Writing a compelling love interest

Writing a compelling love interest

There are few stories as universally appealing as a love story. Even if you aren’t a big fan of the romance genre, so many wonderful stories have a romantic subplot that leaves the reader or viewer wanting more. A love story comes with built in tension, drama, and character development, all things people seek in a story. It can also be a great way to weave in hope and humor to an otherwise dark narrative. In order to accomplish all of this, however, you have to focus on writing a compelling love interest.

Romance storylines, more often than not, are the story of two people coming together. Other stories may have couples who are already together, fighting for or solidifying their love. Or maybe it’s not a story point at all, and you just want your protagonist to have a healthy partnership; regardless of what you’re working on, these tips will work for you.

Get to know your main character before writing a compelling love interest

Yes, the first step towards writing a compelling love interest is in getting to know your main character. If a friend asked you to set them up on a date, you’d probably have some thoughts on what kind of partner might be right for them. Maybe you’d try to think of people with shared values or interests, or someone who could push them to grow, or someone you think they’d have fun with. All this is only possible if you know your friend pretty well; the same goes for your protagonist!

While you don’t need to know every single aspect of your main character’s backstory in order to write a compelling love interest, you need to know a few key things. Specifically, what they need in a partner; not what they want (so much of a character arc is distinguishing between a character’s wants and needs, after all.)

If your character is struggling with anger issues, they may be best complemented by someone with a steady, grounding presence who won’t take their shit. If they struggle with confidence, they may need someone to hype them up and push them to put themselves out there. If they’re logical to a fault, how about someone with a lot of heart to balance them out?

But don’t make your love interest just for your protagonist

I know, that sounds like conflicting advice, but I promise you it’s not. Here’s the thing: if you custom design your love interest to be the perfect missing piece for your main character, things are going to get pretty boring pretty quickly. Besides, it won’t be realistic; the people we love don’t just spring into being, perfectly formed to suit our needs. Make sure your love interest has a history, interests of their own, other relationships… a whole life outside of your main character.

Basically, if this person doesn’t have autonomy, fears, flaws, and a life of their own, they’re going to fall flat, and that doesn’t make for a compelling love interest at all. Imagine showing up to a first date and the person doesn’t have any interests, regrets, history, or viewpoints… you’d probably get bored pretty quickly. 

Create characters who can influence each other

In every relationship, we have mutual influence over each other. From things as minor to little phrases that you pick up from friends to things as extreme as helping your spouse understand a different worldview, this push and pull happens constantly. This should be visible in your work. This relates to what I was saying earlier about creating a love interest that gives your protagonist what they need, not what they want, except it should work in both directions. Show the ways your characters rub off on each other on their journey to become better people by the end of their character arcs.

Make the audience fall for your love interest, too

If your audience hates the love interest, they’re not going to be super invested in the love story. It’s that simple! Make sure your love interest is someone the audience falls in love with, too. If someone’s cute, charming, charismatic, or just really, really good for your protagonist, your audience is going to root for them to get (or stay) together. If not… not so much. 

Even if their relationship is rocky, it’s important to keep people invested in it. Make sure they can see the ways in which these two characters complement each other, even if things aren’t perfect.

Writing a compelling love interest can make or break a story. Try out these tips today and let me know how it went in the comments! Find more writing tips here.