Love is a broad topic. You can love your significant other, your family, your friends, your pets, objects, anything.
There are certain kinds of love. There is such a thing as loving too much or loving too little. Sometimes something is mistaken for love or there’s no love at all.
When it comes to novel writing, romantic or not, there’s always some sort of love element thrown into the mix. No matter who it’s between, someone is loving someone or something.
Common themes about love:
- Loving others – relationship
- Loving others – friendship
- Loving yourself
- Mistaken love
- Lost love
- Forbidden love
- Marriage/Divorce
- Parent/Child
- Love triumphs
- Happy love
- Unhappy love
- Accidental love
- Forced love
- Rejected love
- Love at first sight
- Teen romance
There’s so much more, but I can’t think of them all right now.
What kind of love are you writing about?
Before you begin, figure out what kind of love you’ll be focusing on. A sweet romance? Erotica? Friendship? Is this something you experienced in real life, or are you winging it?
Either way, lay it all out for yourself so you can figure out where to go next and when. Of course, your characters will have a lot to say about it, as they should, but it would help if you had some sort of idea.
What makes a good love story?
I’m sure this goes without saying, but…
Emotion. You need emotion.
If your main character is falling in love, let your readers fall in love, too. There’s nothing I love more than falling in love with a fictional boyfriend and then getting mad that he’s just that: fictional.
How love can help your characters grow
We all have a heart. We all feel love, we all feel heartbreak.
Falling in love or falling out of love can help define us as a person. It puts us through a certain challenge that we may or may not be ready for, but we face it head on because that’s life. This should be no different for your characters.
If someone asked your protagonist out, what would they do? If someone broke up with them, what would they do? If they broke up with their significant other, what would they do?
If they were losing a best friend, if they rekindle with an old family member, what would they do?
In conclusion
Love is important and you can interpret it in so many ways. When it comes to writing about love, let it come from the heart. Let it come from experience.
Okay, this is getting corny now, so take this as you will.
How do you interpret love, romance or otherwise? What other tips do you have? Let me know in the comments below!
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