 Romance/Love: April 30, 2025 Issue [#13106] |
This week: When You Least Expect It Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Romance/Love Newsletter by Dawn
Love comes to those who wait.
It will happen when you least expect it.
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They often say that love will come when you least expect it. That someone shouldn't be searching for it because the right person will come once they stop looking. Yet there are many places online or with the use of apps on a cellphone where people go who are searching for love, whether it's for one night or long term. While I have done both over the last 15 years, used a couple different dating apps and long periods of time not looking, I remain single with no dates or prospects. However, I am fairly certain my sister didn’t expect to find anyone while working on the Queen Mary and now they are engaged with plans to get married in 2026. So, what approach should we take with our characters?
I am definitely a fan of the “finds love when they least expect it approach” as it provides a certain element of conflict to the story that can seem natural, depending on the characters. I have one where the guy planning to ask someone if they could date ends up proposing due to a meddlesome mother and the love interest was waiting for the on again off again person to return from doing a Doctors Without Borders type of situation. Neither plan on falling in love but by the time of the wedding, they are both surprised that the feelings are real. That is just one little unpublished example from a novel needing a rewrite. There are others out there.
An example from something published would be ones like many of the trademark Hallmark romance stories. The leading lady arrives home or to some particular location with just the focus on doing something before returning to busy business driven lives or something like that. They either don’t have time for love, had a bad breakup or think it isn’t feasible. Yet, there is a guy there that shows up and eventually, by the end of the movie they are in love.
What about ones that are searching for love? Well, while it might go against the advice mentioned above, it is still an option. Many people do find relationships, love and marriage opportunities when using web sites or dating apps. This means it is also an option for writing a romance story too. Maybe the person is tired of the prep boy mentality and has an interest in raising chickens and baking apple pies with fields around them so they go onto a site made for farmers to find love. Okay, maybe they just use a regular site like OkCupid, ChristianMingle, Match.com or eHarmony. My uncle met his wife using a dating web site. Plus, there is the social standard or stigma for women that they are looking for a relationship nearly all of the time.
What does this mean for writers of romance? It means Ty at you can write a believable story where the main character or the love interest is actively looking for love. I am sure there are some Hallmark movies that show this to be true but I can’t name any as I don’t actually watch them. Would offer an example from my own writing but due to health issues I have issues sometimes where I try to think of something but my mental whiteboard gets erased so comes up blank. I probably have a character actively looking for love and if I don’t, I will at some point. And either way, you can write one.
The summary of this question whether someone can look for love or have it happen when they least expect it is this: either works. It all depends on the characters, world and how things are written. Write the story you want to write and let us know which you prefer.
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Is your character trying to find love or does it catch them off guard?
My last newsletter discussed the combination of other genres with romance and it received one comment in return. Here is the comment:
Comment by Elisa the Bunny Stik  :
Since I'm a gigantic nerd, I like when romance is included in any drama where the main plot line is some sort of non-romantic intrigue (such as rooting out corruption or confronting groups that have more influence than they should). Sometimes this combo makes for a romantic thriller but not always.
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