#but it would also help Darcy get over his snobbiness

[bethanydelleman]

I would pay good money to pluck Darcy and Wentworth out of their respective books and put them in the same room right after being dumped/rejected. Because Wentworth would be on a bender and Darcy would be like, "Maybe you should reflect on yourself" and they'd probably get close to killing each other but end up as best friends.

[lewis-winters]

Pls talk us through your Austen and BoB pairing choices because they sound incredible

Anon, whoever you are, I want to kiss you on the mouth.

Ok, so, I think you're talking about this post, yes? I know I said in the tags that I'd only elaborate with moodboards but, truly, the only moodboard I made was one for Emma!Winnix; certain screenshots c/o of @lupoteodoro):

and, idk, but something about Emma just hits me as a Winnix Jane Austen AU, yeah know? it's just so clear cut when I think about it. on one hand, Dick as your upright, never wrong, severely repressed, and hopelessly in love Mr. Knightley, who is so SO proper he's practically a walking etiquette manual, but manages to lose all basic composure when confronted with his best friend, who he cannot help but love and adore, despite being spoilt and selfish and apathetic at the worst times while also being probably the kindest, bravest man he knows at the best of times.

and Nix as Emma Woodhouse! handsome. charming. rich. and so SO bored with his life-- so SO lonely, rather, trapped under his father's thumb and pretending that it doesn't quite bother him. and so SO nosy but so SO loving, despite what he thinks, despite what he feels he's capable of. he loves people, wants them to be happy, and falls over himself just to make sure they get as much happiness as he could give them. his arrogance is his downfall, but his heart will always pull him to do what's right.

then later on, after everything, Dick stands before Lew under a great big tree, cradling his face in his hands, frantically wiping away tears with his thumbs while his own run down his face. "Lew," he croaks, trembling with fear and anticipation and an inability to keep it all in any more. He must say it, otherwise he just might explode. "I'm sorry--"

Lew shaking his head. Confused. "What--"

"I just. I'm so silent, and here you are, always so honest, with everything out on the table," Dick lets out a shaky exhale. "I cannot make speeches... Perhaps, if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

... more under the cut because I rambled:

So. I know when people think Pride and Prejudice, their first idea would obviously be Webgott, and honestly I don't disagree. Web as a snobby, arrogant Mr Darcy who is actually just socially inept but so willing to change, so willing to break through his own apathy in order to meet Elizabeth!Joe's standards-- not to win him, or anything, but simply because he thinks Joe has some merit, despite looking down on him for his lack of wealth. And Joe as a fiesty Ms Elizabeth Bennet, who simultaneously loves and hates his family, who loathes this arrogant man, who never has a nice thing to say about Joe, who only ever insults him, only to turn around and proclaim to have been bewitched, body and soul, by Joe's supposed charm-- Joe likes to pretend nothing in him softens at the admission, and he does well at first. But the more he gets to know him, the more he can't seem to stay away.

Except, I also love the idea of Persuasion Webgott-- particularly with a focus on this post, a meta from Wentworth's POV of the novel. Where they're old lovers who were thwarted by Anne!Web's awful family, intervening because they think they know better, that Wentworth!Joe will lead Web to nothing but ruin. Except, Joe becomes a rather successful navy captain, while David rots in his family home, largely ignored and sometimes exploited, wasting away as regret and yearning eats at him from the inside.

When Joe comes back, he has every intention to rub it in David's face-- finally! after years of hurt and resentment, he can come back a wealthy man and watch the boy who broke his heart lead a miserable life while Joe himself gets everything he thinks he deserves.

Except he doesn't enjoy it. Because no matter how much he has stewed in his resentment, he can never actually wish Web any harm. He watches this once vibrant, laughing boy turn into a shy, miserable young man, who keeps his blue eyes trained on the floor, whose attempts at conversation get pushed aside. Nobody seems to realize that he's hilarious and utterly enlightening when he gets passionate enough, and that he can take a joke more gracefully than anybody gives him credit for, and that children adore him, because he's the only one willing to treat them like actual people. Nobody knows these sides to him-- nobody but Joe. And seeing them so forcibly smothered by the oppressive air of the Webster clan is far more painful than Joe thought it would ever be. How could people ignore him like that? treat him like he's dead? Why? Don't they know how funny he is? how kind? Joe wants to scream.

