Your Story Doesn’t Need Love

Love is probably one of the most common tropes to write about.

It’s full of emotions, it has a clear-cut ending (either happiness or heartbreak), and it’s relatable to most of the population.

You can even turn it into the theme of your story. Love vs. Hate is an easy way to draw the line between the good guys and the bad guys. Right?

Not necessarily.

Today, I want to talk about why your story doesn’t need to include love.

This is an opinion post, so you can take these ideas or leave them. I welcome your thoughts on this in the comments!

• Also, I’d like to add that I’m not always against romance in stories. If it belongs in your story, go for it! My pet peeve is when authors feel pressured to include romance where it doesn’t belong.

So let’s jump into it– here are my top reasons why your story doesn’t need romance.

1. Many Stories Don’t Need Love.

Most authors (especially new writers) assume that their story is incomplete without some sort of romantic subplot.

And to be fair, that’s what Hollywood and other entertainment industries have told us for years.

I’ve often wrestled with adding a love interest to my stories. In most cases, I end up destroying the characters’ relationship because it gets in the way of the plot.

So many stories try to force a cute couple into the story, when all it does is distract from the main plot.

Think about it: in real life, love can take up a lot of time. Relationships are a huge time commitment.

If your hero is trying to save the world, they probably won’t have time to develop a healthy romantic relationship at the same time.

Does your story fit into one of these descriptions?

• High stakes story with elements of horror/thriller: constant danger, terrifying bad guys, and death lurking around every corner?
• Epic fantasy, where one hero is trying to save their homeland from extinction (or an equally large threat)?
• A story where a bunch of teenagers getting thrown into life or death situations against their will?

If it does, you might be better off without a romantic subplot.

Why do these stories often work better without romance?

Option one is very high-action, where the romance is usually added last minute to make the readers worry about the characters. There’s not enough time to properly set up the romance without slowing down the story.

Option two has a huge plot that will take all of the hero’s concentration. Again, not really enough time to fall in love here. In a realistic world, the hero’s attention would be divided between love and saving the world. (I mean, all those sleepless nights thinking about his love will affect his fighting skills eventually.)

Option three is where things get a little bit tricky. Let’s talk about this in my next point:

2. Teenagers Don’t Need Pressure to Fall in Love.

Look. Being a teenager in this decade low key sucks.

And while it’s easy to write books about what YOU remember from your teenage years, most of today’s teens won’t be able to relate.

Many authors try to describe what an “”average”” teenager’s life must be like. These books rely heavily on wish fulfillment. In these books, every teenager has friends, and they fall deeply in love with the first cute boy that they see.

In these stories, your crush always loves you back, and they do all the pursuing. You might even get attention from two guys and get tangled up in a love triangle. And only the losers, nerds, and bullies are still single by the end of the book.

Does anyone else realize how harmful this is?

Especially if you’re writing a YA novel post-2020, you need to be careful of your target audience and sending them the right messages.

• The majority of young people today feel isolated and lonely. If all their favorite books are telling them, “everyone finds true love in high school,” or “you’re only worth it if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend to tell you so,” over time, that could really damage their mental health.

So consider what your story is telling teens. Stand out and tell a story about a teen who doesn’t fall in love by the end of the book.

3. Represent People who are Asexual/Aromantic.

I realize that talking about representation might open up a proverbial can of worms. It seems like everyone has very strong beliefs about representation in books, but these conversations are important. So I figured, why not throw in my two cents?

According to Medical News Today, about 1% of the population is asexual, although that number is a low estimate and is probably much higher.

Now, that might not sound like much, but that’s also the case in literature. Most of today’s authors are much more likely to announce that a character is straight, gay, or lesbian than to write a story about an asexual character.

• If you find yourself googling “how to write romance” or “how to make two characters fall in love,” wouldn’t it be easier just to leave out the romance?

Now let’s talk about your story from a structural level. Specifically, let’s talk about themes.

4. Love is Not a Good Theme to Write About.

While I understand that loving other people is good, and hating other people is bad, love vs. hate is not a good theme to write a story about.

When you write about love vs. hatred as your story’s themes, how are you supposed to use those in a showdown? Usually, your theme should be driving your story’s conflict.

Sure, your hero can be a loving person, and your villain can be a hateful jerk.

But how are you supposed to show these clashing ideals in a realistic and interesting way?

• Is the hero going to defeat the villain by the power of love? What is that supposed to mean? Will the hero just throw their arms around the villain and say “I love you” and the villain melts like the Wicked Witch of the West?

• Love and hate are not exclusive. Everyone falls in the grey areas. No exceptions.

Also, you want to show the reader something they haven’t seen before. Everybody knows that love = good and hate = bad. So what? We already know that love is probably going to win.

Instead of using love to tell a story, try using something a little more specific. If you’re stuck for ideas, here’s a big list of writing themes you can use: https://lah.elearningontario.ca/%20Huge%20List%20of%20Common%20Themes%20-%20Literary%20Devices.pdf

I recommend using the themes that they list for movies, because they’re more active than the ones listed for books or poetry.

And last but not least, let’s talk about my final point.

5. Leave Something for the Imagination.

This is probably the simplest reason, and the most important.

When it comes to your story, your job as a writer is to tell just enough for the reader to piece together a movie in their mind.

Not enough detail and they can’t picture anything. Too much detail and they get lost.

And when it comes to love and romance, leave a little something for the reader’s imagination.

• If you have a couple of characters that are going to fall in love, don’t let them hug or kiss until the very, very end, if at all. The moment characters hug or kiss, the tension goes away.
• Readers love the couples with that built up tension.
• Introduce the characters, show they have chemistry (playful teasing, inside jokes, willing to sit in silence together), and then don’t make them fall in love. Let the reader decide if they belong together or not.

(I talk about this a little more in my post about building a fandom for your story.)

If your readers like the potential couple as much as you do, they will ship it. If not, you just saved yourself a bunch of time from googling “how to make characters fall in love” and writing cringy sex scenes. You’re welcome.

In Conclusion

I have nothing against romance as a genre. If you want to write about love, that’s okay. I won’t stop you.

But considering how often I hear young writers asking “do I have to put romance in my story?” I think it’s probably best that we start talking about how to focus on the actual story, instead of getting all the characters together in the end.

And when in doubt, err on the side of “no.” Your story probably doesn’t need love. So leave it out and see if you like it better that way.

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What do you think? Do you like including a little romance in your stories? How do you feel about love in YA books?

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back soon with a new post!