Essay on Emotions and Desire

Emotions and Desires

Can be expressed in monologues, or dialogues or exposition as shown here. As an author I tend to have the dialogue of the characters bring it out and that is certainly appropriate for a stage play. In a short story or novel however it tends to find expression in the narrative description and to a lesser extent in the conversational exchanges of the characters. Sometimes, as in dialogue, it is implied in the language being bantered back and forth. Sometimes we get a full dose of emotions and very little of the passion and desire felt by the characters. Then again sometimes we a whole lot of the graphic detail and not much of the lubricating emotion that make the physical act of love palatable.

Emotions are what goes on inside a person’s head. They are thoughts which set physiological chords to vibrating. In writing sensual prose the emotional exposition should appeal to the mind just as the aspects of desire appeal to the body. Show below are examples lifted from the vignette showing emotion. By themselves the emotions of the characters show the reader the importance that a frame of mind plays in the writing of sensual prose. It’s almost as if the mind triggers chemical reactions that drug the psyche from the raw obscenity of the act of sexual intercourse. Here the exposition begins to numb the mind and make almost surreal what would otherwise be a purely animal experience. It converts a bloodless clinical trial into one of the most delightful moments that life has to offer.

So in the first case you have emotions, the narcotic of love, used to prepare the mind for what is about to transpire in the flesh. To the extent that an author can do this in prose, like an experienced lover creates a mood of seduction is a tribute to the skill of the story teller. This example is extremely well rendered.

The emotional part is full of metaphor, simile and euphemisms as well as adjectives that give emphasis to what is largely an imaginative experience. Some appeal is made to also to the senses of touch, and a reference to the absence of sound. Heat imagery is used extensively as well as hunger.

Examples are shown below.


Her mind raced and spun trying to assimilate the sultry promise behind Brody’s reassuring words and steady the building heat flooding her abdomen. The dam separating her hunger for him from the reality she’d forced herself to live in was weakening exponentially.

She carefully studied his face, her lips parting as to speak, but words failed her.

In that moment the heat of a thousand suns flooded her body and she whimpered low in her throat.

She’d been starved for this kind of intimate contact for so long and her body quaked with the intensity of her need

How did she want it the first time he took her? She’d fantasized about how he might bury himself in her willing body for so long….

Concurrently the vignette shows the influence of desire which is acting to excite the prurience of the reader. Descriptive prose is interjected that panders to sensations that compel the lovers to make the experience one of the flesh. The senses of touch and to a lesser extent sound are used again to achieve this. An example of sound is expressed when she whimpers in a low tone. The “hunger “metaphor is a euphemism that softens what is otherwise a raw bodily attraction. “Heat” is another that serves the same purpose. Flooding is a metaphor that describes a strong continuing sensation.

Shown below are examples of this exposition that titillates the sense of touch.

Without warning Brody’s arms had tenderly encircled her with their warmth and strength and she was nestled against his chest

Jessica found her hands roving the firmly sculptured expanse of Brody’s chest; appreciating every suggestion of definition rising under her hands.

As one hand settled on his broad shoulder, the other traveled on, fingers lacing through the long strands of his wavy hair

Raising her eyes to meet his once again, her tongue slid tentatively across her lower lip. A mere heartbeat passed before Brody lowered his lips to hers, softly, slowly caressing before gently pressing a little further urging her to permit him to more deeply taste her sweetness. Tension filled her breasts as his hands slid down to stroke the roundness of her derriere; drawing her up more snugly against him. The simple act of light, delicate kissing taunted every fiber of her being. The texture of his hair falling through her fingers, and his scent filling her head both added to the hypnotic effect.

She’d been starved for this kind of intimate contact for so long and her body quaked with the intensity of her need.

These tend to complement like a duet… throughout the vignette, alternating back and forth like a metronome. One appeals to the mind and on it’s heels comes the other appealing to the body. They are woven together into the tapestry of the story and the reader is carried along by the compelling physical forces of nature in an ambience of the sublime.

The whole example points up the importance of using not one but both in a format that should include the full range of literary devices. For example this piece relies heavily on exposition that interplays emotion and desire….More dialogue might have added a further dimension. It appeals to the senses of touch and sound ….the other three are not touched on to any real extent. So the author might have done more but the point is how much is actually included.

This is a well written story and how sensual prose should be used to elevate the context of prose to the next higher level. The readers are lulled into a mood that lets them accept the graphic truth without feeling it’s being thrust in their faces. This is a very well done and a splendid example of the craft.