Friday, February 3, 2012

Love and a Good Book

February, the only month completely dedicated to love. For the diehard romantic or the contemptuous Valentine scrooge, love is hard to escape. Especially if you’re implanted permanently in the world of books. Even the classic horror story can have a droplet of adoration for another, thus creating a scheme involving the tender emotion or the gut wrenching feeling of heartache and betrayal.
Love has been the backdrop for thousands of stories throughout the ages of time, yet it never gets old and it will continue to be the common thread binding mankind as one. It’s the essence of human evolution, a timeless concept, the element that fuses couples as one; regardless of their ethnicity, social status, or religion.
The sacred emotion can cause euphoric oblivion one minute and cataclysmic catastrophe the next without skipping a beat. It is the ultimate hero, the exceptional villain, an actual sentiment that can play both parts equally and have the power to portray the feeling exceptionally while still captivating the audience with absolute understanding.  The classic novels such as Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility by Austen or Gone with the Wind by Mitchell depict love as an occupation to work toward or work hard to keep. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet shows teen love in the crossfires of family feuds and confrontations followed by tragedy. Modern day love stories such as The Notebook by Sparks, Outlander series by Gabaldon, or for the young adult fan Twilight series by Meyer’s highlight love as the elusive piece of the puzzle far from reach but ultimately falling into place for the character who thought they were unworthy of  its affections.
It’s unfathomable to imagine the world without the classic love stories from centuries ago or just yesterday and how the literary work will impact each reader. Some will find the relation boring and useless. Others may conjure strong memories from a past love or the hopes in finding their true soul mate by getting lost in another’s description of love. I find it refreshing to describe innocent youthful passion with characters in my young adult book series Elements. It brings back nostalgic feelings of adolescent crushes and esteems of untarnished yearnings. My stories reflect the feminine aspect and experience as well as the young male perspective of new undiscovered emotions. I find it incredibly challenging and extremely exciting to fill the pages of a novel with consistent balances to supply both genders with the fulfillment of anticipated expectations they demand. In the end, love provides the antidote to any plot and the substance to engage the element of intoxicated inspiration.

“There is no remedy for love, but to love more” quote by Henry David Thoreau