Kissing Tropes
This is one of those things that comes up again and again in fics. The kiss that somehow prevents breathing.
It's annoying. And it often throws me out of a fic as I start wondering loudly if the characters have stuffed up noses or something. The thing is that this CAN and DOES happen, but most writers fail to convey WHY it happens.
Now this is where the old saying "write what you know" comes in handy. If you've never kissed someone, or never experienced the whole "breathless" thing, then trying to write about it is going to be a problem. And second hand explanations are no substitution for experience.
That said, here comes my explanation.
Breathing is an automatic function of the body. If you don't breath, you die. Pretty simple right? So what would cause someone to stop breathing while being kissed? Their being utterly over powered by the experience. This can happen when someone is afraid for their safety. Or it can happen when it's so pleasurable that it's short circuiting their brain. But even then it's a short lived thing. None of this "lungs burning with the need to breathe" stuff.
So please, for the love of all the gods and little fishes, please lets do away with the breathing stupidity! There are better ways to illiterate that someone is really enjoying a kiss.
It's annoying. And it often throws me out of a fic as I start wondering loudly if the characters have stuffed up noses or something. The thing is that this CAN and DOES happen, but most writers fail to convey WHY it happens.
Now this is where the old saying "write what you know" comes in handy. If you've never kissed someone, or never experienced the whole "breathless" thing, then trying to write about it is going to be a problem. And second hand explanations are no substitution for experience.
That said, here comes my explanation.
Breathing is an automatic function of the body. If you don't breath, you die. Pretty simple right? So what would cause someone to stop breathing while being kissed? Their being utterly over powered by the experience. This can happen when someone is afraid for their safety. Or it can happen when it's so pleasurable that it's short circuiting their brain. But even then it's a short lived thing. None of this "lungs burning with the need to breathe" stuff.
So please, for the love of all the gods and little fishes, please lets do away with the breathing stupidity! There are better ways to illiterate that someone is really enjoying a kiss.