Jun 9, 2011

Wannabe Writers #53 (Instant love in YA)

Wannabe Writers is my Internet writing group. Anyone is welcome to join. It's a place to meet other writers, ask questions, and get feedback. Basically, my posts are about my current writing progress, my problems, and any questions I need help answering. If you've created a similar post of your own lately, feel free to link in the comments.

Where I am in the writing process: Unpublished! And still currently speed-writing the first draft of the novel I'm calling ELIXIR. I reached 45K this week.  I have to work now and through the rest of the month, so my writing is feeling the pain of it. 

My current problem(s): Falling in love.  I've reached the point in my story where the romance between my two character's is growing.  I don't want my character's to just magically fall in love at first sight, it has to be more real than that, but I'm just struggling to make it work perfectly for them.  So I'm stressing over every line of dialouge currently.
My question(s) this week: Is the love at first sight thing in Twilight really so bad?  I mean if my story ends up having that kind of romance will everyone compare it automatically to Twilight with that harshness Twilight now gets constantly.  (by the way I love Twilight)

9 comments:

Jenny said...

I hate love at first sight in books! I do understand your dilemma, though. Good luck. Sorry I have no advice. :(

Miranda Hardy said...

I'm not sure how I feel with love at first sight novels. I like a little bit of surprise and something unbelievably sweet that the person can't resist falling for the other person.

amber d* said...

I cannot wait for the day when people stop comparing everything to Twilight. Besides that, I'm a back and forth on love at first sight. I think the hype of many books that involve it have really given love a first sight a bad name. It does seem to be a big trend, but at the same time there are some really good books out there where this happens and I love it. I think it just depends on how it's presented.

Jessica L. Tate said...

I joined you this week! I've been writing lots lately. Here's my post: http://thoughtsatoneinthemorning.blogspot.com/2011/06/wannabe-writers-1.html ^_^

Rachel Searles said...

It's not just Twilight--a lot of readers hate "instalove" when it happens in stories, because although it's dashing and seems exciting, it's not very realistic and more importantly, right now it's pretty overused. Just my two cents!

Stephanie said...

I'll be the voice of dissent. I don't mind love at first sight, or at least hardcore attraction at first sight. Does it HAVE to be love, the I-would-die-for-you kind of love? Because that's the overdone kind that I think people usually find cheesy. Would a "WHOA, holy crap, that guy/girl, just WHOA" at first sight kind of reaction work better, and then you can build on that?

I'm kind of working off of something like that too: guy meets girl and is totally blown away at first sight, but she's not having any of it, so he sets out to woo her, and bit by bit, she warms up to him. It's difficult sneaking in these little bits that break her down, because she's got some pretty high walls built up, but I enjoy a challenge.

And I too will be glad when everyone stops comparing everything to Twilight. SMeyer is a good storyteller. I didn't hate Twilight (I wasn't like ZOMGILOVEVAMPIRESFOREVER!!!! by the end either, lol), it was a fun read despite some flaws. Strong writing will help make your scene work, no matter what route you take. :)

Lisa M. Hicks said...

I just found your blog, and I love it! :)

My two cents: I can't believe in "love" at first sight. I do, however, believe in "lust/attraction" at first sight. I think people can see someone and find them attractive right away. But love? That takes time to develop. Personally, I get tired of stories where two people (or maybe just one of them) instantly fall heads over heels in love, when they've just met. I enjoy watching the relationship grow.

S. A. Soule, Creativity Coach said...

I think you can pull it off. Haven't we all been hit by lightening at least once in our lives? And felt that head-over-heels feeling?

Especially as a teen. :-)

~Sherry
http://sherrysoule.blogspot.com/

Christina Reads YA said...

These days, people will probably compare your novel to Twilight no matter what... but seriously, I'm not much a fan of the instant love. If you want to do this, you have to have a really believable reason why. you have to make me think that their love was written in the stars or whatnot.

I know my comment is a bit late so I hope that you've advanced a bit since then. :) Good luck!!

(Also, I may join in this feature.)