Keep in mind you don’t necessarily have to have two people kissing each other, as it could be multiple characters kissing each other or one person kissing themselves in the mirror. In any event, it’s a good idea to identify the characters in the kissing scene.
By figuring out the setting of the kiss, you can create a lot of implied meaning. The setting will help you establish a certain mood or atmosphere, and you can show your audience a certain mood, as opposed to telling them. For example, a kiss in a dark empty parking lot has a completely different mood or atmosphere than a kiss at a party. One setting implies a more intimate mood and one setting implies a more exposed or open mood.
This is a good moment to also think about how your characters are going to be positioned in the scene. Maybe one person is going to be standing beside someone else in a room. Or maybe both characters are going to be sitting side by side. Think about the physical presence of your characters and how they are going to move around in the kissing scene.
Re-evaluate how and why you have reached this point in the story where the characters are in a kissing scene. Did you establish their relationship well in the early stages of the story, so a kiss between them makes sense? And if you are going for the element of surprise, ask yourself if you created enough character details so the kiss will throw readers off guard but will not throw them out of the story.
This could be a past love that reappears in a character’s life or a previous scene where one character sees another character do something that they find attractive or compelling. Remember, a kiss is usually an indication of desire, so make sure your characters desire each other, if only for a moment, to make the kiss seem believable. Don’t neglect all the hard work you’ve put into building up your characters. Instead, use characterization to your advantage and build off of previous conflicts or scenes to create build up.
You can do this by having two characters accidentally bump into each other, or have one character plan to run into another character. There are many ways you can move your characters physically so they are in a setting and mood that feels appropriate for a kiss, but the point is to get them close to each other. Focus on the body movements of your characters. A quick, fast move towards each other will likely indicate intense longing or desire, and a slower, more labored move towards each other will likely indicate a more unsteady or unsure passion between the characters.
For example, your character could notice the other character has a speck of green in their eyes, a freckle on their nose, or a small birthmark on their neck.
Sight is probably one of the easiest senses to describe; simply write what the character is seeing during the kiss. Sound could mean background noise like music at a party or the character’s loud, excited heartbeats. Depending on the duration of the kiss, you could also include soft moans or other noises of pleasure (or disgust), as appropriate to your character. Smell could be what your character smells in the air or on the other person as they kiss them, such as perfume, cologne, or a natural scent. Touch is a very important aspect to describing a kiss. Focus on tactile details like how the character’s skin feels and how their lips feel. Taste can be broad or very specific when describing a kiss. Keep in mind describing a kiss as sweet implies it was enjoyable and describing a kiss as sour or bitter implies it may not have been enjoyable at all.
Lips: perhaps the most important physical detail in a kissing scene, focus on the texture of the character’s lips or how they feel against another character’s lips. Tongue: another very important physical detail in a kissing scene that can indicate aggressive desire (lots of tongue) or unsure, gentle desire (no tongue). Think about what type of kiss you’re trying to convey and include or do not include tongue descriptions accordingly. Heads: most people tilt their head to one side when they kiss. Of course, if you’re going for a more awkward kiss, it may be beneficial to have a moment of bumping foreheads. Eyes: are your characters’ eyes opened or closed? Open eyes usually indicates a surprised reaction or a detached reaction. Consider the emotions of your characters and decide from there. Noses: keep in mind that though your characters may tilt their heads when they kiss, their noses will likely still brush against each other or against the side of their faces. Hands and arms: during the kiss, a character’s hands could be up in the air (usually indicating an unwelcome or surprised kiss) or wrapped around the character’s body (usually an indication of an enjoyable kiss). They could also run their fingers through a character’s hair, hold the back of their head, rub their lower back, etc.
If the kiss happens early in your story, you will likely need another conflict to arise to complicate the kiss and create enough tension to keep your audience interested. If the kiss happens towards the end of your story, think about how your characters might feel after the kiss and how the kiss affects their emotions towards the other character.
