Love Day Shenanigans: Creating Swoon-Worthy Love Interests, Part II
A couple weeks ago, we started our exploration into techniques for creating engaging love interests using examples written by Kelley Armstrong. From Clayton Danvers from the Otherworld series and Gabriel Walsh from the Cainsville series, we learn to:
- Make the love interest more than just eye candy
- Give the love interest a worthy competitor
- Make sure the love interest knows their place
- Create obstacles that stop the heroine from being with the love interest
- Give the love interest a bit of a bad boy streak
In part 1, we talked about steaming up the pages with love interests who have more to offer than their good looks. Today we’ll look at taking your love interest to the top of the hotness charts by giving them a worthy competitor and making sure they know their place.
Give the Love Interest a Worthy Competitor
Consider the toddler who fervently fights for a previously forgotten toy when they see another kid playing with it. We never quite grow out of that reactiveness which is why jealousy is a common tactic for getting a lukewarm lover’s attention. Competitors are a great way to add tension to a meandering romance plot or just to launch a love interest into action. But what makes a great competitor?
They Offer the Heroine Something the Love Interest Can’t
Every great story starts with a character who wants something but can’t get it. If your competitor is in a better position to give your heroine what she wants, it places pressure on the love interest to one-up the competitor, or to get creative about winning the heroine’s affections another way.
Maybe your competitor has more wealth than your love interest, or maybe he fits in more comfortably into the heroine’s world. Maybe the competitor’s social circle is full of people who can give the heroine a much-needed career boost, or he may be friends with the heroine’s idol.
In Bitten, Elena deeply desires a normal human life, and she can get that with Philip. Clay has the unfortunate tendency to turn into a wolf every so often which makes the whole “normal” thing hard to pull off. Watching Clay struggle to give Elena what Philip can give her by simply existing makes him the underdog and endears us to him.
The easiest way for the love interest to “win” is to have them figure out a creative way to give the heroine her heart’s desire, but this isn’t strictly necessary for a great love story. Don’t underestimate the power of a grand gesture for those cases when the love interest simply can’t give the heroine what she wants.
Clay can’t magically stop being a werewolf, but it’s a huge turning point in his arc (and their love story by extension) when he decides to stop competing and give Elena the space to choose, one way or the other, what she wants. Even if it isn’t him. This gesture goes against everything Elena knows about Clay and is one of the things that solidifies her choice in the end.
Their Relationship With the Heroine is Easy
We tend to take the path of least resistance, and why not? If it’s good enough for water, it’s good enough for me. The heroine’s relationship with the love interest will naturally have conflict because that’s what makes it interesting. Introducing a competitor with whom she doesn’t have to work so hard can create tension because your reader will relate to the allure of choosing a partner without all the drama, even if they’re not-so-secretly rooting for the other guy.
Ricky, the competitor in Omens, is a world-class gentleman with a penchant for adrenaline. He had a comfortable childhood with a father who loved him and therefore doesn’t carry any of the emotional baggage Gabriel does. He and Olivia hit it off immediately while she struggles to find common ground with Gabriel. Their easy comradery is one of the things that motivates Gabriel to grow emotionally, to make his own interactions with Olivia less cumbersome.
Keep in mind that the struggle in the heroine’s relationship with the love interest doesn’t have to be character-driven. There may be factors in the external subplot that make their relationship difficult or conflicts between the love interest and the heroine’s inner circle, but we’ll talk more about this in Part 3.
They Represent the Heroine’s Internal Dilemma
Speaking of external subplots, tying your romance arc to the larger arc of the external conflict is a great way to introduce a competitor whose presence makes meaningful impact on the story. You can maximize effect here by having each competitor represent one side of the moral or emotional dilemma your heroine faces. With these parallels, even if your reader feels there’s a clear right or wrong answer, both options can be justified.
Yes, Philip is a great guy and he’s kind and sweet to Elena. But truly, what makes him a threat to Clay is what he represents. Even though we know in our gut that he’s not the right guy for Elena, we would understand if she chose him because he is everything Elena believes she wants. Clay, on the other hand, represents the wild beast within Elena. He’s barely human, even when he tries to be. He’s impulsive and temperamental and he embodies the complete loss of control that Elena is afraid of.
