Creating Character: Love Interests

And we're at the end of my little character series. Today we examine the love interest and how it can be used to create conflict. Love
interests have a huge potential for creating tension and conflict, or vomit.
This is why I’ve given them their own little article in this series. Love is a
powerful force, and it’s a curious one. It makes one person miserable, another
gloriously happy. It can change a baddie into a pseudo-goodie, and it can
sometimes save a life. Love is a wonderful tool in fiction, but when creating a
love interest, too many of us get it wrong by dragging the pendulum a little too far one way or the other.



Love interests are a
special kind of character that I think should be in every book, even if it’s
not a romance. They don’t have to play a huge role, and they don’t have to be a
main character. They serve to add drama, interest, and can sometimes be very
useful in resolving conflict. But how do we use them to improve the story? That's easy. Just be realistic.

 

I'll explain.



Chemistry has long
been considered the driving force behind love. We search for that other half of
our soul and many writers mistakenly believe that means the person we’re meant
to love and be with forever. No. Soul mate is something totally different. Your
soul mate might be your best friend, a family member or even your dog. Soul
mates are those souls that seem to be the perfect match to ours. Love and sex
may not be part of it.



When you’re creating a
love interest, you're not looking for a soul mate for your character. You're trying to find someone that makes sense to them romantically. You have to create a character that would be
appealing to your protagonist or antagonist (could be that both need a little
love) and their attractiveness must have a reason. The potential love
interest’s traits and behavior must resonate with your character because they
somehow make him or her more human…or maybe they just float their boat sexually
and the love is a superficial thing. That’s okay too.



Many writers create
love interests that reflect their own ideas of the “perfect” man or woman (including me, I'm not proud of it, but I do tend to let my fantasies take control now and then), and
this is really annoying. What that writer is doing is creating a love interest
for herself instead of her character, and this can make the story fall flat.
You don’t want that.



Consider something, if
you will, about these universally appealing love interests. If he or she is so
damn attractive, smart, rich, and such, why hasn’t he or she been snatched by
someone equally fantastic? Why is your character so special that this perfect
love is only interested in her? Yeah, seems a bit farfetched when you think
about it, doesn’t it?



Stories with characters
that fall in love with a fantasy are doomed to fail, just as they would in the
real world, and your reader knows this. Creating a “perfect” love interest is a
sure way to turn the reader off simply because it’s not plausible. There is no
such thing as perfection, and we rarely choose the people we love based on
appearance, social status and their goodness or badness alone.



Did you know that love
at first sight (whether you believe in it or not, and I don’t) is not even based
on beauty or any of that superficial crap? It’s based on the idea that when
seeing a certain image of ourselves (or the self we hope to be), without
consciously knowing we maintain such an image deep inside, we’re enthralled by
it. We connect with it immediately, and we are drawn toward it. Shit might not
pan out, but that initial meeting, that first look, is like a punch in the
nuts…but in a good way.



Most of the time such
gut reactions turn out to be huge mistakes. Love at first sight is rarely love
that endures. In reality we find getting along with those we love is hard. We
misunderstand, insult and hurt each other. Not on purpose, but we do. It’s what
makes us human.



So creating a love
interest who your character falls for instantly because he is perfect and
forgiving and all things wonderful and butterfly-shitting, is bad. Don’t do it.
Your characters will not live happily ever after with none of the conflict that
filled every page before “the end.” It doesn’t work that way in real life, so
don’t do it in fiction.


Conflict is the engine
that keeps the story going, and the love interests should be a vital part of
that engine. The gas, if you will.






So, whether your love
interest is Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now, make sure he’s real and he makes sense
in terms of being with your protagonist or antagonist. Make sure he’s flawed,
but not too flawed. Make sure his interest in your character, and your
character’s interest in him, makes sense. I know, it's just do damn easy. (that would be sarcasm)



What are some
fictional pairings that left you scratching your head? How do you go about
creating a love interest?