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What Makes A Great Love Story?

By on December 14, 2017
What Makes A Great Love Story? Writer's Life.org

Writing a great love story can be a truly enjoyable and satisfying experience for many authors. However, when it comes to writing a successful love story, there are certain tried and tested elements that your readers will come to expect.

There are, of course, many versions of the great love story, but if you are just setting out, here are some elements to consider including to make your love story a great one!

Lovers that don’t like one another

If your lovers are all loved up from the start, your readers will tire of them quickly. That’s why many writers make it so that their protagonists at first appear to be at loggerheads with one another. Many great love stories start out with the two main characters finding one another almost unbearable, and it is only through getting to know one another or a series of strange events that they finally fall in love.

The “meet-cute”

Staging the meet-cute can be one of the most powerful moments in a love story, and is a device used in many romantic films too! Writing the perfect meet-cute can set the tone of your book. Do your lovers already know one another? Do they meet by chance? Do they keep missing one another by seconds? Think carefully about how to orchestrate that first meeting and make it as impactful as possible.

The obstacles they must face

Remember that the course of love does not run smoothly! Make sure that your lovers have to face obstacles and difficulties along their journey - either together or to end up with one another - it will make their love seem so much more worthwhile when they overcome these obstacles in the end.

Compatibility

It’s important to think about the kinds of people that would actually end up together. If your lovers have nothing in common and are opposites it might be hard for your readers to understand why they would be together. They can fight of course, but underneath it all, it’s vital that there is something that draws them together.

The love story ending

Do your lovers end up together against the odds, or is heartbreak in store? Is the ending perfect or bittersweet? Many authors think that a love story should have an ending where everything is ideal, and all loose ends are tied up - but it doesn’t have to be this way, and some of the most impactful love stories are actually the saddest too.

A great love story is unpredictable, surprising, touching, heart-wrenching, traumatic, emotional, beautiful and so much more - a great twist at the end will also delight your readers. So if you are writing a love story consider the tips above and see how you can make yours one of the greats!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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