Don't Let Your Lovers Be Losers
(Here it is, a day later than advertised. Sorry, guys!)
Love can be- ought to be- a wondrous thing. Two people out of the many billions on this planet coming together, sharing something spectacular. Yes, people may be mistaken, or regret it afterwards, but for as long as it lasts, it's the ultimate experience.
Who hasn't felt the agonies of unrequited love, or been bowled over by their first kiss? What makes you relate more to a heroine than watching her fall in and out of love?
Quite a lot, actually.
At the risk of stating the obvious: when you fall in love yourself, it happens in real time. There are so many things your real life squeeze can do that can't be covered by a story: the off key way they whistle, the rituals you have together, how watching a crummy movie or going to the launderette can be fine, provided it's together. The notes and the in jokes and the hundreds of gestures you share.
That connection builds up over the course of months and years. A fictional couple doesn't have that luxury- in a book that takes approximately ten hours to read, we're supposed to buy that these two people have met, fallen for each other and belong together. You'd assume that since virtually every story has a love plot somewhere, it'd be easy to pull off, but in fact it's one of the hardest things a writer has to do.
Think about it. An author is only human, like anybody else. In many cases you can perceive the outline of their ideal man/woman (sometimes, but not always, their spouse in different clothes). Since your version of "The One" is highly personal, what seems romantic or erotic to you might fall flat to your readers. If you like sensitive, slightly nerdy guys who can cook and make models, you're hardly going to be impressed by a bad boy in a grunge band. Likewise, if you have a yen for steely ambitious girls, you won't find a homebody who makes a living dressing up cats attractive.
It depends on the age of the reader, too. While teenage girls may sigh over Edward Cullen's god like looks and protectiveness, older women regard him as a one dimensional, controlling creep. Look at Princess Leia and Han Solo: seen from an adult perspective, their relationship's a clumsy contrivance that stops her from hooking up with her own brother (Obi Wan should really have warned them about that). Yet if you're a kid who thinks Han is a cool maverick, their relationship makes sense.
The person has to seem real, a legitimate object of desire. Many writers seem to believe that unless they're exceptionally attractive, no one will accept them- daft, because 99.9% of your readers will be ordinary Joes or Josephines who won't have some love god/goddess falling at their feet. How many times have you met somebody gorgeous, only to discover they're as thick as a plank or overweeningly arrogant? Whatever some authors may think, film star looks don't excuse someone being a complete jerk.
The same applies for their personality and interests. There's this tendency for heroes/heroines to excel at everything they do- while some make their romantic lead a supernatural being as a get out clause (of course they're going to have a genius intellect/be able to leap a building at a single bound/be amazing lovers etc), that doesn't mean you're off the hook. Even angels have their hang ups!
Their personality has to ring true, too: a realistic splash of insecurity here, a smudge of pride there. Make them too sweet, understanding and obviously designed as your hero's perfect mate and everyone will puke; make them too flawed and you'll wonder why anyone would go to all that trouble. There's got to be a limit- if one of them does something unforgivable, their partner should have the strength and self respect not to take them back. Rhett Butler made the right decision.
Ask yourself this: outside this particular set of circumstances, would these two people love or even like each other? Yes, galactic warfare or natural disasters might bring the unlikeliest people together, but once the threat is removed, would the relationship last? I was always extremely sceptical about Ron and Hermione; they're opposites in every way, with few shared interests other than Harry. If your couple spend their time trading witticisms rather than have a proper conversation or hold non stop slanging matches, you've really got to ask whether this will work. "Opposites attract" is a total fallacy- you need at least some common ground.
The best possible preparation is reading and watching romances (proper romances, not a genre film with a romance shoe horned in). See what's out there, see what works. Don't be tempted to rehash existing novels; Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre have been revisited in every setting but space (please don't take that as a challenge!) What makes your "average girl falls for fantastical being" tale different from the thousands of others out there? Does your "boy meets boy" tale have an unusual setting, say Ancient Rome or Camelot? Even so, that won't be enough to rescue it if the relationship feels rushed or the characters are unconvincing.
