Love conquers all…

…and makes a good subplot!

As you may have heard, I will miss my first RMFW conference in twenty years this year. My younger daughter, Jalena, is getting married in Keystone on September 7. A mini family reunion will follow on September 8.

As you read this, you may recall some of your own family wedding memories—happiness for the bride and groom, anxiety over suits and dresses and travel and expenses, rubbing elbows with potentially hostile relatives that couldn’t not be invited, and trying to find enough time to spend with distant relatives you love so much.

Like a living aquifer, family blood flows smooth and rich as everyone prepares to celebrate the couple’s once-in-a-lifetime love-fest day.

I write women’s fiction and historical romance, so I’m higher than a hippie on 4/20, high on the anticipation of the moment of those vows, when they publicly proclaim their love and devotion to each other, till death do they part.

I love my future son-in-law, and seeing them together, hearing how she talks about him and how he talks about her, the look in their eyes, those soft, dreamy smiles when they speak of the other—even after dating for six years—this is one of my life’s richest blessings.

Many dis romantic fiction as syrupy, cheesy, and over-the-top. It’s also accused of being formulaic. It definitely is: romances take the familiar route of first meeting, first touch, first shared laughter, first kiss, first passion, first miscommunication, first fight, first make-up, first profession of love, engagement, and the happily-ever-after wedding.

The courtship, love and marriage sequence is a time of hyperventilating emotions. Fears, anxieties, relief, yearning, raging desire, and roller coaster love leave us bewildered, insecure then secure, and finally exhausted.

It’s a journey many of us take. It can end in tatters or in matrimony, and it can be serene or tempestuous and everything in between. For certain it’s exciting. And hazardous. Aggravating and thrilling. It’s life in the emotional fast lane.

For other genres, romantic subplots can add the fast-paced element of surprise, turning points, and conflict. Unlike romance plots, they don’t have to end with a happily-ever-after, and the conflict inherent with romance can reveal the significant character traits (and flaws) of both your heroes and villains.

So go ahead and write your angsty, conflict-ridden love subplots. They’ll make your mystery, action, western, fantasy, or even terror stories pop with interest and color.

For me, though, at this wonderful September wedding, I’m going to go all schmaltzy and starry-eyed. I will grab my lace hanky and weep as I watch my daughter walk off with the love of her life and into their future.