Love is at the heart of every good story.
This Valentine’s Day, let’s consider what we love most about all those stories that have stayed with us for years, sometimes a lifetime. You might notice they all have at least one thing in common…
Yes, Valentine’s Day is a made-up, commercialized holiday. Yet there’s no escaping it, unfortunately. And you’re more likely to see boxes of chocolate, plastic hearts, posts about engagements, and undernourished roses from the grocery store than not… so let’s just go with what Valentine’s Day should inspire, for now.
In the West, in primarily English-speaking countries, we only have one word for love, which tends to limit its meaning and usage. We say we love our family members and close friends, as well as romantic partners, but are typically taught to be reticent to do so, to withhold our real feelings and affections, until some mysterious unknown timeframe lapses and it’s suddenly more appropriate to tell them we love them. And if someone says they love you in English, the likelihood of misunderstanding what they really mean when they say so is significantly higher, as there isn’t much nuance to the word ‘love’ and when or how it’s used.
In other languages, however, there are plenty of other words to describe different types of love and affection. In Spanish, for instance, conjugations of ‘amar’ are generally used for romantic love while conjugations of ‘querer’ are often used when expressing affection toward friends, family, and a variety of other relationships, and conjugations of ‘encantar’ are used to express loving or really liking a thing or activity.
Saudade (Portuguese): A deep, often nostalgic, emotional longing for someone. Ya’aburnee (Arabic): “You bury me”—a declaration of profound connection, expressing the hope that you die before your loved one. Geborgenheit (German): A deep feeling of safety, security, and trust with a loved one. Gezelligheid (Dutch): The warmth, coziness, and togetherness of being with friends or family. Hygge (Danish): A comfortable, cozy moment of sharing, often with friends.
And we can thank the ancient Greeks for helping us understand the seven most important types of love:
Eros (Passionate Love): Romantic, intense, and passionate love, often associated with physical attraction and desire, named after the Greek god of love.
Philia (Friendship): Deep, affectionate, and loyal love between friends, built on shared values and mutual respect, like a soulmate bond.
Storge (Familial Love): A natural, protective, and unconditional bond, like that between parents and children or siblings, rooted in familiarity.
Agape (Universal Love): Selfless, empathetic, and unconditional love for all people, strangers, nature, or God; a form of altruism.
Ludus (Playful Love): Flirtatious, light-hearted, and fun love, like early-stage romance or teasing, focused on enjoyment.
Pragma (Enduring Love): A mature, committed, and long-lasting love built on understanding, compromise, and shared goals, often seen in long marriages.
Philautia (Self-Love): Healthy self-respect, self-compassion, and self-acceptance, recognizing that caring for oneself is essential to love others.
So, what am I getting at? Well, the essence of what the title of this post is all about, of course.
When I make the claim that ‘love is at the heart of every good story,’ I am not necessarily referring to romantic love. Not at all. Though, had I not provided the woefully brief and incomplete language lesson above, most English speakers would have assumed just that— that I was claiming that every good story is about love, in the romantic or passionate sense. Especially on Valentine’s Day. Which is of course not at all true… for the most part.
What I am actually referring to when I say ‘love is at the heart of every good story’ is an essential rule that should be in every writer’s toolkit: Make your characters or narrators love someone or something, really long for something or someone, truly want something or someone, then let that drive the plot of the story you want to write, and the likelihood of that story being good is extremely high.
You can write about an affection for a promised country, a character’s intense desire for justice or their indescribable need for self-discovery, a longing to fill some sort of void, a yearning for social status, a determination to find meaning, a craving for knowledge and open-mindedness, etc. But you must always write about something you or your characters love and or want in earnest. At least, if you want to write anything that other people can relate to when they read it, which is usually what makes a lot of reading ‘good.’
The thing that is at stake for the characters in a story always has to do with something or someone they love or want or need or crave. Always. Though I sometimes wish there were more English words to describe all the different forms that could take.
Here are some literary examples to consider:
Macbeth by Shakespeare: Driven by an intense craving for power and social standing, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband and orchestrates murder to satisfy her ambition.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Jay pursues immense wealth and reinvents himself solely to win back the love of Daisy Buchanan.
Yellowface by R. F. Kuang: The protagonist is driven by a desperate, selfish want for literary fame and validation, leading her to steal another author’s work.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: A nonfiction, narrative-driven work about the human necessity to find purpose and meaning, even in the direst circumstances, such as concentration camps.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: Pip Desires to become a gentleman and rise above his humble beginnings, sacrificing his relationships with those who love him in the process.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: Santiago is driven by his desire to find his ‘Personal Legend’ and treasure, representing a quest for spiritual fulfillment and understanding.
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith: Tom Ripley’s actions are driven by his intense desire to leave his mundane life behind and possess the luxurious, cultured life of Dickie Greenleaf.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: Driven by his desire to revive chivalry, Alonso Quixano renames himself Don Quixote and pursues a delusional quest to become a knight-errant, following his own romanticized vision of the world despite the reality around him.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: Driven by an all-consuming, perverse obsession, Humbert stalks and manipulates his stepdaughter, allowing his desire to destroy all moral boundaries.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: While appearing grumpy, Ove is driven by a deep, underlying want for purpose and connection after the loss of his wife.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: Driven by an insatiable desire for luxury, passion, and a life more romantic than her provincial existence, Emma Bovary follows her impulses into debt and adultery, leading to her tragic end.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: Cora is driven by the fundamental need for freedom from slavery, propelling her journey through a reimagined, treacherous landscape.
The Trickster of Seville by Tirso de Molina: The archetype of the libertine, Don Juan is driven solely by his desire to seduce women and defy authority, living in the moment without regard for future consequences.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: Esperanza desires a home of her own and a life that is not defined by the limitations placed upon her in her neighborhood
The Vegetarian by Han Kang: After a gruesome dream, Yeong-hye resolves to stop eating meat, a decision that acts as a catalyst for her to shed all societal constraints, pursuing a desire for purity and autonomy that leads to her complete alienation.
The Stranger by Albert Camus: Driven by a desire for apathy and a rejection of emotional societal norms, Meursault lives entirely for his own immediate sensations, which leads to him committing a murder without apparent motive.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind— Driven by an obsessive desire to create the perfect scent, Grenouille commits murder to acquire the necessary components, completely disregarding human life to fulfill his goal.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Elizabeth Bennet pursues her desire for a marriage based on love and mutual respect rather than convenience, defying social norms of her time.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: Huck Finn follows his desire for freedom and autonomy, rejecting the ‘civilized’ life and societal restrictions of the antebellum South.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Katniss Everdeen is driven by the need to survive and protect her sister, which fuels her actions throughout the dystopian series.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: Theo Decker is driven by his attachment to a painting, a physical representation of his desire to hold onto his past and his lost mother.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: Anna follows her desire for love and passion by entering an affair with Count Vronsky, defying 19th-century Russian societal conventions, which leads to her social alienation and ultimate downfall.
© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
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