Laws of Attraction in Fiction

How fictional characters fall in love

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

I am a sucker for a good romance subplot: a distracting, burning attraction that plays into the main plot and hopefully subverts things just a bit.

Let’s be honest — who doesn’t love the complications that flirtation and attraction bring to a ficitonal plot? Where readers are concerned, the messier the better.

But what makes that head-over-heels infatuation in a character feel real?

How do characters fall in love?

Don’t take attraction for granted

When a character (or really, the author) tells the reader “oh, he’s so hot” the first thing the reader will want to know is… why?

Readers want to know the specific details that attract our protagonist to this individual… so that they can live vicariously through that attraction. Without any solid details to sink their teeth into, the reader feels left out of the experience.

After all, why do we pick up a novel anyway?

The specific details that attract the protagonist depends on their personality— some are attracted to specific physical features first, others notice fun and witty banter. What draws the protagonist in initially will depend on their unique likes and dislikes. This is what takes characters from “flat” to believable.

So how do we build attraction?

Start with what they notice first.

What catches their attention first?

Yes, initial attraction is often shallow.

Is it the way he looks at her? Nice arms/face/jaw/eyes?

Or is it something deeper, like how he cares for his grandmother, can hold his own in a debate, or captures the room with charisma when he walks in? Perhaps it’s something dark, like the way he seems to put on emotional armor.

What a character notices first should fit their personality and the tone of the story.

What other traits deepen that attraction?

Single-detail attraction is a good start, but then what? The attraction must grow, and — more importantly — the reader must experience that growth.

Is the protagonist drawn to the Love Interest’s strength, but then develops even more respect and attraction after seeing him vulnerable in some way?

In some cases, seeing that Love Interest in their element, demonstrating a skill, can make the protagonist see them in a more well-rounded light, which takes the attraction from shallow to a deeper development.

It’s all in the (visceral) details

In every step of the attraction, the reader needs to know what specifically the protagonist is attracted to.. . and how it makes the protagonist feel.

These are the visceral responses, the heart-thumping, sweaty-palmed, high-on-the-love-drug details. The reader needs to know how it feels when the Love Interest smiles at the protagonist. And then when he seems to show interest — what happens to her then?

When it comes to the visceral details of attraction, think small. The smaller and more specific, the better.

For example, a woodworker running his fingers over a smooth wood surface when he’s done with it, and the protagonist rubs her fingers together wondering what that surface (or his touch) felt like.

Or the classic: her hair falls in her face and the protagonist wants desperately to sweep it back for her, just for a chance to feel the softness of her hair, or the curve of her ear.

What does her stomach/skin/spine do at the sound of his voice?

When their eyes meet, how does it feel physically?

These reactions should match each character’s personality, revealing more about each individual to the reader.

The more detail, the more the reader is able to experience, and this is what makes attraction believable.

How does the Love Interest respond?

Characters falling in love should feel a constant push-pull in one direction or another. How the Love Interest responds should be somewhat unexpected to keep the reader on their toes. That tension of “will this happen or won’t it” is what keeps readers turning pages.

Does he avoid his feelings or demonstrate them clearly? What are his hesitations to being in that relationship, and how can he express them? Or, does he up the ante after discovering she’s interested, making her draw back a bit?

Like in real life, the protagonist can only control her actions — she has no control over how they are received and must constantly reevaluate and readjust her strategy to each unique response.

Avoid clichés

Avoiding clichés can feel impossible. After all, how do we communicate ideas unless we know the reader will be familiar with the feeling?

But Romance is a massive genre. It’s pretty much all been done, and in some cases overdone. Many contemporary readers have no patience for heaving bosoms and men who fit the traditional romance stereotype of zero body fat and all strength. They want authenticity — they want to know how this specific protagonist and their specific Love Interest come together.

Falling in love is about creating intimacy and vulnerability with each other. As characters learn more about each other, the way they interact should adapt with that knowledge.

Don’t forget tension

Real love is complicated, and fiction is always more disastrous than real life.

In every interaction, look for ways to inject tension. Are responses unexpected? Do the words spoken match how the character acts (it’s better if they are slightly mismatched, opening things up to speculation)? Are there external circumstances that affect their ability to be together?

When characters get vulnerable, just like real people they should react to that — either with embarrassment, lashing out, or however fits their personality.

For fictional love to feel real, both characters have to demonstrate they want it, and they must earn it.

That means that either together or separately, the characters must overcome whatever challenges keep them apart so that they can be together.

And who doesn’t want a story about love conquering all?

Details of growing attraction sprinkled in throughout a main plot line will give the reader the impression of a growing relationship. The key is for each step to include a little more intimacy — knowledge about the other and shared experience — to make it feel like characters are truly falling for each other.

Not every book needs to be a romance, but every fictional relationship needs good romantic tension.

What are your thoughts? What makes a fictional couple stand out to you? And let me know if I’ve missed anything you specifically look for in fiction.

Happy writing!