A writer inspired by nature and human nature

How to Characterize Love in Your Writing

Aside

GREAT TIPS & RESOURCE LINKS…
Happy Love Month & Happy Writing! ~Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com

valentineI posted this last year, but it’s worth repeating: How do we characterize love in your writing?

Because, if you’re a writer, you must. It doesn’t have to be sex but it has to take readers that direction, right to the edge of the cliff. Yes, you can leave the lurid details out, but let readers peek over the edge.

How do you do that? Start with a few decisions:

  • Is it platonic?
  • Is it unrequited?
  • Is there conflict?
  • Is it lust disguised as love?
  • Is it serial love? Or one-of-a-kind?
  • Is it kinky or traditional?
  • Does love bring joy or sadness–or misery?
  • Is the manifestation of love baby-ish or mature–goo-goo eyes and saccharin words or Paris vacations?
  • Is love verbal or silent?
  • Is this love constructive or destructive? Flowery or brutal?
  • what part does the spiritual play in the emotion–or is it uninvolved?
  • Is it a subplot or a…

View original post 672 more words

Written

on 02/09/2017

Comments on: "How to Characterize Love in Your Writing" (23)

  1. macjam47 said:
    02/17/2017 at 8:08 am

    Gret tips for writing a February Love Month read.

    Like

  2. Ernesto San Giacomo said:
    02/11/2017 at 12:08 am

    AN excellent breakdown of the Love theme. For me it is a subplot, but it is also somewhat forbidden.

    Like

  3. mattiesmysteries said:
    02/10/2017 at 9:03 pm

    Interesting post, Bette. I’m all for showing love but more for “implying” anything stronger. Too many grandkids and greats reading my stories!

    Like

    • Bette A. Stevens said:
      02/11/2017 at 2:21 pm

      I’m with you, Mattie. Not only for the grands and greats, but in reading that’s my preference too. Thanks for stopping by for a visit and chat. Have a wonderful week! 🙂 xo

      Like

  4. Jacqui Murray said:
    02/10/2017 at 3:12 pm

    Thanks for the reblog, Bette. Love your community.

    Like

    • Bette A. Stevens said:
      02/10/2017 at 3:19 pm

      Delighted to share your fabulous post, Jacqui. Great questions to get us thinking about LOVE and a perfect time to share it. Happy Writing and Happy Love Month! 🙂 ❤

      Like

  5. balroop2013 said:
    02/10/2017 at 2:53 pm

    All the questions in this post are so evocative! Thanks for sharing Bette. 🙂

    Like

  6. jacquiejrhoades said:
    02/10/2017 at 1:49 pm

    Thank you for sharing! Interesting post.

    Like

  7. jacquiejrhoades said:
    02/10/2017 at 1:48 pm

    Thanks for sharing!

    Like

  8. watchingthedaisies said:
    02/10/2017 at 11:57 am

    Thanks for a very informative post.😍

    Like

  9. Felicia Denise said:
    02/09/2017 at 2:23 pm

    Love this! Many thanks for sharing, Bette! 😉👍

    Like

  10. suzanna said:
    02/09/2017 at 1:29 pm

    Some great points in this post. Thanks, Bette 🙂

    Like

Join the conversation!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tag Cloud

%d bloggers like this: