Mushy

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s really a joy to have you. I love knowing you’re out there, reading what I’m writing. As a writer, it’s one of the most thrilling things in the world, to know someone else is enjoying the words I write. So, really, thank you for stopping by.

All month long, we’re talking about love. If you didn’t check out my intro post for the series, check the navigation on the right to find it.

As February is the month of love, I wanted to spend the month talking about the most pivotal plot point in any given story, whether that story be centered on what most people think of as love, or not. And because it’s the first thing we think of when someone says “love story,” I thought we’d start with…

Romantic Love

Getting the mushy one out of the way first.

I know for a fact that when anyone says the words “love story,” this is the kind of story that will pop into your head. You’ll think of a romance, a story where the romantic relationship between character A and character B is the only thing that really matters throughout the entirety of the story. I’d argue that you’re wrong, that this is not the most common type of love story, but we’ll get into that later.

See, readers love romantic love. They do. We all know this. We know how well romance novels sell. We know how quickly readers will gobble up a romance novel, even if it’s essentially the same novel they’ve read a hundred times over. It’s a safe story, a story where they know the boy and the girl will get together in the end and all will be well. That’s why a lot of easy readers love the romance genre. They love the ability to pick up a book and know they won’t be sad at the end, that they’ll get to experience the romantic love of this beautiful couple, and when they close the book they’ll be ready for another one.

Romantic love is also something that’s permeated pretty much every genre, no matter how you slice it. There’s always romantic love, in nearly every book you’ve ever read, and every story you've ever seen. There’s always a couple, a pair of people you, as readers, just really want to see together. Whether it’s Arwen and Aragorn, Geralt and Yennefer, Robin Hood and Maid Marion, or Spiderman and Mary Jane, Iron Man and Pepper (can you tell what genres I like?), there’s always a couple.

The reason for that is the same as the reason why readers love romance books. It’s safe. It’s a story we all know, a plot line we can root for and hope for and dream about. Why? Because the majority of people really do love to be in love. And they’re willing to experience it through someone else’s shoes, because they love it so much.

But romantic love is also something many writers struggle with, both if they do and if they don’t know it’s something readers will inevitably be looking for in the books they read. See, if you, as a writer, know that it’s something you need to include, then you tend to force it out. And if you, as a writer, don’t know it’s something you need to include, then you tend to push it aside as a cliche. And if either of those happens, nobody wins.

I’m not entirely sure why so many writers struggle with this theme of romantic love, or why it’s so polarizing in the world of writing, as to whether it should be included or not, but I do know that it’s an issue we could all stand to work on—and that there’s a simple fix.

Don’t force anything. Please.

The best love stories are the ones nobody saw coming—even you. The love stories readers adore are the ones they start shipping before you’ve even noticed your two characters are making eyes at each other.

Your story needs to have love. It will probably have romantic love, because as humans, we can’t help but include it. But if it does have romantic love, let it happen naturally. The same way it should happen in real life.

The point of today’s post is this:

Just stop fighting it. It’s going to happen. Let it happen naturally, and see where it goes. Your readers will thank you for it, and they’ll probably love your love story even more because of it.

[love]

{Rani Divine}