Defining Love

Writers' Wednesday!!!

Valentine's Day seems like it was just yesterday and yet, love is still in the air (and on clearance).  Sure.  We have one day of the year dedicated to loving, or (depending on your age) liking.  But thankfully, love lasts longer than a pink Twinkie that rolled under your car seat.

As writer's, we must find a way to inject love into every story to remain relevant, marketable, credible, and universal.  If your main character is incapable of love, it has to be shown by contrast to a love interest with the potential to warm him/her up by the end of the story, even if the Grinch ends up staying Grinch-y.

Everyone can relate to love.  And if another character loves your central character, it makes it easier for your readers/audience to love the character.  Love is also a great motivator for rational characters to do irrational things or take on insurmountable challenges.

That's all well and good, but how does one write love?  It isn't an easy thing to define, and once you have, you've opened your story up for debate.  It's in the action.

Any woman can tell you that actions speak louder than words.  The most silvery of tongues will tarnish in idle hands.  Conversely, a cold tongue can melt butter with a demonstration of the heart.

Don't try to shortcut the process of love in your story.  Even if it's a survival-horror and that whole extreme-situations-can-create-extreme-emotions thing applies.  A compelling subplot of love can help your story stand out in any genre.

The Love Bug

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you from the bug, wifey, and myself.

It's a hard one, being separated from my wife and daughter by about 2,800 miles.  After nearly three days of trying to watch nothing but mindless action flicks, I can attest that every movie made in the last two decades is a love story to some degree.  The first Predator movie is the most recent one I own with no discernible romance.

Distance does make the heart grow fonder.  It also makes stilted grade-school flirting between Adrien Brody and Alice Braga feel like sappy romance.

I'm not going to complain though.  There are many, many couples separated today by many more miles with one of them working their tails off in a combat zone.  At least I can say for certain that I will see my family again.

For all of us that can't be with the ones we love, I want all the rest of you to love the ones you're with until somebody rolls their eyes.