Meanwhile, David carries his cross with all the grace of a man beaten down by everything. He made a mistake-- he was young and in love and afraid and now, he's paying for it. But Joe looks so happy. He's moved on, and though it hurts, Web knows that he has nobody else to blame but himself, and so he moves through the world like a burden and nurses the regret in him like a leaden stone.

And while there's Persuasion!Webgott, I want there to be P&P!Speirton, particularly based of the 2005 movie-- do not come into my house and tell me Ron wouldn't be the most emotionally constipated and socially inept Darcy ever because he would be PERFECT and Lip. Oh wonderful Lip, who doesn't quite stand up for himself all the time, but who finds the way this man looks down on him grating at best, and downright offensive at worst. He's hissing and spitting at Ron the whole damn time while Ron is looking at him with stars in his eyes, utterly confused but loving every second of it.

And lastly, Northanger Abbey!Baberoe, with Cathy!Babe, his head perpetually in the clouds, his imagination a wild, wild thing, and Tilney!Eugene, who is this mysterious heir to this massive, southern gothic estate. Who has the looks of Byronic, brooding hero and is anything but. Who is kind and gentle and absolutely smitten by this bright-eyed, fiesty redhead who's stumbled into his world, head filled with stories. Babe is a breath of fresh air on the Roe estate, and Eugene, against his better judgement, is drawn to him all the more.

Except this time, Babe's stories have opened new doors for him, and perhaps, out of everyone in this genre confused tale, he is the only one who sees reality for what it is. And what he sees might not be anything Eugene would like.

... I just might create a moodboard for this one too, mostly because Southern Gothic is an aesthetic I adore and would love to put together an edit for HOWEVER I haven't managed to find the right pictures just yet. Also I want to read Northanger Abbey again. So this is a great excuse.

[noona-clock]

Confusion & Coincidences

Genre: Regency!AU

Pairing: Yongguk x You

By Admin B

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

The very first line in your book, and you already had to put it down. But not because you disliked it. Not in the least!

You had to put your book down because that particular line made a snort of laughter escape from your lips.

Rich men needed to get married, too, the author was declaring. And how right she was. It was certainly a universally acknowledged truth, though more specifically acknowledged by mothers of young, eligible ladies.

Such as your own mother.

In fact, the notion rang especially true tonight. You had just attended a ball earlier that evening, and... Well, it’s probably easier if you just read for yourself:

Around eight hours ago

“What did I tell you?” your mother scolded, grabbing the book from your hand and tossing it onto your bed. “No time for reading, you must get ready!”

“But, mama!” you cried with a slight pout and a furrowed brow. “It’s new! Just one page - please!”

The anonymous, female author of your recently deemed favorite book of all time, Sense & Sensibility, had just released a new novel. The moment you’d heard of its release this morning, you’d discreetly taken a horse from your family’s stables and ridden into London for the sole purpose of buying it. 

You’d just returned not half an hour ago; your cheeks were still flushed from the whipping wind. The only thing you truly wanted to do right now was read it, but your mother, apparently, was not having it.

“Pride & Prejudice?” she asked with obvious confusion and disdain. “What kind of title for a book is that?”

It took every ounce of will you possessed not to roll your eyes at her comment. You loved your mother. Truly, you did. But the two of you were almost as different as two blood relations can be.

She loved to socialize and flirt and make a fool of herself and dance and embroider.

You loved to read and stay home and go outside and not socialize and not make a fool of yourself and not dance.

But, in this day and age, if you didn’t attend a town ball, you were practically nobody. And, while you preferred the company of your closest friend and your brother over the company of literally anyone else in town, you still didn’t want to be a nobody. You wanted to be at least a little bit of a somebody.

So even though you would much rather sit out this ball in favor of curling up next to the fire and reading what was sure to be another new favorite book of all time, you had resigned yourself to attending the ball tonight.

But, seriously?! You couldn’t even read one page?!

“You know that you shall never catch a husband by reading,” your mother reminded you for the fifty-millionth time. At least.

“Any husband I choose will actually like the fact that I read, mama,” you retorted. For the fifty-millionth time. At least. 

As you expected, your mother didn’t reply. She simply called for one of your maids to start helping you get ready, and you knew you had to resign yourself to the fact that you did, indeed, have to get ready.

Just as your maid was sticking the last hairpin into your coiffure for the evening, you heard a delighted - but also somewhat horrified - shriek come from downstairs.

It could only be your mother. The two of you were the only females in the house, save for the maids, and none of them were known to be as loud and boisterous as your darling mama.

