Lesson - writing characters in love

United States
March 8, 2018 11:34pm CST
Writing "love" in fiction is a classic place of show me don't tell me. Any writer can say: Bob loved Mary, but how? Love is how we act differently, a look maybe. A writer needs to observe the real world and use actions, looks, conversation to show how one character loves another. Example: Robert quickly stood almost knocking over his chair. Dang; why do I always act like an awkward teen in front of Mary he scolds himself. Mary hides a grin. She always found Robert handsome but lately she thinks of him as cute. Not aww, a bunny cute; she can't even explain it to herself. I know I can't show much in a short example but the idea is there. People will love (or hate) your characters more when they take on substance instead of being told they love each other.
3 people like this
2 responses
@mydanods (6513)
• Nigeria
11 Mar 18
Have you written a love story before?
• United States
11 Mar 18
I have written characters in love in many stories; this is a lesson on characters in love in a story not writing a love story.
1 person likes this
@mydanods (6513)
• Nigeria
11 Mar 18
@JAWwriting Sorry, I misunderstood the two. It is now clear. Characters in love in a story.
@josie_ (9763)
• Philippines
22 Mar 18
I would like to know how a character would go about describing an attraction that is sensuous but not sensual. A kind of platonic love or as Emerson wrote, "beauty is it's own excuse for being."