3 Reasons We Adore Love Stories

Love stories — why do we adore them? Three reasons:

1) love is essential to every life — love of someone or something
2) stories of love help us understand our relationships
3) every love is unique.

Story Genius author and master storytelling coach Lisa Cron thinks humans evolved by learning problem-solving by hearing stories. And if there’s one big problem in your life, it probably has something to do with  “LOVE” — or lack of it. The secret cure — love begins within you, it doesn’t come from outside. That said, love does need to have an object. Which is why so many of us have pets. I like to complicate my love stories with a fantasy element, bringing them into the fantasy romance category.
We’re wired for love stories.

One of life’s biggest journeys is to learn how to love someone else, das does my first novel’s main character, May Gold. It’s also the story of my second novel’s main character, George St. James, who learns that sacrifice is an important part of true love. In fact, in my third novel, Liv Pomeroy learns to love her work saving history. Loving what you do is a really important form of love in life, and not one easy to discover and manifest. And in my book The Invisibles, sisters Elinor and Saffron find their way through their differences to sisterly love.

Obviously, I’m hardwired to seek stories of love. How do you find and sustain love, and what if you lose someone you love?

My biggest writing tip: ask yourself what your main character would do if put into the situation of being denied contact, mutual attraction, harmony, or agreement with the object of her adoration. Whether the relationship is siblings, parent and child, lovers, longtime marriage partners, or people who meet each other across the centuries, there’s a story in the evolution (or deconstruction) of true love.

You can set a love story within an adventure, fantasy, mystery, suspense, or romance. A love story isn’t a genre, it’s a powerful and essential human motivation.

My Favorite Love Stories in Books

Friendship. Why are love stories important when they focus on friendship? Some of the most central relationships in our lives are with our friends. Yet few novels examine that central love in all our lives. One of the most heartbreakingly beautiful friendship stories is Anne Patchett’s Truth & Beauty. In this frank and startlingly intimate work, Patchett shines a light on women’s friendships and shows us what it means to stand up for one another.

Romance. Wit and the polar opposites of attraction/repulsion are my favorites in stories of romance. Pride and Prejudice made the mold, and its many spinoffs broke out of it into contemporary territory. The witty writing in The Hating Game kept me laughing, thrilling, and turning pages. Jennifer Spiegel’s Love Slave has wit, emotional richness, and is a beautifully written contemporary romance

Family love. The story of estranged siblings returning to a family home is such a popular trope! And resolving family disputes with love always makes for a satisfying story. Barbara O’Neal’s beautiful When We Believed in Mermaids is an epic story of seeking for a lost sibling. Jane Austen was great at writing siblings, probably because she had so many. Sense and Sensibility features a sweet relationship between women who are very different.

Love between siblings can be one of the strongest bonds in life. I lost my younger brother a few years back, and while missing him, I cherish having had such a fine and loving relationship with him. My novel The Invisibles was written as a tribute to him.

 

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