That's enough for today. Coming soon: fantasy worlds!
Love can be- ought to be- a wondrous thing. Two people out of the many billions on this planet coming together, sharing something spectacular. Yes, people may be mistaken, or regret it afterwards, but for as long as it lasts, it's the ultimate experience.
Who hasn't felt the agonies of unrequited love, or been bowled over by their first kiss? What makes you relate more to a heroine than watching her fall in and out of love?
Quite a lot, actually.
At the risk of stating the obvious: when you fall in love yourself, it happens in real time. There are so many things your real life squeeze can do that can't be covered by a story: the off key way they whistle, the rituals you have together, how watching a crummy movie or going to the launderette can be fine, provided it's together. The notes and the in jokes and the hundreds of gestures you share.
That connection builds up over the course of months and years. A fictional couple doesn't have that luxury- in a book that takes approximately ten hours to read, we're supposed to buy that these two people have met, fallen for each other and belong together. You'd assume that since virtually every story has a love plot somewhere, it'd be easy to pull off, but in fact it's one of the hardest things a writer has to do.
Think about it. An author is only human, like anybody else. In many cases you can perceive the outline of their ideal man/woman (sometimes, but not always, their spouse in different clothes). Since your version of "The One" is highly personal, what seems romantic or erotic to you might fall flat to your readers. If you like sensitive, slightly nerdy guys who can cook and make models, you're hardly going to be impressed by a bad boy in a grunge band. Likewise, if you have a yen for steely ambitious girls, you won't find a homebody who makes a living dressing up cats attractive.
It depends on the age of the reader, too. While teenage girls may sigh over Edward Cullen's god like looks and protectiveness, older women regard him as a one dimensional, controlling creep. Look at Princess Leia and Han Solo: seen from an adult perspective, their relationship's a clumsy contrivance that stops her from hooking up with her own brother (Obi Wan should really have warned them about that). Yet if you're a kid who thinks Han is a cool maverick, their relationship makes sense.
The person has to seem real, a legitimate object of desire. Many writers seem to believe that unless they're exceptionally attractive, no one will accept them- daft, because 99.9% of your readers will be ordinary Joes or Josephines who won't have some love god/goddess falling at their feet. How many times have you met somebody gorgeous, only to discover they're as thick as a plank or overweeningly arrogant? Whatever some authors may think, film star looks don't excuse someone being a complete jerk.
The same applies for their personality and interests. There's this tendency for heroes/heroines to excel at everything they do- while some make their romantic lead a supernatural being as a get out clause (of course they're going to have a genius intellect/be able to leap a building at a single bound/be amazing lovers etc), that doesn't mean you're off the hook. Even angels have their hang ups!
Their personality has to ring true, too: a realistic splash of insecurity here, a smudge of pride there. Make them too sweet, understanding and obviously designed as your hero's perfect mate and everyone will puke; make them too flawed and you'll wonder why anyone would go to all that trouble. There's got to be a limit- if one of them does something unforgivable, their partner should have the strength and self respect not to take them back. Rhett Butler made the right decision.
Ask yourself this: outside this particular set of circumstances, would these two people love or even like each other? Yes, galactic warfare or natural disasters might bring the unlikeliest people together, but once the threat is removed, would the relationship last? I was always extremely sceptical about Ron and Hermione; they're opposites in every way, with few shared interests other than Harry. If your couple spend their time trading witticisms rather than have a proper conversation or hold non stop slanging matches, you've really got to ask whether this will work. "Opposites attract" is a total fallacy- you need at least some common ground.
The best possible preparation is reading and watching romances (proper romances, not a genre film with a romance shoe horned in). See what's out there, see what works. Don't be tempted to rehash existing novels; Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre have been revisited in every setting but space (please don't take that as a challenge!) What makes your "average girl falls for fantastical being" tale different from the thousands of others out there? Does your "boy meets boy" tale have an unusual setting, say Ancient Rome or Camelot? Even so, that won't be enough to rescue it if the relationship feels rushed or the characters are unconvincing.
That's enough for today. Coming soon: fantasy worlds!
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