The Love Interest As A Literary Device

This post on using the love interest as a literary device will help you write your book.

Welcome to the series on the four main characters and why they are literary devices. This week, I’m going to write about the love interest’s role in our stories.

The Love Interest As A Literary Device

“It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill.” ~Emilie Autumn 

As A Literary Device: The love interest is the device an author uses to show the vulnerabilities and strengths of the protagonist. This device allows writers to complicate the main character’s life, and to put stumbling blocks in the way of attaining the story goal. It is the most common sub-plot. 

Story Goal: This character’s goal is always to win, or keep, the protagonist’s love. It is, by nature, a selfish goal.

Five Important Things To Remember About Love Interests

1. Only you. The love interest has in intimate relationship with your main character. This person shows us an aspect of the protagonist that we are unlikely to find in their interactions with the other characters. This character is the object of your protagonist’s romantic and/or sexual interest. They are somebody who makes the hero act irrationally and unreliably.
2. The object of my affection. This character does not have to be a lover. They are best defined as the object of your protagonist’s affection. It is easier if  you choose a person or an animal for your protagonist to love. In 6 Sub-Plots That Add Style To Your Story, we said: ‘It could be a friend, a pet, or a family member. Writers use love interests to support protagonists and to thwart them by threatening their well-being.’
3. Holding out for a hero. A love interest can make fools or heroes of all of us. Please note that this character can be called a romantic interest for a good reason. (Look at the definition of romantic according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) Nothing worth having comes easily. Our heroes should move from idealistic to realistic relationships through struggle and conflict. True love is something a protagonist earns.
4. We all need a muse. Use the difficulties of romantic relationships to create tension and increase conflicts. This character motivates, provokes, challenges, inspires, and pushes the protagonist. A love interest can add to the texture and complexity of your protagonist’s personality.
5. Challenge and change. The love interest shows readers the protagonist as a flawed and vulnerable human being. They there to challenge the protagonist to rise above their weaknesses and to change. A love interest can be an existing relationship or introduced as a new character in the story. This relationship will change your protagonist’s everyday life and their story goal.

If your protagonist breaks up with your love interest, read: 9 Ways To Set Up Believable Fictional Breakups

How Do You Find Your Protagonist’s Love Interest?

List three possible characters who would realistically complicate your protagonist’s life.

Now fill this in:

• The one with the greatest potential for an intimate relationship with the protagonist is:
• The one I find most interesting is:
• The one I would most enjoy writing about is:
• The one who would complicate the protagonist’s life most is:

One of your characters will dominate these answers. This is the character you should consider using as your love interest. If the second character differs from the character you chose in the lists, you may be giving this role to the wrong character.

Top Tip: Use our Character Creation Kit to create great characters for your stories.

Look Out For All The Posts In The Series:

1. The 4 Main Characters As Literary Devices
2. The Protagonist As A Literary Device
3. The Antagonist As A Literary Device
4. The Confidant As A Literary Device
5. The Love Interest As A Literary Device

by Amanda Patterson
© Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this article, read:

1. The Confidant As A Literary Device
2. The Antagonist As A Literary Device
3. The Protagonist As A Literary Device
4. The 4 Main Characters As Literary Devices
5. 5 Tips For Writing Vivid Fiction From Edgar Allan Poe
6. The 7 Qualities You Need To Become A Fiction Writer
7. Use Your Antagonist To Define Your Story Goal

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