By Lauryn Jay
I was sitting at a bar earlier this year, drinking a wonderful glass of Pinot Noir and eating a perfectly cooked salmon with risotto on the side. I was alone, as it was a work trip and the colleagues I was traveling with hadn’t arrived yet, so like any introverted, anti-social gal, I glued my eyes to the screen of my phone.
But I wasn’t drowning out the noise and ignoring the outside world. In fact, I was very much listening in on the conversation next to me. An older couple in matching uniforms of t-shirts and jeans were chatting about their son and how he needed to propose to his girlfriend already. This amused me, and I had to know more. My eyes lifted from my phone and darted to the gentleman who gave me a small smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be eavesdropping,” I lied, “but my brother has been dating this woman for over eight years and he still hasn’t proposed.” That line opened up an almost hour’s worth of conversation with the couple whom I discovered had been coming to this same bar for their weekly date night for over twenty years. The gentleman was more verbose with their history and stories, and the woman continued to nod and smile while throwing in anecdotes and pieces of history he’d forgotten. All the while, she had her knee positioned tightly next to his, as if they were stuck together with glue. I knew I had to write about this moment.
When I got back to my hotel room, I opened my laptop and feverishly typed down all the thoughts and emotions I had from the evening, and after a few hours, came up with some pretty clever story concepts. Because that’s what I love to do, I love investigating people and relationships to understand their view on love, what happens when it all works out, or when it crashes and burns. The highs, the lows, the perfect meet-cutes, and the missed opportunities. I observe it all, so I can write about it all.
The best stories are the ones that hit you at your core. Where you stop reading and say, “Oh my god, that’s totally me.” Love stories aren’t just cute, sappy, happily ever-afters; love stories are full-on investigations of the wonder, the lust, the vibrancy, the misery, and the heartbreak. To me, they are the toughest stories to write about because, as a writer, I have to strip away all my pre-conceived notions and feelings about people and allow myself to be open and vulnerable. And while that’s sometimes scary to do, it’s crucial to write an effective love story – and I love when the emotions pour out of me and onto the page.
I hope my stories connect with readers on an emotional level. I hope they smile, laugh, and even cry because the words resonate with their own lives. Stories connect us, and it’s my job as a writer to keep that connection alive.
So, if you happen to see a random woman at a bar swirling her glass of wine and looking down at her phone, she may very well be writing the next great love story.
