Writing Romance

I agree with the general advice of avoiding the romance genre to learn about writing romance. Not that there’s anything wrong with the genre, actually. However, to learn about romantic love from other writers is to learn from an imitation of a very real and powerful kind of relationship. By writing about romantic love, particularly in more idealized romance media, you’re learning about a necessarily simplified and fictionalized account of love. Many romance books/movies are forced to twist romantic relationships to fit a certain expectations readers have about the plot. This isn’t bad, but it’s not a true-to-life portrayal. You can read all the books or watch all the movies you like, but because you’re learning only from books and movies then you’re never going to be able to move beyond the fiction to use romance in surprising and interesting ways. Learning about love from romance novels/movies is like learning about warfare from warhammer novels.

My advice is to pull from real-world experiences. Think about past relationships you’ve had. If you’ve never been in a romantic relationship for whatever reason, then that’s fine. Simply talk to people who have. Ask them questions. Ask about their experiences. It’s worth a shot if you’re serious about learning.