Love Is Given in Many Forms … by Delsora Lowe

 Love is one of the essentials every being needs. Love comes in all forms.

Family love is one of those loves that should be a given. It’s not always guaranteed. But true family love is usually the first love someone experiences. This love is about modeling, giving attention and unconditional love, and accepting the same in return, between those you are bonded to—whether by genetics or circumstance. Family love is about deep caring for another in your immediate circle. It is a love filled with quality time spent with another, commitment, and touching, as a way of showing that love.

In writing, we use family love, or lack thereof, as a backdrop to round out our characters. Many times, it is in the form of the emotional backstory for a character. The reality of love, given or not given, affects how a character reacts to the many challenges in life and relationships built.

Friendship is love. Some friendships are fleeting, but when you are in that friendship, it means the world to you. Friends are there to back you up, to give you advice, to celebrate your victories, and share with and embolden you during low points in your life. Some friendships last a lifetime. Others may be bonds that last while you’re in certain phases of your life—childhood buddies, college friends, workplace colleagues, neighbors. Some of those friendships fade when your life takes a different turn. And others will endure, despite life going in opposite directions.

As authors, we show how this kind of love impacts our characters, often, through their relationship with secondary characters.

One can show love for an inanimate object. Your love for your job or your church or an organization you volunteer for, is a love of giving. Giving a gift of service or toward a common goal, shows love of a cause. Or one shows love for pets, who for many are an integral part of the family. Pets also return love and can be woven into a story as a supportive secondary character.

Being a true partner to another is love. You make a pledge to a love you choose. You’re invested in that love through thick and thin. You both give and take as a partner. You give affection, respect, trust, and touch, and you open yourself to accepting those same gifts from another. This kind of love is an integral part of a romance novel. Not only must a writer show the physical act of love—a kiss or holding hands—but the author must portray emotion that the reader will feel as they read the story.

Love might not conquer all, stem problems, or cure an illness. But love, to me, no matter the form in which it is presented, is an essential part of having a happy and successful life.

As a writer of romance, always looking for love in each story I write, I can’t imagine a world where love isn’t important.

The challenge, as a writer, as we throw all sorts of obstacles in the path of our characters, is finding a way to help them work through and resolve all the issues that stand in their way of reaching for and accepting love. That means gifting your characters with all the above-mentioned: quality time with a loved one; open communication, including both verbal and non-verbal affirmation from a loved one; gifts that show you are appreciated, which come in many forms—physical, spiritual, and emotional; meaningful communication; and acts of service that are unasked for, but appreciated.

Building relationships between characters has to be shown through verbal and non-verbal communication that helps each character understand those types of communication are a show of love for another and from the other.

When THE END is written on each story, the feeling is euphoria. Not because you, the writer, labored through every word placed on the page, and lived viscerally through the emotional ups and downs as the characters built a relationship full of love, but for the fact, that despite all odds and denial, your characters found, worked for, and then accepted the love of another.

What is your favorite trope in a romance story?

Moonlighting

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Moonlighting-Serenity-Harbor-Novella-Starlight-ebook/dp/B075TK7KYS/

Books2Read

books2read.com/u/mZ5eop

 

~ cottages to cabins ~ keep the home fires burning ~

Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the shores of Maine.

Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her new novella, The Love Left Behind, will release in late fall, 2020.

Social Media Links:
Author website: www.delsoralowe.com
Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/delsoraloweauthor/community/
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Delsora-Lowe/e/B01M61OM39/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Books2Read Author page: https://www.books2read.com/ap/8GWm98/Delsora-Lowe
BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delsora-lowe-93c6987f-129d-483d-9f5a-abe603876518
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16045986.Delsora_Lowe
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/

PHOTO CREDITS: 
Free Family Clip Art Pictures - Clipartix # 49030 
free clip art church - Google Search
free clip art couples working together - Google Search
free clip art couples helping each other - Google Search
free clip art couples - Google Search 
free clip art couples - Google Search 
Hearts wedding heart clipart free clipart images - Clipartix  Green Pink Heart #11471  
Hearts heart clipart rainbow clipart image 7 - Clipartix

REFERENCES USED FOR ARTICLE: 
The 7 Languages Of Love Expressed By Truly In Love Couples | by Natesky | Hello, Love | Medium  
What Are the 5 Love Languages? Definition and Examples | Psychology Today