When I was invited to write this article, I began to compile a list of my favourite love stories, stories that have left me reeling; whose characters’ journeys I didn’t just observe but felt like I had lived.
The First Time I Saw You
I wrote down a quick list of the books that stayed with me through the decades, beginning in my teenage years, where my love of love was fed by the likes of A Woman of Substance and the Thorn Birds. My list stretched on into the nineties - the decade I met my partner - when Bridget Jones and Mr Darcy stole my heart and I was introduced to Nick Hornby and High Fidelity.
As I thought about the noughties – the decade where our family grew with the birth of our children –One Day, The Time Traveller’s Wife and The Other Boleyn Girl jostled for their spot.
I replayed the books I had packed as we moved our growing family into a bigger house: Me Before You, P.S. I Love You, but then, I thought of all the DVD’s that lay eagerly behind the brown parcel tape: Some Kind of Wonderful to Dirty Dancing on through to True Romance, The English Patient, Sliding Doors, An Affair to Remember, Moulin Rouge … my list was getting out of control. And what about box sets? What about Buffy and Angel? I couldn’t leave them out!
To bring my list into hand, I re-read the question I had been asked … which love stories have influenced me as a writer?
I turned over the page and started again, this time questioning what it is, for me, that creates a compelling love story. One that leaves me happy and satisfied with their happily ever after? The lure of romance? Or is it living through their struggle to get there, to finally find love.
I flipped the page over again, scanning the wealth of love that stared back at me. Through that list, one thing was clear: each of those love stories has influenced me in some way. Films and books centred around music fuelled the idea for my debut novel, The Songs of Us; stories with strong and yet damaged Women helped create Sophie and The First Time I Saw You; tales with family at its core brought to life the McLaughlin family … but still something was missing.
As I watched my word count climb and without a conclusive answer to the question, Russell, the father of my four gorgeous children and best friend for twenty-five years, placed a cup of tea on my desk and kissed my cheek.
I scrunched up the list and smoothed down a fresh page where I wrote: the greatest love story that inspires my writing … is my own.