he wouldn’t realize what she did. “What are you doing, Sweetie?” His dark voice murmured into her ear.
It sent a sweet shudder down her spine, and she lifted her face to look at him. His right hand on her hip pulled her closer while his left hand supported her neck and jaw line.
Her entire body length was pressed against his strong frame; her breasts felt nearly flattened. But she did not move, did not want to move. His hot skin nearly burned her own. Her arms and hands found their way underneath his jacket, grabbing fists full of fabric while her entire body screamed in the desire to get even closer.
Rick’s ice blue eyes held her gaze, and he lowered his face to hers.
For only the fraction of a second, his mouth brushed her lower lip, like the touch of butterfly wings. In a sigh Annabelle uttered the almost inaudible sound of a kitten, desperately wanting more. The next touch on her lip was the tender caress of his tongue. Annabelle’s soft lips parted and she let Rick’s demanding tongue touching her own, searching her limits playfully, but she did not feel like limiting him. She let herself sink deeper into this kiss and allowed her tongue to dance vividly with Ricks.
All music, noise, the people around them, disappeared in a whirl, it seemed they were alone in this place. Nothing was important than to taste the sweetness of Ricks lips and tongue. She did not realize the ballad had ended, and they both were displayed on the grand monitor onstage.
Only when the clapping and applauding got more regular and grew whooping, her consciousness focused again onto the present, and she realized where she was. She felt Ricks smile on her lips, and she buried her embarrassed pink face in his shirt.
There was no room to separate her body from his, and Rick wouldn’t have permitted it. He held her close in his arms, and she felt more than she heard his laughter.
(Copyright, March 2016, Aurora Jean Alexander)
Of course, this is only a try to describe a Kiss scenery “out of nowhere”. It might even be far from being perfect. After all, we haven’t read all about Annabelle and Rick’s relationship. But I think we might have gotten at least an idea of how far this relationship has already developed.
It was fun to introduce you to Annabelle and Rick. If you have an idea on how to pattern this kiss differently, I’d love to read it in the comments.
Or: do you have your list of how to build a kissing scene? It would be interesting to see it.
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