🥰 Love will make you a better writer – here's how

There is a reason romance is the top selling genre in publishing and why all of our favorite stories have love at their core.

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Happy Valentine's Day Reader,

Yes, I know this holiday rubs many people the wrong way, but I think we could use more days dedicated to love. We've got plenty dedicated to war and problematic old dudes, why not lean into a day full of hope, joy, and satisfaction?

I'm perpetually single (yo hot queers, slide into my DM's already!), so this has never really been a day about romantic or sexual love for me. Instead, since high school, I've used this day to let everyone I love know how much they matter to me, to sit in the feelings of gratitude for what I have, and to recognize the way love is at the core of all I do – even when I call it something else.

It's that calling it something else that I want you to think about as a writer.

Love by any other name (still makes for a great read).

Every climax of a story involves love.

Maybe it's the moment the superhero gets her hopes up that she's finally thwarted the villain.

Or the young girl taking up arms to protect her family's farm.

Or that moment the group of masterminds walk away from the casino with all the cash and coins in the vault.

If you look at plot structures for a book, every one of them is a combination of love discovered --> love lost --> love regained.

• Gollum and the ring.
• Frozen and the sister's relationship to each other and self.
• Citizen Kane and Rosebud.
• Ratatouille and cooking.
• Wolf of Wall Street and the stock market.

Love – of possessions, of others, of bygone times, of food, of money and power – is the key emotional driver of any and all characters.

If you want to pull your readers in and make them devour your writing, you have to lean into love. And if you want to make money as a writer, you absolutely should think about making love front and center of what you write.

Love sells. A lot.

People often look their noses down at me when I say I write romance.

I get it, we associate romance with silly things like women's desire, processing feelings of tenderness and vulnerability, and diverse characters of all backgrounds, shapes, abilities, and body types. Who wants to read that fluff when the world is on fire?

Turns out, love is exactly what most of us need right now.

• In 2022, romance novels contributed to 66% of adult fiction growth.
• Most of the massive hit books right now have some romantic aspect to them (Fourth Wing, ACOTAR, etc.).
• The genre brings in over a billion dollars in sales each year to the Big Five publishers alone – not to mention self-publishing and indie publishers.
• All of my most financially successful author friends write in the genre of romance.

The harder life gets, the more we turn to a genre that promises us an escape with a happily ever after – or at least a happily for now.

I'm not saying we should all go out and write romance – all genres are culturally important and valuable in every way – but I am encouraging you to lean into love when you write.

Here are some ways to add more love to your writing, whatever the genre.

• What do you love?
• What do your readers love?
• What do your characters love?
• Where is love given?
• When is love taken away?
• How is love reclaimed?

Indirect expressions of love.

Love is rarely expressed directly – and when it does it can be cringe. Two people staring googly eyes at each other can be great in a comedic sketch, but if taken seriously it can make us all want to look away.

However, indirect love is all around us, in our stories and every day lives. Not only is it easier to digest, but it also makes for more complex and rich storytelling.

Think of the five love languages:

• words of affirmation (compliments)
• quality time
• gifts
• acts of service
• physical touch

It's much more interesting to explore the endless possible combinations of expressing love within these five categories than just sticking to saying "I love you" or engaging in sexual acts.

Now take those five love languages and apply them to a myriad of things, people, and places that humans love. Here's how that plays out in our earlier examples:

• Gollum's love of the ring shown through words of affirmation "my precious."
• Elsa and Anna each expressing their love in different ways causing the core conflict in Frozen.
• Citizen Kane longing so much for the quality time of his past that he repelled love.
• Ratatouille's love of cooking coming out in physical touch and sensory experiences.
• Wolf of Wall Street characters only being able to express love in gifts.

Show your audience

• what a character loves,
• how a character loves,
• what love a character is afraid of,
• what a character will do to either protect their love, and/or
• what a character will do to protect themself from the vulnerability of love,

and you have an extremely compelling emotional hook that will keep us turning the page.

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I hope that this post inspired you to think about love more broadly and welcome it more completely both in your creative and personal life.

Because the world needs your story now more than ever.

With love,

Lauren

P.S. Forward this email to a writer you love. :-)

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The world needs your story now more than ever.™

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Love, Lauren Founder of School for Writers and author of BECAUSE FAT GIRL

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