Hopeless Romantic

Photo by Clara Natoli

All you need is love
-- John Lennon

I can't help it. I'm hopelessly drawn to good love stories. From Nickie and Terry to Sam and Joon to Clarence and Alabama to Harold and Maude, the magic takes me away every time.

Here's a great free article by Michael Hauge on how to write romantic comedies. I don't know if I'll ever write a romantic comedy, and I can pretty much tell you I'll never write a romance novel, but nearly every story I've written has a love story interwoven with the main plot.

And even if it isn't always romantic love, it's going to be some form of love. True love strips away the veil, connects us in a way that touches the core of our being. It's not enough to peel away the layers and find some literary universal suffering. Deeper still, and the prior, underlying wholeness awakens us to something greater than isolation.

When two lovers kiss, the "other" dissolves, and we come home. I can't think of a better way to describe the creative impulse. It's a longing. The longing. To transcend all the crap and share something real and wonderful.