Spring may be the time when a young man’s fancy turns to love…but marketing men and women the world over have bottom lines to look out for, and Big Business can’t be troubled to wait on a young man’s folly. This is why all around us shop windows look like Cupid stumbled into them to vomit paper heart and lace doilies after a long night drinking ouzo with his Roman twin, Eros, card box boxes filled with flavors chocolatiers can’t sell the rest of the year are dusted off and slapped onto drugstore shelves, and diamond companies are working overtime to make sure you know that affection should be purchased with compressed carbon and the sweat of exploited workers; sure signs that the commercially mandated celebration of romantic love, St. Valentine’s Day, is growing ever near.

Don’t get me wrong, as cynical as I am (and boy, am I): I enjoy the hype and hoopla around this sugary-sweet day of days. Why? Simply put, I’m a fan of love. I think it should be lauded and celebrated and, when applicable, wrapped in a shell of dark, luscious chocolate. Love, in its many forms, is what drives us. It has been credited with starting wars, performing medical miracles, inspiring great works of art and causing the human body to perform outstanding feats of strength. And, more importantly to those of you reading here, love sells. From Paris and Helen to Bridget Jones and her infamous diaries, the word has loved love stories and, Aphrodite bless ‘em; they’re willing to pay to read them (and possibly shell out even more moolah to secure the movie rights).

The trouble is - how does one write an effective love story? I’ve heard it said that you shouldn’t write about being in love when you’re in love - because frankly, it’s hard enough for people who care about you and who are personally invested in your happiness to have to hear you wax lyrically rhapsodic about the electric thrill when your fingertips brush, or how you spend nights awake trying to determine the specific shades of gold that fleck the depths of your lover’s eyes; so you better believe that your readers aren’t going to have the patience for characters who do the same. Love, although many-splendored and all we need, is possibly the most difficult emotion to demonstrate in a way that is convincing, memorable and doesn’t read like the inside of a Hallmark card.

I think part of the challenge comes from the fact that although love can feel larger-than-life and all-encompassing, what it really comes down to is a series of individual moments in time - where a single act or decision has made all the difference. Right now, I am sitting at my desk, listening to a random selection of songs with the word “love” in the title, while I try to recall the literary moments where love was demonstrated in a single act or moment that have really stuck with me:

  • The recognition of Odysseus by Argos (for me, infinitely more touching that the subsequent reunion between he and Penelope).
  • Both Camille’s casting off of Armand and his impassioned public payment for her services
  • Ever tender recrimination Heloise penned to Abelard
  • The discovery of some cowboy couture (I admit, I’m cheating. I’m only familiar with the movie version, so I don’t know if this moment appears in Annie Proulx’s short story. All I know is that it darn near broke me).

Let us, for the moment, ignore the fact that the demonstrations of literary love that have stuck with me most strongly are those that focus on loss and sacrifice rather than flowers and sunshine (I can only assume its my psyche’s way of balancing out the fact I have a disturbing amount of Burt Bacharach in my music collection) and see what clues these vignettes might offer us about the powerful portrayal of love. One thing that strikes me particularly about this group is that - with the exception of Armand’s impassioned outburst - these are solitary moments; times when the lovers’ interaction, if it happens at all, happens indirectly. Does this mean love between two characters is better demonstrated through what they do when they are separated than by paragraphs describing the longing looks, sweet words and familiar caresses that pass between them when they are together? Or is it just a sign that I’m a bitter old maid who should stick to eating her dusty, after-season chocolates while the lucky-in-love write the great love stories? How do you get your characters to talk about the tender trap; and what love stories have had the greatest effect on you? (And please, nobody say Romeo and Juliet, or I may have to beat you with a copy of the Riverside Shakespeare. Tragic tale of the young, misguided, and foolish? Sure. Greatest love story of all time? No way.) I look forward to learning from your answers. Till then, I’ll be doing some in-home karaoke to Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain and Tennille.