During the month of September, I am taking an online class offered through WriterU by Mary Buckham on creating and maintaining sexual tension . The object of the course is to understand the different levels of intimacy and use them to turn up or down the tension to enhance your novel. This knowledge can be used not only used by romance novelists, but any writer in practically any genre. Already, I can tell my writing has made a huge leap toward the good.
One of the assignments this week was to watch a movie, television show, or people watch, and note the levels of awareness people displayed based on body language, expression and tone of voice. How fortuitous that this coincided with wine and cheese night with my girlfriends.
Everyone was aware of the class I am taking, so when we started watching movies, we would call out the various steps of intimacy being displayed. One of the movies we watched was Yes Man with Jim Carrey. Not really a movie you would think would work for this type of project, and actually it wasn’t. However, there was a scene where the hero, Carl, is asked by the elderly lady next door to help hang some shelves. During the scene she is looking him in the eye (level 2), and invading his personal space (level 5). Since I knew that Carl was compelled to say yes to everything, when I saw her touch his hair (level 8), I was already curling into a ball and chanting “please don’t go there, please don’t go there.” When the inevitable happened, my friend asked, “How did you know that was going to happen?” I saw the signs, that’s why.
Now, one of my friends has found herself in a situation where her current object of desire is sending mixed signals. Saying let’s be friends, but sending and allowing more intimate signals. So we pulled out the list and checked to see if she had noticed any of the subtle, nonverbal clues that this other person may have been telegraphing. The next time she went out with them “just as friends,” she was going to be more aware of their gestures and reactions, which led to this discussion:
You are now aware of possible clues that can alert you to when someone may be into you. What if they also know those signs and can manipulate them for their own gain? Or what if they don’t know what they are doing and become defensive when you call them on it? (Yes, we also watched He Is Just Not That Into You) Would you manipulate someone by sending out signals that they would subconsciously respond to?
It is so confusing. Trying to apply these nuances to everyday life could lead to happily ever after, or a horrendous train wreck.
I guess that is what makes life so exciting.