Romance/Love: December 28, 2010 Issue [#4147] |
Romance/Love
This week: The Falling Out Edited by: shaara More Newsletters By This Editor
1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions
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Welcome to the kingdom of the heart:
The Romance & Love Newsletter
Today I get to be your guest editor again.
Yeahhhhh!
Although I love to write science fiction and fantasy,
I have to admit, I can't write a novel about ANYTHING
without planting a bit of LOVE.
That's why I ponder its meanings and its secret looks.
I examine its displays:
the winks, the smiles, the bashful flittering eyelashes,
the way young girls giggle and
immature (and very mature)
boys (and men) show off,
the way flowers fill fists
that have never before held them.
LOVE is the source of eternal youth.
It is the rhythm of most good songs
and in the rhyme of the sweetest of all poems.
It is the reason some find spring,
even when the snow is piling into drifts,
the trees are dark as winter gloom,
and chills slither across everyone else's
cold and lonely hearts.
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The Falling-Out,
a Significant Part of the Romance
Everyone knows that romance is about the dream of perfection.
Boy meets girl. They smile. They laugh. They tell something personal, share a bit of themselves and then commence the entwinement of souls.
Sure, sometimes that doesn't happen fluidly, in a linear sort of way. It can't. If it did, there would be no story. Ergo: Crash. Boom. Bang! Here comes the arrival of:
-- the obstacle.
Boy is already in a relationship. Boy is a bad boy and needs to be saved first. Boy is having problems that must be solved before romancing. Boy doesn't see stars when he looks into HER eyes. Boy isn't interested.
Obstacles.
(Picture a coffee can full of nails dumped across all five lanes of a highway. Toss in a refrigerator or two. Carefully place two hungry tigers, an enraged rhinoceros, seven cobras, and one good, old American rattlesnake. At the exit, just in case, our characters make it to that point, set a desk full of IRS agents, scouring through official documents with the hero's name on them, and a wizard, alien, and witch all with glowing eyes . . . )
Obstacles!
Of course, every one of those obstacle can be flipped so that all of them fall on the female's side. Boy is hooked. Boy yearns.
Then boy or girl works to overcome said problems/hindrances/hurtles. Crocodile-full rivers are crossed, figuratively or literally.
The hero fights the beasties disturbing (okay, eating) the townsfolk. He challenges and gives battle in a war or two against wicked trolls and slobbery giants.
(Reverse that. The female encounters a challenge or two. Does she have the right clothes to entice? Did she polish her teeth with the right root-enhanced salts? Did she conquer all rivals through witty discourse and or hair-pullings?)
And for more modern-day heroines: does she conquer a trash compactor that suddenly attempts to decrease both her waist and other features? Does she shoot straight and into the eye while smiling calmly and winking enchantingly? Does she daringly save both villain and hero (with one hand tied behind her back) as she chews the pin of a grenade and looks amazingly sexy?
Of course.
But all challenges, obstacles, and dire predictions aside, the couple finally gets together, and they kiss, crush against each other, and peer into love-struck eyes.
Breathe deeply. Give half a smile. Then turn the page, for now comes the falling out.
You see, it's a fact that a novel cannot exist if all is well. When everything is great, when all the problems have been solved, either new ones erupt, or it's the end of the book, the finale -- the pages close.
A falling out between our lovers is as inevitable as the fact that the romance will ever commence.
What does he say that she misinterprets? What does she do that plants the inevitable flash of anger which leads him to the horrendous, full-fletched disavowment?
Has she flirted? Has she done worse?
Has he seen what he shouldn't have seen? (Of course, we know it wasn't like that at all.)
Flip this. Disavowments are not one-sided. He is as guilty as she.
He lied. She lied. He broke a rule. She fell from grace. The proof. The witness. The overheard conversation. The implications fly of what might have, could have, shouldn't have happened.
And then comes the unavoidable
THE FALLING OUT.
We repeat the original dream. Contrast it to the reality. Disappointment. Self-castigation. Misery falls in a down-pour of grievances.
He dreams. She dreams. They each become more aware of what they're giving up. They convince themselves that the dream was real.
The falling out, although it needs to remain a falling out, was their personal cornerstone of disaster.
Tragedy befalls the two. They mourn -- a greater and greater flood of tears, a flood that swallows friends, countryside, and several chapters.
The two begin to regret.
And then, they start to plan to overcome the:
FALLING OUT.
It's so simple.
This scene repeats in every romance.
Sure, there are sidelines filled with warrior vampires or a simple war here or there. Perhaps parents pressure. Maybe a test or two is failed in the midst of all the drama. She gets leukemia. He loses a leg, his hair, his money. . .
