Strange Slow burns and changing their forcefulness.

Here is something that I notice about slow-burning stuff like romance.

When I am reading my previous drafts of my work, there is something cringe about the romantic part. I mean, Sure, it’s good to have romance in your stories, but I guess if we are going by context, the matters of having someone who you barely know for a few days would not go into bed with you unless there’s a one night stand going on.

To me, that is unrealistic. And I guess when you take the time to think, to wonder about how characters could show their likeness for someone, maybe it does come in the use of admirability, however I would not class that as the only thing here. But perhaps the way that they look at each other and even the sense of calm they have despite the fact that they’ve only met for a few days.

Now since I am the type of person who would like to experience those sorts of things, I have been crammed with all of these thoughts, dreams and experiences that I have witnessed within the past few months, I wanted to grab what I have learnt along with the deep dive of the web and trying to gather the experiences that others have faced in the forms of books and blog posts to come up with what I have noticed with the topic of slow burns and how I’ll take the chance to incorporate it into my stories.

Slow progression of knowing.

Not everything is known straight away, and slow burn romances are no exception. There can be something specific that makes this character special to the main character. Maybe this character doesn’t think that the other character is the most attractive, but the way that they carry themselves is something that they like. The main character may not like what a friend may say to the love interest, which may make them wonder on why they seem protective of that person, or if it’s just their beliefs that are fooling them.
Later, there could be a specific point that the love interest does, which causes the character to think of some grand compliment for them, or their sudden concern, and they would realize that they like this character a lot more than they realize. And the character may explore it a bit to see the extent of how for it goes, until they realize that the feelings they have are real, or that they are uncomfortable with it, so it’s better to distance themselves away from them.
Also give those characters something that they can relate to from each other! Whether they have both been bullied or if they both have something that makes them similar, give them something which makes them think that in some ways, the love interest is like them!

External world:

The people you meet and face will try to insert their own opinions between the two characters. Whether it is a relationship that seems so obvious, or it is a character who is teasing about or to your love interest, it is an important aspect into knowing and realizing the feelings that the characters have for each other.
The environment too can have an impact as to how the characters may face each other. If it’s in a workplace, they may try to be more subtle with their feelings, or they may try to ask advice about their feelings to others. But outside of it, depending on the character, they may be more open about their feelings for the other character.
At public, they might be able to express themselves easily, or if the character is introverted or private about their history, they will slowly open up over time.

Eye Contact:

There is something about the eyes which tells the characters a lot about how they are feeling towards each other. The eyes can speak desire, but there is something truly captivating about receiving eye contact from a person, especially from someone that a character knows about after some time. That could convey interest for the character and may keep on looking at them, but may not but their finger on what exactly makes them captivating.
The Eye contact part doesn’t have to be known straight away as to what it means between the character, heck it doesn’t have to even have to mention the color of their eyes. You could write that it looks unusually intimate, or softer than the protagonist has thought. But as the characters get to know each other more and have opportunities to interact with each other, the stares could be rather intense or even deep as they are looking into the protagonist’s soul. (Or it could get to the point where the characters can read the other character easily.
The stares and checking out between the characters could happen frequently between the characters without them knowing at first, but the more you look at the character, the more intense the stares could be. It could be as simple as an eye exchange, to wanting to know where in the room that the characters are, and the stares could become more focused on character’s figure as the relationship or the sexual tension intensifies.

Proximity (the excuse of meeting each other):

As the character’s get to know each other more, the characters may attempt to get into each other’s space more. Sometimes, they may get close to each other by helping them. Other times, they could ask the protagonist something just to get them to stay for longer, or that they may come to you, just to check up on you. They may also intentionally do things with you to get your attention, or if there’s something wrong, the love interest may be within the character’s space, almost as if they are checking up on you and cheering you up.
There are also cases where although one of the characters may want the outcome that they want, they may suddenly feel nervous and may distance themselves either intentionally or due to circumstances which causes the characters to be apart.
But speaking of proximity, space is important too. Space makes the characters miss each other, wonder on what it would be like to see them again. Some may even cry, even if they know deep in their hearts that they will come back. But when they come back they seem happy to see them again.

Physical Sensations:

The sensations of how the characters feels about the experience is a thing that happens to when you fall for someone. This usually comes in the form of nervousness when it comes to seeing the character, but it can also be excitement too. They may groom themselves, feel a ball of excitement, or a grin would twitch across their face that the character doesn’t think that anyone will see. (but trust me, they probably will.)
If the characters understand each other well enough, they may be more susceptible to feel the emotions of the other character, or there could be concern and anxiety to when they left and have a trembling feeling across their heart as to where they could be.

Mood changes:

There are, in most cases, chances that there’s a certain happiness when seeing the love interest, and when not seeing them for a while, they would get sad, or reminisce and hope that they would be back, and saying that they would be back, even if your body decides to wail instead. But as soon as they’re back, they are calm again.
Character’s may also be able to reflect each other’s moods more easily. If one of them is mad, the other one may end up getting mad, but may try to temper it down, so it doesn’t bring everyone’s mood down.

The details:

There are some things which causes the characters to listen more to the love interests concerns, the things that they do for the weekend. But there’s a chance that they can ask questions around to other people about the love interest, or they may ask the main character for it.
Sometimes, there could be details that you would never tell anyone, yet somehow, they seemed to have figured one part of you out without telling them. This could freak your character out, in a good way, yet it can also lead to a silence where they don’t exactly know what to say.
Memories and thoughts randomly sprout into the character’s mind onto the places and opportunities that they could do together, some may try to make sense of it all while others may fantasize about it. No matter what it is, the characters are constantly thinking about each other, even if they come up in each other’s dreams.

These are some things that I have noticed in terms of how slow burn romances could work in relation to my life and the potential of how to incorporate it into my stories. But most importantly, I hope you are able to use some of these tips in order to make a romance story that is relatable for others to read, a snuggle to a great romance book for those who have never felt it, or something that is fun and interesting to write.

Just remember the tension, the slight subtleness in those interactions and the way that the interactions that grows over time, and hope that the characters are able to captivate each other over time.