For example: I just finished reading Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout. It was a decent book in some regards. I just couldn't get past the boring and kind of disgusting "romance" between the main characters. They HATED each other for most of the duration of the book, all the while tormenting each other like Kindergartners. Is this the basis of "love" for young adults? Is this what they have to look forward to? Men with bi-polar tendencies and immaturity levels rivaling my eleven year old nephew aren't exactly the highlight of love. I was practically tearing my hair out every time Kat made an immature comment to Daemon.
Who am I to judge though? What do I know about romance?
Nothing, that's what.
My biggest fear is that if I do include the obligatory love interest that it will take over the whole novel/potential trilogy. I'm complete crap with writing about love and relationships. There's no way I could even fathom having one stretch over three books into a (potentially) happy ending. Why should there even be a happy ending? I like sad endings. Life has sad endings. But Alexis, people read books because they want to escape! They need a happy ending. You may be right there, but everyone is different. I don't know where my characters are going until they tell me. How can I tell if they reach a happy (love filled) conclusion? I'm not a fortune teller, although I'd LOVE to go see one.
Back to the topic at hand, though. What do I do with these people I've created? Words are powerful and come with great responsibility (much like Spiderman.) Do I let them love each other? Do I make the story more about her finding herself? Perhaps a combination of both? What if she's not even capable of love? Or am I just putting too much of myself into this character again? I may not have the highest hopes for romance but does that mean my characters suffer too? I would just love to know how all of those romance writers do it. Does Nicholas Sparks live a life like the ones he writes about or is he just good at faking it?
What do you think?
Feedback is always welcome! I couldn't do this without you guys.
xoxo