Love Genre: Stories About Romance like The Notebook and Romeo and Juliet

Do you want to write great Love Stories?

A story in the Love genre focuses on the need for connection in a variety of forms, including desire, commitment, and intimacy, allowing readers to identify with the lovers as protagonists and respond to the fulfillment of the couple’s fate on the hate-love spectrum with a feeling of romance.

The underlying question in every Love story is: How do we navigate the emotional minefield that is love? How can we attract a mate, avoid heartbreak, and maintain a lasting relationship through a lifetime?

The Four Core Framework of the Performance Genre
1. Core Need → Connection
2. Core Value → Hate to Love
3. Core Emotion → Romance
4. Core Event → Proof of Love

Love Genre Sub-genres include:

OBSESSION (Psychological Driver: Desire)
In the Obsession Love Story one of the lovers has such a shallow but intoxicating passion for the other that the Life/Death value comes into play. Obsession Love Stories are cautionary. They don’t progress beyond the Desire value, and usually end in tragedy.
The Great Gatsby, Damage, Romeo and Juliet

COURTSHIP (Psychological Driver: Commitment)
The bread and butter of Love Story, Courtship concerns all of the romantic rituals we go through in order to find a mate, and typically ends in “happily ever after” with Commitment, and with Intimacy assured. The Courtship Love Story is prescriptive.
Pride and Prejudice, Brokeback Mountain, An Affair to Remember (1957)

MARRIAGE (Psychological Driver: Intimacy)
The Marriage story concerns a committed relationship that certainly had early stages of passion and is now at a crossroads. This story takes love into realistic realms and may have a negative inciting incident such as betrayal. There is an ironic win-but-lose, lose-but-win ending. The Marriage Love Story may be either prescriptive or cautionary.
Marriage Story (2019), War of the Roses (1989), Kramer vs Kramer (1979), The Corrections

0:41 - Underlying Question in Every Love Story
1:07 - Core Need → Connection
1:36 - Core Value → Hate to Love
2:01 - Theme / Controlling Idea of Love Story
2:12 - Core Emotion → Romance
2:34 - Core Event → Proof of Love Scene
2:51 - Conventions of Love Story
5:09 - Obligatory Moments of Love Story
6:05 - Sub-Genres of Love Story

[tomlewis]

Boy, do I love closed captioning. Especially when it relates the 'Lovers Meat' scene. Ahahahahaha!

[cherrlyn]

Wow. Excellent information. I'm going to save it and watch it again (and again).

[geobell]

I love (and cry) watching The Notebook, Rocky I & II, & Titanic. What a nerd, huh?

[juliannederouin]

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves! Brought back the butterflies!

[safiyacain]

West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet, The Phantom of the Opera. I think all of these would align under the "obsession" subgenre.

[taylorlaura]

The Horse Whisperer. Redford ruined the movie, but the book is to die for. Thanks for the video. Will be watching it again. This was tremendously helpful!!

[ClosingIris]

Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife is by far the most emotional romance novel I have ever read.

[rcmogo]

I love About Time! Commitment love genre. I LOVED THIS POWERFUL AND VALUABLE VIDEO, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Side note: I love that Ryan McCrea he has the same accent as JP Sears, and a similar voice! Great speaker, very well done!!

[chrisoneill]

My favorite love story is Pride and Prejudice--the book and the screen version with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It's a "commitment" subgenere. Nice capsule of the key elements. Thanks.

[hopedouglas]

I like Commitment love stories. My favorite movies are West Side Story, Diary of a Mad Blackwoman, Crazy Rich Asians, Beauty and the Beast (screenplay), the Notebook, and The Longest Ride.

[pamelafoard]

Love Actually - such a wonderful look at many love stories at once!

[lindaerickson]

This is great, I’m sure I will refer to again. One of my favorite books, which to me, is a masterwork, is Terms of Endearment. This is a love story between a mother and daughter. Not a typical love story but still a love story. Not all the obligatory scenes would be there; for instance, no lover’s meet scene.

[carlosmendoza]

Love in Cholera time is my favorite, Damatania is also great.

[margaretmiller]

I liked Bridget Jones’ Diary. Also Miss Congeniality.

[dama]

I haven’t read or watched any love stories lately, but I love the sitcom The Addams Family (specifically the relationship between Gomez and Morticia).