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@anne-of-lothlorien

1. I’d go for it. It might actually make the novel more realistic, though that depends on what age these characters are. If they’re over sixteen, I think it might be natural for it to happen (though it does depend on their upbringing). As for how hard it is…I find it easy? I had a couple in a novel I wrote over a year ago and my alpha reader (*cough* my mom) said I wrote the romance well. Then, in a more recent novel, I came out with a love triangle, and though no one has read that yet, I’d say it came out pretty well 😛 So while having a whole plot revolve around romance isn’t my thing, I think it makes a novel realistic and often more relatable, especially if it stays at the awkward stage (which is incredibly fun to write 😉 )

2. As for pointers…I can’t bring to mind any tangible ones at the moment 😛 A lot of what I picked up was from reading books and watching movies. There’s a really sweet romance in Jaye L. Knight’s Ilyon Chronicles, and that helped me a lot. I think the biggest thing is to distinguish between love and attraction. Love is just how it’s defined in the Bible: wishing the best for people and genuinely striving to make them happy, etc. Attraction is more of a magnetic force between opposite genders, if I can put it that way. Like subtly thinking “oh wow, he’s cute” or “man, she’s pretty” or just ending up stupidly grinning at each other, stuttering, and thinking about the other person more than would be normal. Attraction would probably happen much more quickly than actual love. Beyond that, it would depend on the character, as some would deny they have “feelings” for the other, or be happy about it, etc.

3. Erm… no. Though, depending on the age of your characters, I’d bet you’ll have room for lots of awkward moments 😛 And from dreaming up the perfect romance for one of my protagonists, the guy who fell for her just started doing nice things for her… until they were in a life-or-death situation and it finally came out into the open XD

I will also add that how these characters fall in love with each other will, again, depend on who they are as people. Do they have self-control in this area, are they looking for a partner right now, are they allowed to have a partner right now, do they actually want to fall in love, what do they think about love, do they just want to be friends and not lovers, but end up becoming lovers anyway — those might be some questions to consider, as it will affect how their relationship develops and plays out.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. It’s weird how much I actually wrote up here when I have no experience in the field of romance. I hope it helps somewhat 😛