The Fall (part 2)

Two weeks ago I posted a blog about falling in love, about how it’s too long a process to fit into a short story. Many of you disagreed with me, as I said you would. That’s fine. I fully expected it. And that’s why I planned this as the final to our almost-month-long series on short stories and novels. 

While falling in love isn’t a suitable topic for short stories because of the time and detail that goes into the act, there’s yet another reason why it’s not a good topic for a novel.

Falling in Love

Again, I’m sure some of you will disagree with me on this. You romance novel fans, for example. But remember that I’m really only telling you things that I cannot do with a novel, things that for me are not possible to be the focus of an entire novel.

See, the thing is, falling in love can be a very lovely aspect of a story. It can be a beautiful centerpiece, for example, but it’s not very good at taking the full brunt of the novel. Books want more to them than that, more intrigue, twists and turns, what have you. They don’t want to be consumed by a single act, no matter how long that act might take.

So if I was to decide to write a love story, do you know what I would do?

I would write something as far as possible from a love story, and show how the characters finally fall for each other near the very end of the book. Some of you may have witnessed this before, in one of my prior books. Out of courtesy for those who haven’t yet read my work, I won’t mention any of them by name. Spoilers and all.

In short, it can be done. Perhaps it should be done. But I would not try to write a love story until I was sure of the way in which I wanted to do it. And I still don’t write true love stories. I write novels, wherein a few characters may or may not fall in love. Because to me, that’s what real life is like. Some people fall in love, others don’t. It’s a mystery, an experience, and that’s what I want to show my readers.

So what do you say? Better to write about love in a short story or a novel? I’m keen to hear your responses.

[love]

{RD}

p.s. Next week we start a series unlike anything I’ve ever done before!