Not even ten seconds after you heard the shriek, rumbling footsteps rang through the air, and you braced yourself for your mother’s arrival in your bedroom.

“Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear,” she gasped as she appeared in the doorway.

“What’s wrong now, mama?” you asked disinterestedly, studying the finished product that was your hair in the mirror.

“That dress will not do! You must - absolutely must - wear your green one.”

You turned in your chair to face her, clasping the seatback and throwing her a very odd expression. “What? My green one? Mama, that’s my best gown. This is just a normal, public ball. I don’t need to --”

“The Earl of Blackman!” she cried.

“...The Earl of Blackman. ...Right.” You tilted your head as your mother plucked your dress - the one you’d been prepared to wear - from your bed and scurried over to your dresser. “Who, exactly, is the Earl of Blackman?”

“He’s the cousin of Mr. Kim! The cousin!”

“Mama, you’ll have to be more specific.” You had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

“Himchan -- you know! Mr. Kim!”

You let out an exasperated sigh, waving a hand through the air to dismiss her explanation. “Yes, I know Himchan! But what’s so important about his cousin?!”

Himchan was a nice enough fellow. Attractive, too, but not necessarily your type. He was the type your mother would love to marry you off to, so naturally, you had no interest in matrimony with him.

Your mother paused and turned to face you. Her expression was one of extreme gravity, and she spoke the next words very carefully and clearly. “The Earl of Blackman, Mr. Kim’s cousin, will be at the ball tonight. He is not only one of the most eligible bachelors in the whole country but also one of the richest.”

Ah, now it made sense.

“So now you understand why you must wear your green gown. Oh, it does complement your coloring so beautifully.” She whisked the dress out of your dresser, holding it up in the air and nodding at your maid to come and fetch it.

Any attempt to dissuade your mother from this notion would fall extremely flat, so you didn’t even bother. Once she set her mind to something there was absolutely no stopping her until she accomplished it. So you simply stood and reached out to hold onto your maid’s shoulder as you stepped into the gown.

You very highly doubted a dress would help you win a husband, but if your mother insisted...

Besides. It really did complement your coloring beautifully.

“Do you see him?” your mother murmured, clutching your father’s sleeve as you followed behind them, your hand resting lightly in the crook of your brother’s elbow.

“See who, dear?”

“Why, the Earl, of course,” she hissed in reply. “Oh, what an odious man you are. Really.”

Your brother snorted out a laugh, and you had to press your lips together to keep from laughing yourself.

Your mother whipped her head around and shot the two of you a glare. “This is not a laughing matter.”

Your gaze shifted guiltily down to the floor. “Sorry, mama,” you murmured to appease her. But when she turned back around, you shared an amused glance with your brother.

Just then, a very large gathering of mostly young ladies caught your eye, your eyebrows raising at the sight.

“Mama,” you called out over the din of music and conversation. “I believe I’ve found him.”

“Found who, dear?” your father queried.

Your mother promptly slapped his arm, her forehead wrinkled in frustration.

“Over there,” you chuckled as you nodded to the crowd. “Where all the other single young ladies are.”

Before you knew it, your mother had grabbed your wrist and was weaving through all of your fellow ball attendees, leading you over to meet who she thought was your future husband.

She fidgeted and hummed and fixed your hair as you waited, the throng of people surrounding Mr. Kim and the Earl getting smaller as the minutes ticked by. You kept hearing murmurs of how unpleasant and unfriendly he was, but you figured the young ladies were simply bitter he hadn’t asked them to dance.

When the people in front of you stepped to the side, your eyes first landed on Mr. Kim. He was a friendly sort, probably the friendliest man in town, and he always seemed to have a smile on his face. Tonight was no exception, and his grin even grew when he saw you.

“Miss Y/N,” he greeted, bowing his head as you dipped into a small curtsy. “What a pleasure! May I introduce my cousin, the Earl of Blackman?”

He gestured to the man standing next to him, and you shifted your gaze to actually look at the Earl.

...Oh.

Well, you can certainly understand why someone would think he’s unfriendly. The expression on his face was quite grim, but the face itself was...

Extremely handsome.

Extremely.

Just the sight of him left you just a bit breathless, but as you pulled your lips into a small, somewhat shy smile, he simply returned it with a perfunctory bow of his head.

Nothing more.

Just a little nod. No smile, no smirk, no murmur. Nothing.

