love stories

summernight

summernight

I know the closing date for the Love Story competition in this month Writing Magazine is still a long way ahead, but has anyone already started writing it or at least thought of an idea? I find it difficult to think of an original love story, it seems that everything on the subject has already been written. It is so easy to fall into the sentimental and slushy stuff. What do you think?

Evaine

Have you ever read Esio Trot by Roald Dahl?
It's for children, but it is basically a love story based on an old lady's pet tortoise, and her male neighbour who promises to make it grow bigger.  As he keeps substituting bigger and bigger tortoises (his own flat getting over run with them in the process) she finds that she rather likes him....

Tilly

I don't usually write love stories but on the day that WM arrived I had an idea and wrote a complete story in one go - it was complete rubbish of course! So I have decided to try and use this as an exercise in following all the tips in WM. I like some of the dialogue and I like the characters but now I'm going to re-write it from a different viewpoint and I'm going to start the story at a different point in time, may also switch to first person etc etc In short, I'm going to keep on hashing it about as a useful practice exercise and see what comes up! I think it may turn into a romcom.Ideas are too rare to waste!If I don't start writing this early I never make the deadlines anyway.

Jan

Original Love Story Summernight?

Don't forget your own!
I'm sure you will have experienced some individual moments that could be disguised for a basic recipe.

Tilly

Nenastew - the love story has a "completely open brief" 1600-1800 words and the winner will be awarded £1,000 plus a silver cup - no excuses now, go for it (oh, what have I done - more competition!)Deadline 15 Jan.2007 Good Luck

summernight

Evaine, the tortoise love story sounds really intriguing, and as tomorrow is my library day, I'll go and look for it.
Jan, it's a good idea, even though my own love stories are a bit... uninteresting, but I guess I could add a few invented touches and have a go anyway.
Today while working I listened to the Radio 4 afternoon play and the story was really good, and I said to myself, I could have written that!

Jan

Hello Summernight,

Our own experiences often seem "uninteresting" to ourselves, perhaps because we lived every second of the event. However, onlookers only "see" the main steps and conclusion.
It's a bit like mother and baby. Her continual nursing witnesses every nuance of growth whereas visitors only see snippets of time, enabling them to appreciate the childs overall development.

Never underestimate the value of first-hand knowledge.