Tag: Falling in love

Love at First Sight

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Picture yourself in a crowd. A variety of people are milling about. Perhaps it’s a birthday party or maybe it’s a dance at the community center. You spot a good friend on the opposite side of the room and as you wind your way through the seemingly tangled mess of humanity, a face appears that takes your breath away.

Is that love at first sight? It might be depending upon what happens next.

What is your story of falling in love? Have you ever shared it with someone outside of the immediate family? If you did, what was their reaction? If not, why?

Your task is to write a story in which characters meet and something happens. A spark. A tingle. A magical moment. It can be fiction or nonfiction. You could make it predictably sappy or there can be friction between the two as they navigate their way.

Begin by setting the scene. This might be a time to have weather details included, for isn’t spring the time of love? Allow your readers to feel the environment through sight and sound.

Make the developing relationship interesting enough so that readers want to know more.  Bring in complexities and complications. Use dialogue to enhance the progression of the romance.

Have fun with this one.

The Dating Ritual

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Do you remember your first date? How old were you? Where did you go?

What was your reaction when you were asked out? Did your heart palpitate? Your breathing increase? Your cheeks flush?

Think about the process of dating. First looks. First impressions. Making contact. Deciding whether or not there is potential for a relationship. Repeated dates and encounters. Still deciding.

Just as real people go through the ritual, so must your character, especially if he is single. He searches for a possible mate. He finds one, woos her, asks her out.

In today’s world, women can also be the pursuers. She can make contact, initiate communication, make decisions. Make the first moves.

Your task is actually quite simple. Write a scene in which your protagonist is searching for love. First of all, decide where this search will take place. In a bar? Nightclub? Office?

Then decide what the person looks like, acts like, sounds like. What is the attraction? Be clear about that. The other cannot be dressed like a slob, stagger around drunk and burp loudly sending alcoholic fumes everywhere. Instead, what characteristics appeal to the seeker?

In your scene they will make contact, which means writing dialogue. Make it realistic. What would two strangers say to each other in order to sound appealing?

As the dialogue develops, allow the two to find interest in each other. How is that displayed? How does that alter dialogue?

Finally, write the end of the scene, when they part. What happens? Is there a hug or handshake? An exchanging of contact information? A kiss? A slow dance before the night ends?

Have fun with this one.

Love Poems

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Throughout all of time, love poems have been a popular form of expression whose sole purpose is to entice the desired partner to fall deeply in love with the writer.

These poems express the writer’s most intense feelings, in a way that bares the heart in raw form.

Poems can be written in free verse, meaning that they don’t have to rhyme, but are more of a stream of consciousness. Or poems can rhyme, following patterns established long ago.

It’s up to the writer.

Your task is imagine that your character is in love and wants to write something that will show how much she loves her chosen one.

Don’t worry about rhyme or meter unless that is something that you want to explore. Instead allow the words to flow freely, running down the page like a stream runs bubbling down the creek.

Have fun with this one.

Love in the Story

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Love manifests itself in many forms.

We understand like from a very young age. We like ice cream, listening to stories, running around the yard. We like school, the playground, learning new things. We like boys if we’re male and girls if we’re female until we become adolescents and then it’s no longer the “in” thing to like only same-sex friends.

We also learn love. Love of family. Love of our dog or cat. Even love of turtles, elephants, unicorns. We love specific foods and colors. We love styles of clothing. We love our electronics devices and spend countless hours before them.

At some point in time we feel love of the other for the first time. A true, heartfelt desire to be with the other forever and ever. Because of this love we are willing to make sacrifices, to change our lives, to try new things, all to be with this love.

Whoever your character is, then, he must have loves in his life. He probably has a gazillion likes, but he should have one true love. If not, then it’s time to give him one.

Think about your character’s personality and what types of people she feels a kinship to. Does she like tall, muscular body builders? Thin, reedy intellectuals? Those with blue eyes and blond hair or dark brown eyes and tight curls that encircle the head.

Once you’ve discovered the type, then create the person that she will fall in love with. Figure out how they meet. Is it at work or in a coffee shop? At a ballgame or in line to buy the latest Apple product?

Your task is to write the falling in love scene. Remember that even the most villainous of us love something or someone, so don’t be afraid to have your evil character find love.

Put them in the place of meeting. Have them exchange glances, smiles, shrugs. Let us see inside one of their heads so that we know what he is thinking. Is it love at first sight or simply intrigue? What things do they say, do? How do they find out each other’s name and contact information?

Take us to the point where one of them knows it is love.

Have fun with this one.