tips on how to write love stories? its a little overview

if anybody is out there in the creative... writing world how or lets say what are some ways to write some good love stories because its the story u that i have finished its called the path between friends and basically its about three guy friends and one of them are gay named Dominique and he falls in love with this guy named Tevon and there good and all . then there is Donnie who is straight and he has a girl named Noami and they go through some ups and downs but its good too. finally the third friend is Micah he is Bi and he falls for this guy named Brian who is friends with tevon who is with Dominique and overall its filled with drama, love and i guess all i can say ion my opinion its a pretty good story. but i also forgot to mention that they are also in high school... um dominique is 17 and he is a junior, Donnie is 17 too he is a junior. and Micah is 178 and he is a junior as well. but i just need to know if any body knows some good tips about love stories.

This article is about writing romance.

My tip is not to fall into the whole "Fairy Tale" trap. Don't make the guy perfect, same goes for the girl. And make sure (and by make sure I mean double-check, triple check and check again for good measure) that you give the characters reasons for falling in love.

~Rosey

Also, develop your characters well. This is true for any story but really make sure the reader knows your characters as well as you do. Make the reader feel for the characters. Make the reader want Boy to be with Girl. Make the reader feel sad if Boy and Girl end up breaking up.
Rosey already kind of said this but it's really easy to go cliche when you get into romance. Not every guy is Prince Charming and not everyone needs to be 'saved'.

From your description (although it was slightly hard to follow ) it sounds pretty original. Just make sure your reader can keep up with all the different characters and story lines and make the characters as real as possible.

Good luck!

-Carly

As a writer of love stories, I have learned from my mistakes. And yes, I do agree that you should not in any way make your characters too perfect. Give them flaws. Make them jerks and if you don't like the way they act, then that's a good sign. Your characters have to have conflict, especially in a love story.

We are not Shakespeare but we have the ability to give our characters life.

Also one tip that I hold dear that I shall share with you is, love is not love. This simply means romantic fiction does not have to have love from beginning to love. We all like to read love in moments but most of the time we want to get inside the characters' head so it seems more realistic. Give us love in intervals, make it raw and whatever you do, just write. Write like there is no tomorrow and never second-guess yourself.

Good luck,

~Angel

I actually believe the same thing that everyone has written above me. It's true, I HATE it when people make a character too perfect or just perfect. I love it when its not too cheesey because it makes me want to puke and trust me I have my own life story for being a mother of twins and now married. PM me if you want some advice a crit or anything.

Best of luck dear!

-Max

what about if the parts of your love story seem like their to similar to someone elses, even if the characters are completely different? And advice for those situations?

I'm new at this characters being in love stuff...it's hard.

if they sound similar to someone else's, -not necessarily intentionally- you might of subconsciously had that romance on your mind when writing it.

ANYWAYS. what you can do? you can change it, or you can leave it. it depends. if you feel like its copied or so similar other people will constantly make the connection, then yea changing it is a good idea.

If the plots the same? then yea, changing it up isn't such a bad idea.

the thing is, new or old at writing romances best thing to have when writing one; KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS.

it seems so fake when characters have this total turn around the second a romance happens. they need more reasons then the romance to have the turn around. no evil murdering phycopath, is going to start walking old ladies across the street or helping little kids build sand castles (unless they have an alterative motive) just cause they fell in love. =/

SEX OR LOVE:
Well, the problem is that some people make their characters sex objects. Bond Girl wannabes. And then other writers aim for the mushy sighing and googly eyes. I have committed that writing crime many times. So, just try to find a balance. Add sexual tension when you need a heating up to a dragging story, but do some lovey-dovey also when you need a break from all the love scenes.

CHARACTERS:
Also, make the characters unique. What if one of the gay characters was oppressed by a religious mother (a la 'Prayers for Bobby') and had to keep his relationship secret? What if? What if? There are a lot of ways to create drama not related to drama. If it's just boy meets girl/boy, fall in love, have sex, be happy, it's gonna be pretty boring. So you need to add tension within the characters.

SETTING:
Also, high school is one heck of a love mess, so you CAN get away with more sex than you can usually do, but modulate it. Do some love talks too, some tears, some happiness. Et cetera. Et cetera. Also, if the characters are from different cliques, then there is a natural source of tension from dating someone outside of your 'kind'.

OVERVIEW:
Keep the love flowing nicely, like Muffin said. Make the characters change gradually. Make the love a bit tense with outside drama. Know your characters intimately and it will be easy from there.