It was very clear he didn’t want to be here, and you could only assume it was because he was exceedingly rich and more used to finer balls than this one.

So you sidled away, almost immediately hearing your mother’s grumbles in your ear.

“Why, I never -- in all my years -- never met someone so uncivil -- not even a ‘how do you do?’ -- dear me!”

Wait, hold on a minute.

You shook your head a little before rereading the last paragraph in your book. You had to make sure you were actually reading the story and not remembering what had happened at the ball this evening.

But... no. 

This Mr. Darcy character seemed just as handsome and just as snobby as the Earl of Blackman. And the heroine, Elizabeth, had also met him at a ball.

What a coincidence.

Anyway. Back to our story.

After finding your closest friend, Alice, and wandering away from your family, you couldn’t help but gossip about this mysterious new guest. He hadn’t said anything when she’d met him either, so you at least didn’t feel singled out by his rudeness.

The two of you kept an eye on him almost the whole evening, wondering when - or even if - he would ask someone to dance with him.

But he never did. He simply stood there, surveying the room with the same aloof, unapproachable expression on his otherworldly face.

I mean, you couldn’t judge him that much because you chose not to dance, either. But... still. It was very obvious that more than two handfuls of ladies in the room were eager to dance with him. It was only polite to ask at least one.

By the end of the evening, after almost four hours, you were more than ready to go home. The Earl had left already, and Alice was currently dancing so you’d been left to your own devices. And you were bored. You wanted to go home and read, for heaven’s sake!

When your mother appeared at your side and announced your family’s departure, you almost hugged her. But, to be quite honest, it was far too late, and you were beginning to get extremely tired.

Not too tired to read, of course, but just tired enough to hold back from showing any outward excitement to be leaving the ball.

“I daresay, I’ve never met anyone as disagreeable as that Earl,” your mother yawned once all four of you were situated in your family’s carriage, bouncing along down the road. Unlike yourself, your mother was tired because she’d been gossiping and flitting around and dancing the whole night. While you were mentally tired, she was physically tired.

“Well, he didn’t know anyone there besides his cousin,” your brother pointed out in that diplomatic way of his.

“But that’s the point of a ball!” your mother retorted. “To socialize and meet people! Your sister will never find a husband at this rate!”

“Mama! Please, it’s too late,” you whined. The only thing you wanted was to get home, curl up in bed, and begin reading your book. You really didn’t think you could stand anymore talk of husbands, especially coming from your mother.

“You’re right about that, my darling girl,” she countered with pursed lips. “It is getting too late. If you don’t snatch a husband soon, you’ll end up an old maid like your Aunt.”

“That sounds delightful,” you sighed. “And even if I were getting married, it certainly wouldn’t be to the Earl of Blackman.”

“Oh, dear, no. I rid myself of that notion right after we met him. I would never want such a sour, mirthless man for a son-in-law.”

Good. At least you didn’t have to worry about that any longer.

The only thing you truly had to worry about was falling asleep before you could finish the first chapter of your book. The Earl of Blackman was the furthest thing from your mind, and you imagined he always would be.

Part 2

[acaseofthewiggins]

Oz, Tara, Kennedy and Buffy, Kendra Faith?

OK, so this is in response to this post where the challenge is to play a fanfic version of fuck/marry/kill where instead it’s slow burn/fake dating/enemies to lovers. (And I will say that since I’m putting myself into the mix I’m mentally aging the characters up to their mid to late 20s. Just so it doesn’t feel weird.)

Soo… For the first set I’d say that I’d definitely do a slow burn romance with Tara. She’s so shy and sweet that it would be worth taking the time to get to know her and help her get out of her shell. I mean look at this cutie! Definitely a woman who’s worth taking the time to get to know.

I guess I’d fake date Oz. Which is kinda funny, cause one of Oz’s hallmarks as a character is his sincerity. But I enjoy imagining some kind of contrived scenario where we have to pretend to date but actually we’re just friends, but wait, maybe we’re something more? Like, Oz is bi and has been mostly dating guys lately but his family’s not accepting so he decides to take a female friend as a guest to a wedding to make his mom happy?

Which leaves Kennedy with enemies to lovers. I’m not a huge fan of Kennedy, but I’m not a hater either. (I actually wrote a Kennedy/Anya fanfic that I’m pretty pleased with.) I do think our communication styles would initially clash pretty hard. I can imagine us first meeting at a party or something and my first impression of her being that she’s a blunt, snobby, jerk. Not sure what she’d think of me. Then over time things might develop if she proved to have more sensitivity and depth than was immediately apparent. It’d be a whole Elizabeth/Mr. Darcy thing.