But the FALLING OUT eventually whimpers into nothingness, and the two lovers burst out of their sodden grief, dry themselves off, and once again leap into the final bonfire. The conflagration spreads. The rain stops. The sun slips through the clouds. Smiles and daffodils bloom.
The reader sighs, wipes a tear, and makes wistful wishes, wishes that he/she were really part of that miracle -- the heroine, the hero, the pair of lovers that finally wins in the raging battle of romance.
The book closes. The story is complete.
Meanwhile, the author slides his damp hands against his/her worn and heavily patched jeans, and opens up a brand new file on Word.
The girl was fair with hair that shone a thousand suns . . .
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Featured Items for
the
December 29th Romance Newsletter
This is one of my favorites - a romance that doesn't happen.
There are some things you can't plan, like an overly enthusiastic bachelor party, and an overly enthusiastic maid of honor, and finding your best friend in bed with your overly unenthusiastic fiance on the morning of your wedding. . .
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How about a dose of genuine, 100% romance?
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Back in her favorite bookstore Jill sank down onto one of several strategically placed couches and looked at the book she clutched. "Out Of The Flames", the book whose poster she'd been admiring a week ago, was on the best seller list this week. Staring at the cover art that Scott had objected to Jill couldn't bring herself to open the book. The art was ridiculous from a firefighter's perspective and, yes, Scott would know.
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Sometimes love is shown by the strength of its remembrance. In the following tale, the author asks a question about preferences. Which would you prefer: grief or forgetfulness?
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We talked some more and then she wanted to share something with me. She shuffled away and for the first time I noticed her slippers, pink and fluffy. When she returned, she had a cassette in her hand. She sat down at her seat and put the tape into a black tape recorder. She pressed the play button, her face serious, anticipating what she'd hear.
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I liked this story because it shows that even a moment spent shopping, a moment dealing with something so simple as choosing bagels, can turn into romance!
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A bakery associate moved toward them, thinking they might need assistance. Seeing their tender embrace communicated to him that they were probably doing fine. He smile and moved to straighten the items on the shelves near him, glancing at them often.
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Want to read the real story of LOVE? Here it is, but bring a hankie!
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Betty's eyes grew wide, tears streaming down her face. "I love you so much, George Wheaton. Of course I'll marry you!" She and George embraced, and when George closed his eyes, the world shifted.
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Here's a romantic tale full of laughs that proves that love isn't just for the young
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It was a great start to our honeymoon, but Harry and I looked at each other and just burst out laughing. Someone from the ship had to come help us up. Neither Harry nor I could walk by then, so they wheel-chaired us onboard.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Comments from my last "Romance/Love Newsletter
(November 3, 2010)"
shirleyolson
I am new to your site and what I have seen so far is great. I love your ideas about love; it has helped me to go on with my romance story. My story has started with a young lady contemplating suicide because of lost love. Thank you for your input: it helps me to be able to go on. When I get brave enough I may place a part of it to be critiqued. Thank you
Good luck with your story. Romance is good for the soul. I'm not a fan of suicide, however. I hope the woman grows beyond it. Thanks for your comments!
godofdeath18
I agree when you write that you're a romance person who at times puts a love interest in your stories.
Thanks. Can't dispute it. Romance makes the world go around (other worlds, too. LOL)
Cynaemon
Hi, Spooookeee Shaara, Thanks so much for featuring my little poem in your newsletter. I am honored. Best Wishes
It was my pleasure.
android2010
Science has just put an end to the Nature vs. Nurture argument with Nurture winning. I've also heard people say that children are inherently greedy and self serving but I can tell you that is not true. My daughter (3 y/o) loves to help, and will push you out of the way to do it, she loves to give hugs. She is also the most confident little girl I have ever seen, everything she has ever learned, she has learned on her time. She walked at 9 months and never stopped, when she was done with her diaper she took it off and refused to wear it, wanting underwear instead. My point is this, without love and encouragement and the opportunity to flourish, would she have done so? From one aspect I think that she was naturally loving and helpful or is she learning from us? Is she naturally determined or is that learned as well. Part of it, I would say, comes down to our believing in her and imparting that to her but we can't overlook a child's intelligence to overcome her surroundings.
I'm afraid I can't agree with your statement. I think Nature tends to win. It is my hope that Nurture tends to soften and, sometimes, even heal what biology hands out. Yet the truth is that some mothers are dealt an unfair hand, even though they give all the nurturing that LOVE can tender. Sometimes LOVE is enough; sometimes not. Mental disorders are a real disillusionment and often not understood by those who dwell in sane, safe worlds.
But on a brighter note, congratulations on your daughter's sweet temperament. May you be blessed always.
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