When using this technique, a clear understanding of your theme will go a long way to characterizing your competitors. For example, if you want to explore community and the responsibility of its members, you may have one competitor who is openly selfish or materialistic, who represents your heroine’s struggle to put herself first. The other competitor may be generous and compassionate and can represent the heroine’s selflessness and her commitment to the people around her.
They’re Ready to Give the Heroine What She Needs
Sometimes you’ll have a love interest who’s simply not ready to be the person the heroine needs. Growing up sucks, and inner healing is uncomfortable and time-consuming. If your love interest is in a rut, often the best way to get him out of it is to introduce a competitor who’s ready to take action.
Armstrong goes an interesting way with the love triangle that spans the Cainsville series because Gabriel’s lack of worthiness for Olivia’s attention is his own doing and would be obvious even if we didn’t have Ricky for comparison. Not to say that childhood trauma is his fault, but when Olivia and Gabriel first meet, he’s an emotional vault: completely closed off and distant. Then, he makes a string of bad choices that betray Olivia’s trust. In this case, it’s up to Gabriel to make the internal changes to become the kind of man Olivia wants, and when he finally grows up and makes the effort, we root for him.
If your love interest has some growing up to do, it’s important to make their decision to do so a clear one, often triggered by the events of the story or some kind of internal realization on his part. As prickly as he can be, Gabriel is always there to support Olivia and help her when she needs it… except when he isn’t.
He realizes that he’s developed deep feelings for Olivia and that he’s jealous of her relationship with Ricky. Instead of having a conversation with her, he lashes out and leaves her in a dangerous neighborhood by herself and ignores her call when she needs his help. His fear that this is the bad choice that may chase Olivia away for good is a turning point for his internal growth.
Takeaway
There’s no rule that says you need a competitor in your romance plot, but it’s a great way to put pressure on your love interest and create tension for your reader. But remember, a love triangle (or square or pentagon) is only as strong as the weakest competitor, so if you’re going to introduce one, be sure to pick one who threatens the love interest in some fundamental way.
A competitor who is the obvious villain to your love interest’s hero is worse than useless. It’s boring. In fact, making the distinction so obvious risks calling your heroine’s credibility into question if she can’t decide. Be mindful also of the competitor who shows up for a few chapters, for the sole purpose of making the love interest jealous, and then disappears completely. When it comes time for the heroine to make her choice, it should be a hard one for her. More importantly, the reader should have at least a little doubt about who she will choose.
They Play a Supporting Role
You’ve got your story almost all sorted. You have a protagonist, and you know what she wants and why she can’t have it yet. Now all you need is a love interest. When coming up with potential love interests, never forget that your heroine is the star of the show (or co-star if the romance is the central plot). The perfect love interest doesn’t upstage our heroine, instead he supports her and depending on the romance arc, he may even place her on a pedestal.
Imagine your heroine and her love interest do an interview together. If your heroine claims she’s the prize, would social media agree with her? Or would white women on TikTok record themselves asking their husbands if they know who your heroine is? If it’s the latter, chances are, your love interest is outshining the heroine.
In Bitten, Elena was the keeper of the dossiers in which the Pack keeps track of all the mutts (non-Pack werewolves) within their territory, so she knows them better than anyone else. Since she never actually told anyone she was leaving the Pack, no one took over the job, which left a blind spot that allowed the mutts to uprise. In short, Elena is largely to blame for the external conflict in the story which makes her and her efforts to fix it the center by default.
Armstrong takes a different approach in Omens. Here, Olivia remains the star of the show for the simple fact that she’s at the center of everything that happens. She’s the one who can see and interpret omens. She’s the center of the curse that links herself, Gabriel, and Ricky together. Her parents are the accused serial killers they are trying to prove innocent. There would literally be no story if not for Olivia and that’s one way to make sure your character can’t be overshadowed.
In short, when it comes to who’s the star of the show between your heroine and your love interest, he should be the Stedman to her Oprah: seen and not heard.
Conclusion
There are a number of things a writer can do to drive engagement with a love interest. Tune in next time where we’ll tackle creating tension by manufacturing obstacles to the couple’s love!
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