Chemistry...

Chemistry, fireworks, head-over-heels, falling, crazy for, mad about, heart pounding, dizzy are all clichés. But what’s a writer to do? Trying to describe that inexorable attraction between a man and a woman is nearly impossible because nobody understands instinct completely and abstractions are at best hazy writing.

Don’t fight the way God made you, enjoy it. Submerge yourself in the feeling, in being human.

Whether a male hero is Alpha, Beta or Gamma, he shares an instinctual preference for the visual. As an example: Two strangers are in close proximity at an event. They keep stealing glances of each other. So much so that they’re both caught. The Alpha must introduce himself or he’ll go crazy. Beta and Gamma may be more reserved, offer rationalizations to themselves or a sidekick. For any man, the instinct to couple with this particular female is as strong as survival. Why? Refer to God.

The guy will notice that she is also interested, perhaps equally interested, since their glances are in sync. That’s important for most men. Thousands of tiny messages are sent between them in split seconds. He will know at a base level that they’d get along fine and he’ll yearn for it. She’d share his passion. Of course, heaped on by society, are tons of ‘must haves.’ A sense of humor, a caring heart, same religion, politics, station in life, you name it. The Alpha has already made up his mind. They will like each other because he knows her before he meets her. None of those societal recommendations are necessary to make a successful couple. However, I hope you write that they’ll both care about their fellow human beings, unless the story is about Bonnie and Clyde.

With the broadest smile, he’ll approach her and she him, like two stars in a tighter and tighter orbit (it won’t take that long) they’ll destroy and remake each other into something greater than 1 + 1 = 2. They’ll never be the same. Th way they saw the world before is forever gone.

Readers have a hard time understanding abstractions and too easy a time with clichés. The writer doesn’t have to answer the why. It’s a given that a man and a woman will fall in love if they’re right for each other. The Alpha will take the lead. He knows her before they speak a word. Like the song says, millions of people walk by but I only have eyes for you.

So how does the romance writer avoid abstractions or clichés? Not entirely possible. Be fresh but completely understandable. If the writer gets this portion of the story right, everything else will fall into place, because the reader will identify with and participate in the feelings the hero and heroine are sharing.

Anybody care to give it a try? It ain’t easy. Would you prefer your reader to fall in love with your characters just as the hero and heroine fall for each other?

When something is missing from a character's life, how does he or she seek fulfillment, even if they can't identify the problem or know it exists?

Here's a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, who nonetheless has the same problem we have just discussed, because she has the same instinct as everybody else.
America's SweetHeart, 2016, Elle King: