Love Story

[maestrowork]

What kind of love stories do you like the most?

[PeeDee]

I adored the love story in War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. There was nothing complex about it, but it left me happy.

Then there's the childhood crush/best-friend love story in Bridge to Taribithia, a book I have never forgotten.

I was also fond of the love story in Stephen King's Bag of Bones, both the developing romance with the single mother, as well as the saying-good-bye love he's dealing with, with his dead wife.

And finally, and I don't care what you think, I still am made happy by the love story between Kitty Pryde and Colossus in the X-Men comics (witness Astonishing X-Men, where it's perfect)

EDIT: Sigh. All that writing, and then I realize you put up a POLL. Hmph.

[maestrowork]

I kind of love the ongoing "forbidden" love "triangle" between Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman. :)

The yearning/pining/remembering themes in "Sleepless in Seattle" just about broke me.

ETA: don't mind the poll... just something for people to vote on. I really liked your answers...

[PeeDee]

I really loved it for the first two seasons of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (that was one of the best love stories ever).

In the comics, Superman's gotten so badly written and convoluted, I couldn't tell you anything, one way or the other.

Oh! And of course, on Babylon 5, the love between Zach Allen and Lyta Alexander was one of the most maddening unrequited love stories ever, damn it.

[Azraelsbane]

I like a nice combination. A tragic forbidden love triangle that ends with a spattering of redemption. :D

[Danger Jane]

I love them all. I'm a chick.


I've written unrequited love and unconditional love that happens to redeem one character from her sick and twisted past. It's pretty sweet.

[PeeDee]

The yearning/pining/remembering themes in "Sleepless in Seattle" just about broke me.


Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail just about broke me for different reasons...

My favoritest love story of all time are movies, actually.

1) Love Actually

2) In Her Shoes.

Honestly, two of the best stories ever.

(I know In her shoes was a book first, but I really love the movie)

[maestrowork]

One of the most beautiful "love stories": Cinema Paradiso.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Personally, I've always been the kind who could do without a love story. I can't think of any books I've read where love was the featured element.

ETA: Wait. What kind of love is it where the bigger-than-life hero goes to another land/planet/time and falls in love with the Princess and has all sorts of dangerous adventures having her taken from him, reuniting, then being torn asunder again, only to finally end happily ever after, until the sequel? That's my kind of love story.

[Sage]

All of those choices are great, Ray!

My favoritest love story of all time are movies, actually.

1) Love Actually
Love Actually was nice because it did a lot of different types of relationships, & some didn't end happily, but many did.

[Devil Ledbetter]

Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail just about broke me for different reasons...
I'm allergic to Meg Ryan.

My favorite love story is Il Postino.

Metaphore!

[nerds]

for books,

Anna Karenina

Dr. Zhivago

The Accidental Tourist
I know, not your traditional love story. But subtly packed, just packed, with love lost and gained.

In screenplays, Notorious and Casablanca. When Cary Grant carries Ingrid Bergman down the grand staircase ever so carefully in Notorious, that to me is one of the greatest love scenes in history.

I guess I like love lost-yet-regained best, which isn't on the list, so I voted for Eternal.

Worst love story ever written - Love Story.

[pepperlandgirl]

I have such a weakness for "forbidden love" that it's not even funny.

[a_sharp]

Cheri by Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle)

[sunandshadow]

Rivalric is another fun kind. And angsty secret crush is one of my favorites.

[TrickyFiction]

I have such a weakness for "forbidden love" that it's not even funny.

Me too. It must be some kind of sick addiction. ;)
But, seriously, the more obstacles a love has to overcome, the better.

[wyntermoon]

I have to go with unrequited. The tragedy is what makes the story, the rest is just fluff. I want the magnificent sacrifice.

[Uncarved]

If I said what my favourite love story was, I'd be shot in the head with a nailgun .....




....again.

[Novelhistorian]

I'm a sucker for Cyrano de Bergerac. And my favorite movie is Casablanca. So unrequited wins--but what's interesting here is that in both cases, the woman chooses the wrong guy.

[Lady Esther]

I love forbidden love. My WIP has forbidden love in it. I also love unconditional love, like on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Wait, is that eternal love?

[ChaosTitan]

For me, no other love story can touch The Princess Bride.

[badducky]

My favorite love story is "Amelie", which is... "Other"?

Edit: NO! That's my favorite film romance. My favorite ROMANCE of all is Running in the Family, between Michael Ondaatje's dad and mom. It doesn't work out, but it's just so incredible and typical and amazing!

Also, I'm a big fan of all things Michael Ondaatje, and love plays a prominent role in his books in all sorts of zany, destructive ways.

[RedScylla]

I'm all about the redemptive love story, even if the "love" part of it forbidden or unrequited or doomed. For an example, Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. Peter Lake's love for Beverly is doomed, but it absolutely redeems him--in this life and the next.

[JoNightshade]

I'm a sucker for unrequited love stories. Someone else already mentioned it, but my favorite piece of literature is Cyrano de Bergerac. I also love, love LOVE anything with a Beauty-and-the-Beast motif. Favorite TV show is Gargoyles.

I'm not sure if I could write it, though, because I have such a need for them to get together. :) Mine always turn into "unlikely love" stories.

[JohnDavidPaxton]

I'm all about the unrequited. It's truer to life.

[DancingMaenid]

Some of my favorite love stories are about platonic love. Romantic and sexual love can be nice to read about, but I like reading about characters who love each other without those kinds of feelings, or unrequited love where the character accepts that the love won't be returned and loves the person anyway. I don't think emotions can ever become cliche, but I think platonic or more friendly love is a way that hasn't been explored as much. It almost seems truer to me in some ways.

[Danger Jane]

I thought platonic love was sort of the same as romantic love. I mean like can't you love someone romantically without being sexually attracted to them? It's all in how you relate to them I guess.

[David I]

One of the most beautiful "love stories": Cinema Paradiso.

I'm with you on that one. Beautiful, sad, disturbing, uplifting.

[kristie911]

Where's the choice for love with lots of sex? Or lots of sex without love is fine too.

Okay, so if you're just talking love, forbidden is my first choice.

[megan_d]

I'm a fan of love/hate myself.

[Saundra Julian]

Gone With The Wind is my favorite!

[Wraith]

All of these as long as they're beautiful, true, and have that universal core that makes you understand and 'feel' them. And that can be true for the most cynical, down-to-earth contemporary stories down to the most romantic and idealistic ones.

I like to read about what love turns people into and makes them say and helps them discover. And if I had to choose, I'd probably say losing love is interesting to read about. Because you never just 'lose' it - something stays, and something goes away for good, and it's all very complex.

[scarletpeaches]

I only like the ones where everyone dies in the end. Everything else is unrealistic.

[SeisKink]

Funny and sexual at the same time. Lots of inside jokes ahead XD

[maestrowork]

I love forbidden love. My WIP has forbidden love in it. I also love unconditional love, like on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Wait, is that eternal love?

For me, no other love story can touch The Princess Bride.

Yeah, both of them, I think, is considered "eternal love." With Princess Bride, there are splashes of "unconditional" and "unrequited" and "forbidden" love. But mostly, I believe, it is about eternal love.

[KTC]

Fools rush in, so here I am
Awfully glad to be unhappy
I can't win but here I am
More than glad to be unhappy

Unrequited love's a bore, yeah
And I've got it pretty bad
But for someone you adore
It's a pleasure to be sad

Like a straying baby lamb
With no mama and no papa
I'm so unhappy, yeah

Unrequited love's a bore, yeah
And I've got it pretty bad
But for someone you adore
It's a pleasure to be sad

Like a straying baby lamb
With no mama and no papa
I'm so unhappy, yeah
But oh so glad

[Saanen]

Some of my favorite love stories are about platonic love. Romantic and sexual love can be nice to read about, but I like reading about characters who love each other without those kinds of feelings, or unrequited love where the character accepts that the love won't be returned and loves the person anyway. I don't think emotions can ever become cliche, but I think platonic or more friendly love is a way that hasn't been explored as much. It almost seems truer to me in some ways.

I absolutely agree. Platonic love, in the sense of two people who love each other without sexual interest (not just "I love you but let's not have sex" for whatever reason), doesn't show up much in fiction, but it can be really powerful. In one of my books I'm shopping now the two main characters are friends but absolutely devoted to each other. I guess it flirts with homoeroticism in some ways, but the MC doesn't see it that way and would be astonished at the suggestion. So it was a lot of fun to write. :)

I picked redemptive love in the poll, though. I almost picked unrequited love, but I do adore a happy ending. The Flying Dutchman (Wagner's opera, not the idiotic scrambled version in the Pirates movie) is one of my all-time faves.

[Gaia]

I'm trying to think of the last love story I read...but I can't remember. I guess, I don't really read that many love stories despite the fact that I'm a hopeless romantic.

I usually like stories that are a little dark where people "flirt with danger" (to use a cliché). A little twisted. Don't know what you would call that kind of love story. Dangerous love? Would that be the same as forbidden?

Hmm...

[jodiodi]

I don't care much for romance (at least not to read; I do write them, though). I guess Eternal and Other since I've never cared for the traditional romances. I like high body counts and bloodshed. In most of the things I read, a romance is just intrusive and useless. Same with movies.

[Kudra]

A mix of forbidden and eternal for me.

[Nateskate]

Some of my favorite movies with romantic themes:

Sleepless in Seatle
While you were sleeping
You've got mail
Kate and Boneparte
Pride and Prejudice (The recent version)
Sabrina (With Harrison Ford and Julie Ormand???)

[Sunkissed27f]

I have such a weakness for "forbidden love" that it's not even funny.

I second that!!

One of my 2 favorite love stories weren't well know or a classic.

A love triangle: Roommates by Katherine Stone

A twisted love affair: Paloma by Theresa Conway

[tammieofmi]

Hmmm I to loved Bag of Bones - amazing king work. I go from Time Travelers Wife type of love story to Adam Sadlers First Date (was sort of heartbreaking) to Bridges of Madison County - I can hear folks moaning "God not that one" :o)

[sneakers145]

I like unexpected romance. Two strangers not looking for love find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time who together overcome a huge obstacle and love comes quietly and accidentally but strong and true...

[lfraser]

I like unrequited. Life doesn't always have a happy ending -- why should a book?

As the man said, "You cain't always git what you waant."

[KTC]

Lets Kill Momma With a Train. A story of love gone wrong.

[TheKnightWhoSaidNi]

I like unrequited, because that's the history of my love life for the most part and there's something so touching and tragic about it.

I like the traditional tragic boy-meets-girl love story too though, which ends with one of them dying, usually the boy, because he'll follow the manly stereotype and do something brave to protect the woman and get pwned in the process, but not after getting the chance to say a bunch of cheesy 'farewell' dialog full of run-on sentences like this one.

[Soccer Mom]

I voted for all of them. Like Danger Jane said: I'm a chick.

I adore:

Princess Bride
Notorious
Remains of the Day: best unrequited love story ever!
Pride and Prejudice
The Time Travelor's Wife


If I absolutely had to pick one type, it would be unrequited.

[brokenfingers]

I can’t recall any novels I’ve read where romance was a crucial part of the story or theme.

And while I don’t watch many movies that are strictly romance, I’d say my favorite is probably The English Patient. I’ve been in a similar tragic situation and so could relate with the male protagonist.

I can tell you my favorite scene as far as romance goes though. Well, it’s not a romantic scene per se, but, to me, it really captures the essence of what I feel love is all about.

It’s the helicopter scene from The Matrix, believe it or not; the one after Neo and Trinity have saved Morpheus. The helicopter has been damaged and is starting to fail so Trinity heroically maneuvers the dying helicopter to a nearby rooftop where Neo and Morpheus can get to safety -- but at the cost of her own life and the helicopter. A brave sacrifice.

But Neo, upon reaching safe ground, sees the smoking helicopter going down with Trinity still in it and upon realizing the situation – what does he do?

HE WRAPS THE CORD AROUND HIS OWN ARM!

What kind of fool would do something crazy like that?!

Yet, without even a moment’s hesitation, he does it. He puts his own life at risk and attempts to actually stop a freakin’ helicopter!! It’s impossible! Yet he still attempts it! All for this woman!!

And to me that says it all.

What guy hasn’t, at one time or another in their life, been in the grip of this emotion?

To be so in love that you attempt to do the impossible; you attempt to do something that you would never normally do – that no sane and normal person would do.

To not even bat an eye as you go beyond your own self and any mortal constraints you may have felt you had.

To have your heart reach out and grab the wheel, slapping aside all thought and logic and reason. To be propelled by a force you cannot control, an emotion too strong to resist.To drop all concerns and fear of consequence.

To not care about the cost or what other people will think. To have no concern for whether people will laugh at you or ridicule you or pity you.

To only know that you must try. To know that even if you try and fail, it is still infinitely preferable to not having tried at all.

To know, from the very core of your soul, that it is better to go down in flames pursuing your heart’s desire than to stand still from afar and watch the smoke fade from the ruins of your unfulfilled love.

And, oh the glorious feeling when you actually do it!


When he succeeds and she climbs up to appear on the roof beside him and they look into each other’s eyes and know - without a word?

Wow. That is a powerful scene. Yes, I have been there, brothers and sisters.
And that, to me, is love.

[jodiodi]

Hm. I'm a chick too but I pretty much avoid most romances like the plague. I think I was influenced as a child when my mother read everything but romances. Even the fairy tales she told me were fairly gruesome and most of the time she told me ghost stories. I can't even think of a movie where I enjoyed the 'love story' aspects.

I did, however, love the story in Bag of Bones. I think the story about the MC and his wife was the most enjoyably romantic story I've read.

[J. R. Tomlin]

Absolutely none. I hate romances. That should have been one of the choices if you were going to do a poll.

[DancingMaenid]

I thought platonic love was sort of the same as romantic love. I mean like can't you love someone romantically without being sexually attracted to them? It's all in how you relate to them I guess.

I don't know. I think romantic love can be platonic, but it's still different than say, the love between two close friends.

For me, the problem with romantic and sexual love is you have the infatuation angle to it a lot of the time. I enjoy reading about non-romantic, non-sexual love sometimes because it just seems to be about the basic essence of love.

[maestrowork]

I am not sure if we're talking about strictly romance here. Like brokenfingers said, even stories that are not about romance have strong love elements, such as Matrix (the relationship between Neo and Trinity is a huge part of the story). Or Star Wars, or 300, or ... I think if you're writing stories about human beings, you can't really get away with themes on some kind of love.

[J. R. Tomlin]

And it also has that idiotic romance in it that almost ruined the movie.

[maestrowork]

And it also has that idiotic romance in it that almost ruined the movie.

We're a bit jaded, aren't we? ;)

[OctoberRain]

I loved the movie The Notebook. Seen it about a dozen times but have never read the book. It gets me every time.

[Cassiopeia]

The love stories in Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice.

Need I say more? ;)

[aadams73]

Absolutely none. I hate romances. That should have been one of the choices if you were going to do a poll.

The perhaps those who aren't interested in love stories should find a more appropriate thread.

ETA: That came out snippier than I intended. Just saying that if love stories aren't your thing, I don't think a thread titled "Love Story" is where you should be.

[aadams73]

I loved the movie The Notebook. Seen it about a dozen times but have never read the book. It gets me every time.

I loved the movie too. I also love me a good forbidden love story ala The Thorn Birds.

[Saundra Julian]

Hm. I'm a chick too but I pretty much avoid most romances like the plague.

Me too! Who wants to read a book when you already know the ending?

[maestrowork]

Me too! Who wants to read a book when you already know the ending?

Really? I can think of a lot of books and movies of which the endings were known, but the rides were nonetheless exhilarating to read/see.


Besides, I don't understand what is this love story/theme = romance. For example, I don't actually consider Pride & Prejudice a romance, even if it has a HEA of sort.

[Saundra Julian]

The perhaps those who aren't interested in love stories should find a more appropriate thread.

ETA: That came out snippier than I intended. Just saying that if love stories aren't your thing, I don't think a thread titled "Love Story" is where you should be.


I've been throw out of better places...:D

[jodiodi]

Ah, but the question was what kind of love story did people prefer. There are some who don't like any type of love story whatsoever and then there are those who don't mind the love story, but aren't really reading books for the 'roamce'. Bag of Bones is a great example. Some might say Gone with the Wind was a romance. I read it more to see what kind of trouble Scarlett could get into. I thought her obsession with Ashley was ridiculous (he was such a dork) and she was too dumb to stick with Rhett who was willing to spoil her rotten. For a smart woman, she was a total idiot when it came to Rhett. But there was enough of 'other' plot in both books to keep me interested. Bag of Bones had just a marvelous love story element. Understated, subtle and realistic. (insofar as a ghost story is real)

[maestrowork]

That's why I loved Cinema Paradiso because the "love story" in the film is actually secondary to Toto's coming of age, but it's an integral part of who he was and who he became, and it was sweet, sad, believable, nostalgic and all that. I can so relate to it because of my own experience, but the film is not about the love story -- it's more about the friendship and love between Toto and his mentor Alfredo.

[maestrowork]

Someone mentioned platonic love, which I also find refreshing and interesting. And then there's the parent-child story... For example, the wistfulness about the father-son story in Field of Dreams made a lot of grown man cry.

[scarletpeaches]

The idea I have for my next WIP involves an unconsummated love affair. I started a thread about it months and months back when I first had the idea. I might do it for NaNo, to get the first draft out. If I have time because I HAVE A JOB did I mention? :D

But anyway.

I tinkered with the idea of, "Oh for goodness' sake, let the poor characters get their leg over; you're bustin' their balls here," but on reflection, that would be a mistake. I want to concentrate on their feelings emotionally, not complicate things with sex. And it would be interesting to see two grown-ups exercise self-control for a reason greater than themselves. It's not often explored in books these days; characters tend to say, "I fancy you. Let's f*ck."

[Southern_girl29]

I also loved the love story in Bag of Bones. I felt the MC's pain over losing his wife and then his fear of beginning a new relationship to. I actually just really love the whole book. I also love the love story in Gone With the Wind. I agree with someone above who said Scarlett was stupid about Ashley and Rhett, but I still love it. Rhett loved her with all his being, and she just couldn't see it.

I really like forbidden love. I wrote a short story where two characters who are married to other people fall in love, have sex and then decide to go back to their respective spouses. They loved each other for the rest of their lives but couldn't be together.

[Shadow_Ferret]

OK. I'll be brave and admit I don't know what any of those categories of love really mean.

I like the love stories that aren't the main focus of the story, like the one in The Matrix. Or, as I suggested in my prior post, the Edgar Rice Burroughs style of love story where the hero falls into a strangeland and becomes enraptured with the Princess and spends the rest of the story trying to win her heart. Or even the one from the original Raiders of the Lost Arc.

[jodiodi]

I'd forgotten about the one in Raiders of the Lost Ark. That was a good one, I'll admit. It wasn't all in your face and they weren't so mooney-eyed at each other.

[maestrowork]

I adore the one between Indy and Marion. And another "off" love story that touched me was the one between Aragorn and Eowyn (unrequited), at least in the movies.

And in Doctor Zhivago, the love story is set against a broader scope of the Russian Revolution, and what really broke my heart was Tonya's unrequited devotion to Yuri, aside from the forbidden love between Yuri and Lara.

[Spiny Norman]

Man, the first that came to me was Leaving Las Vegas. What does that say about me?

I guess I like the desperate kind. I forget who said it, but I once read that the two fundamental experiences of humanity are loneliness and confusion, and much of what we do is a reaction to one or the other. Love is perhaps the most rational and most fulfilling reaction - when faced with an enormous, baffling, and largely empty universe, the first thing you want to do is reach out and hold someone's hand.

[Wraith]

Besides, I don't understand what is this love story/theme = romance. For example, I don't actually consider Pride & Prejudice a romance, even if it has a HEA of sort.
Yes, I didn't realise that people thought about romances - I like love stories when they're woven into broader themes (and I tend to avoid romances, although I won't make a rule out of it). Otherwise I think it's great when love is part of a bigger picture, just as it is a part of life, when it's shown in connection to the characters, story and ideas (not governing them, but enriching everything).

In fact, my current WIP has more of a love story to it than I'd planned. It's a journey-type thing of self-discovery with some weird twists, and love is taking over my character's motivations *sigh*. I swear I didn't see it coming.
:D

[chartreuse]

I voted "other" - the ones I like best all have some aspect of the paranormal or metaphysical.

The Time Traveler's Wife is a great example of book that falls into this category.

For film, The Family Man or The Lake House.

[maestrowork]

The Time Traveler's Wife is a great example of book that falls into this category.

For film, The Family Man or The Lake House.

I would, however, say TTTW is eternal love, and TLH is forbidden love... (never saw Family Man).

[chartreuse]

I would, however, say TTTW is eternal love, and TLH is forbidden love... (never saw Family Man).

Hmmm...maybe I'm being too literal when it comes to "eternal," so I'll ponder that for awhile longer in regards to The Time Traveler's Wife.

But I don't see how The Lake House was about forbidden love, except in that some people would call communicating in ways not normally allowed by our time-space continuum Satanic. Clarify?

[davids]

What kind of love stories do you like the most?


Annie Hall? And of course the one not yet written-well over half written I s'pect! Oh, and the one involving my kids at the ages of thirty plus who sit their kids on my knee two on the left and one one on the right-big knees I gots-and they all look up at me and say Pops-we luv ya!!!! Corny maybe but my love stories and you asked!!!!

[BellaRush]

The idea I have for my next WIP involves an unconsummated love affair...

I want to concentrate on their feelings emotionally, not complicate things with sex. And it would be interesting to see two grown-ups exercise self-control for a reason greater than themselves.

Absolutely!! I thought I was the only one in the universe that thought like this. Everything that happens before sex becomes part of the equation is *far* more interesting in my opinion, but maybe I'm just weird! That's the kind of story I ended up writing – though it's not as if I'm published!

[leenakincaid]

I like obsessive love novels.

[maestrowork]

But I don't see how The Lake House was about forbidden love, except in that some people would call communicating in ways not normally allowed by our time-space continuum Satanic. Clarify?

It's forbidden love because they couldn't be together, separated by time-space -- meanwhile one of them is also engaged to another person... the whole angst of the story is that they can't ever meet. The communication is not the problem -- lovers who have forbidden love often communicate with each other -- but it's that they "can't" love each other because of the two years' time difference, thus "forbidden."

[travelgal]

A Town Called Alice by Nevil Shute. Haunting and harrowing is the only way I can describe it.

[Nakhlasmoke]

It all depends on my mood.

Sometimes I want a great weepy angst-fest where the love is forbidden and unrequited and everything ends horribly. (Hey it worked for the Bard)

And other times I want two difficult people bringing out the best in each other.

And sometimes I just want Zoe and Wash. (although, that's rather depressing too.)

[RickN]

My favorite three love stories: Casablanca, Shakespeare in Love, Phantom of the Opera. These fill the classic categories of 'unrequited', 'forbidden', and 'I'm way too hot to fall for a mutilated guy'.