"This Ain't a Love Song"

One of the great lessons I stole from my Art of the Novella prof, Marjorie Sandor, was describing something by what it is not. She'd give us these examples of sentences like "It was a frayed pink couch--no, a frayed mauve couch." I'm kind of tired so my example might be a little shody but you get the general idea. Anyhow, I watched a love story tonight and the first song that popped into my head when I thought about love was the 1990's Bon Jovi song "This Ain't a Love Song." Sometimes it feels so much easier to identify what definitions don't feel authentic than the ones that do. Love stories are tricky anyhow. You can't write about happily-ever-after because it's boring or fake. If you write something gritty with heart it will often be about loss or an unrequited love. The best "happy ending" love stories are always open ended. The audience has to believe in optimism or the potential of the relationship. If you follow the thread out, somebody is going to die or leave the other. That's why love always has to be about the past or the present. If we saw the future neatly laid out like a pressed shirt, it would ruin the effect. Love stories are about surprises--especially about the ones that alter a character arc. I wonder if we love audaciously because it can alter our course. Sometimes a kiss is loaded with more than just curiousity and passion. A pair of lips touching can unleash a torrent of violence or get you fired from a job. Well, I'm getting tired. Maybe I'll write more later.