For the second set, I’d do the slow burn with Kendra. Again, she’d need time probably need a little more time, given her cloistered upbringing. There also might be some adjustment with coming to grips with her sexuality.

Buffy for fake dating. This is as much because she’s an adorably bad actor as anything else. It’d be fun to accompany her on an undercover mission and watch her flounder.

And then, of course Faith would be enemies to lovers. It seems only natural given her bad girl past and the fact that enemies to lovers is kinda baked into her most popular ship. I could see it being one of those things where you tell yourself not to date someone cause of their obvious emotional issues. But then you have a fling with them anyway and of course it’s even worse of a train-wreck than you imagined. But then maybe years later you’ve both worked out a lot of shit and you get back together and this time it’s actually pretty good. (Yeah, I dunno if it ever actually works like that, I’ve only done the first part of that equation.)

[julyshewrites]

What makes a love story really great? Here’s what I’ve learned so far...

It’s all in the Proof of Love!

I’ve been really diving more into studying the structure of stories, especially love stories. It’s my favorite genre – not just as a stand alone, but because you see it paired with other genres all the time. My favorite story guru, Steven Pressfield’s editor Shawn Coyne (author of The Story Grid), says that if you had to pick one genre to learn how to write, choose Romance, for this exact reason. Romance is not limited to the women’s section in the bookstore. Romance is EVERYWHERE.

So… what makes a love story so good that it fills your daydreams, puts your heart to flutter, or as we call it, gives us “the feels”?

Well, to start, a love story typically has 3 pillars:

1- The Lovers Meet (Inciting Incident of your plot) 2- The Lovers Breakup (Midpoint) 3- The Lovers Reunite (Resolution)

Sounds simple, but I’ve read (and written) plenty of romances that follow these pillars, yet still fall short of being anything close to a good love story. They feel cliche and melodramatic.

Love stories like these fall flat because they lack a crucial element in between the the breakup and the ending that if nailed right, drives that cupid’s arrow right in our heart and gives us the satisfaction we crave.

This crucial element is called the Proof of Love scene.

Really then, when writing your story, you should have 4 elements:

1- The Lovers Meet (Inciting Incident) 2- The Lovers Breakup (Midpoint) 3- Proof of Love (Climax) 4- The Lovers Reunite (Resolution)

What then is a “Proof of Love” scene?

Well, it is simply what it says – it’s when one of the lovers proves their love to the other. When we think of typical romances, it’s the “run through the airport to profess your love” scene. But those can be cliche, right? 

The romances that really get us are the ones that have a proof of love that is so powerful, we know that the couple is truly, deeply in love and committed. 

I think of two examples. First, the classic Pride and Prejudice. The ultimate proof of love is when Elizabeth finds out that Mr. Darcy orchestrated her sister’s marriage to his enemy, and by doing so rescues Elizabeth (and her family) from being tainted by the scandal her sister created by running away with a rogue. There were other things Mr. Darcy did along the way that started to soften Elizabeth towards him (which I’ll discuss here later), but that event was the clincher – where she realizes that Mr. Darcy absolutely loves her, and she loves him just as much.

Another example is from The Notebook. It’s at the end, where we see that Noah tells Allie their love story day after day, year after year, only to gain a few seconds of her remembering him. Even when she forgets again and pushes him away, he is there by her side. We understand that no matter how many times Allie forgets Noah, he will never forget, and will return the next day and tell her the story again, even till the very end of their lives. Sniff

Why are these proof of loves scenes so powerful? How can we emulate them?

In order to have a powerful proof of love scene there are a couple ingredients you need:

1- A breakup scene where it’s almost impossible for the lovers to reunite 2- A sacrifice made without any expectation of return of affection

Let’s talk about the second ingredient first – SACRIFICE. 

Loving someone without any expectation is Unconditional Love.

This is someone loving us because they love us, without any selfish motives. It is what we all truly crave in life, and why love stories are so powerful. Don’t we all just wish that someone would see us and love us for who we are? That we don’t have to do anything to be worthy of that love other than being our true selves, flaws and all?

This is what Darcy does for Elizabeth. He really doesn’t think that Elizabeth will ever talk to him again, much less like him, but he goes out of his way to help her. He does it at the cost of his dignity, having to work with his enemy Mr. Wickham, whom he hoped to never have to deal with in his life ever again. He bends over backwards to fix the situation. And, he does all of it as anonymously as he can, making Elizabeth’s uncle take the credit, and asking that her aunt and uncle keep his role from Elizabeth. Now, that is proof of love!

Noah’s proof of love to Allie, although different in its expression, still has that same ingredient of sacrifice without expectation. He has gone to live with her in the nursing home, even though he is perfectly able to take care of himself. He doesn’t know when, or if, Allie will ever remember him. Now, he has hope, but that is different from expectation. Hope is still unsure. Expectation is demanding. But for Noah, no matter if Allie remembers him or not, he shows his children (and us), that that doesn’t matter. He will be by her side regardless. He loves her so much, and she doesn’t even remember him. What a powerful statement about unconditional love!

Now, let’s go back to the first ingredient – the BREAKUP!

No proof of love scene can work without first having a gut-wrenching, how-will-they-ever-get-back-together breakup scene.

The lovers must breakup, and not just temporarily. They must be so broken up that we can’t see how they could possibly repair their relationship and reunite.

This is a hard one, and also something that we as writers often don’t push far enough (myself included!). Here are some ways the breakup scene falls flat:

– The lovers breakup, but only for a short time (I’m looking at you 50 Shades of Gray/50 Shades Darker – 3 days?? Really??).  – Or they break up, but it’s all just a simple misunderstanding, that can be solved with a conversation. This one can work when that misunderstanding is done like in Pride and Prejudice (I’ll talk more on that in a second), but often its done where the misunderstanding is pretty simple.  – Or, they break up because of circumstances, but those circumstances are easily overcome. 

These are just a few examples, but you have probably seen more yourself. There’s just that meh feeling when it comes to the breakup. 

In other words, you really can’t go half-ass on your breakup.

Let’s talk about the Pride and Prejudice breakup. Their’s is a doozy. Their’s is based on misunderstanding, but oh what misunderstandings abound! Their misunderstandings stem from deep personal flaws, rooted also in their positions in society. Their misunderstandings comes from being on two complete sides of the spectrum. Plus, their personal flaws prevent them from even wanting to understand the other side and thinking they each are 100% right in their own views. We can almost see this clash coming, because we know they have been building their own views all along, so that argument they have is the culmination for all that. It’s not just that they’ve gotten along the whole time, and one simple situation created a misunderstanding that can easily be cleared up with a conversation. No, this misunderstanding is rooted deep in their souls.

And when they have their blow-up argument, Darcy has a lot to account for – treating Elizabeth and all her friends and family like dirt and even preventing her sister from marrying someone she loves because he feels it’s beneath his friend. What a jerk! I wouldn’t want to marry him either. Of course, Elizabeth is no angel herself. Although her family’s poor, it’s not that so much that as their terrible behavior in public, and Elizabeth’s fairly blind eye to admitting it. It’s her own haughtiness at thinking that she’s better than those snobby rich people, and her tendency to also judge people right away. With all that between them, and now their real feelings out in the open to each other, how on earth will they overcome that?

Well, they do, slowly but surely, but it takes some real work. Darcy’s proof of love culminates in the service he does to help Elizabeth’s sister marry Wickham, but it begins to build by the other changes he makes. Darcy tries to show he’s really a nice guy. Not just fake show it, but really be it. He even helps Jane get back with Bingley, and admits he was wrong. The proof of his love is in the pudding of action (and remember actions develop character).

The Notebook is a little trickier. We have a really good breakup scene in the middle of the movie (can you figure out why it’s a powerful breakup?). But, we also have that true, how-will-they-ever-get-back-together scene coupled with the proof of love. It’s because Allie has Alzheimers. How do you overcome that? You can’t, really. The only way Noah can try is to be a consistent presence in Allie’s life, and the last comfort of being in each other’s arms as they die. Okay, here’s my heart now. <X3 ;;o;;

So, to make your love story really great, let’s focus on these 3 pillars instead:

1- The Lovers Meet 2- The Lovers Breakup (and make it a good one!) 3- The Proof of Love (knowing the Lovers Reunite will fall naturally out of that)

If you can nail those you’ll be giving your readers “the feels” right and left! It’s something I’m slowly but surely working on myself. 

Whew! So that’s a lot to cover I know, but my hope is that by diving deep into these concepts our stories will be better for it. Romance it up!