I Know I Love You…at first sight

Hello Fishy Friends!

Not too long ago, I wrote this post for ARe Cafe (I love them and they’re awesome!) except for I didn’t get any comments, which made me feel like this…

http://transmitartwork.deviantart.com/art/Sad-Little-Mermaid-412071076

http://transmitartwork.deviantart.com

 I really wanted to chat with anyone willing to talk about the speed of love at first sight and what we like in our romance novels. So I’m reposting this here in the pond today and crossing my fins that I’ll get a nibble…

xoxo

Carlene Mermaid

“I wait all day just hoping for one more minute with you and I don’t even know you.”

Do you remember when Maggie said that to Seth in the 1998 movie “City of Angels”?

Did you believe in those words with all your heart?

What if I told you that’s where I want to start every story I write. I don’t do it, of course, but I can’t help wanting to. Or at least I want people to feel and know in their hearts and bones that loving someone that instantaneous and that incredibly strong is as possible as the simple decision we make each day to wear our favorite color or pack the kids’ favorite sandwich.

Sometimes I hear people say “It’s not realistic to fall in love that fast.” It made me so sad recently when I was talking to someone I’ve known for a very long time and throughout our conversation, it became clear that she honestly and truly did not have the capacity to believe in love at first sight. To her, that feeling I was trying to explain as a pure love that just comes over you was merely lust. I began to feel very hurt that something I believed so strongly in, she believed just as fervently against. I hope that someday, either through life or maybe just a good ole love story, she has a change of heart.

That’s why we need romance books!

That’s also why I love romance readers. I think we just have the capacity to believe a little bit more, to go out a little further on that limb for the characters we love. It’s why we’re able to accept that sometimes two strangers are just going to know. You know?

How many times have you sat down with a new romance novel and by the end of the first page or two, you’ve already fallen in love with the hero? I’m right there with you.

I believe. You believe. We believe.

But what I don’t want to be and I admit I have thought about this, is lazy in my writing and my plotting. I don’t want to ever be telling you a story and skip over something you need to know about my couple’s journey just to show you their incredible, immediate connection. So my promise to you is that I’ll always be very careful and very attuned to where each story starts. Whether it takes the characters months or years or seconds to feel that connection.

I need these stories and these feelings right along with you. I love being a part of this crazy little thing called romance.

I thought it would be cool to hear some of your favorite “Love at first sight” lines. I’m also curious to know if you have a preference as far as what pace you are comfortable with characters falling in love or feeling that first spark.

Can I be a wee bit indulgent and repeat my fave? I knew you romantics would understand!Mermaid Carlene

“I wait all day just hoping for one more minute with you and I don’t even know you.”

Now that I’m sighing and sniffling and warm and fuzzy inside, it’s your turn…

Okay Fishy Friends … let me hear it.

12 thoughts on “I Know I Love You…at first sight

  1. Carlene,
    I believe! I’ve heard true stories about love at first sight that give me the warm and fuzzies. Not from books (although those are great as well), but from living, breathing people.
    As a matter of fact the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood interviewed Suzanne Kalb the other day, and she talked about her experience with her husband. How she met him. The instant connection. More than twenty years and four kids later, they’re still together. You should pop by there and read it and some of the comments about other people’s love-at-first-sight experiences.
    As romance writers, I think most of us do believe in some of that. Others more strongly. Some people think you have to know someone a while to really get to know them. I think there’s a fine line between this reality and different times, different loves. What if you meet someone for just a fragment of time in this one, but you’ve spent a lifetime together in another? Maybe that instant connection is just the souls recognizing each other. Again. And want another chance…:-)
    Loved your post, Carlene. Thanks for the clip of CITY OF ANGELS. I watched it and got all teary eyed. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie.

  2. I love you at first sight, Kim! I hadn’t heard about the Ruby’s post so I’ll be checking that out. I also love hearing real life love at first sight stories. You’re right, reading it in romance novels is wonderful but knowing it’s actually happening with flesh and blood people is an amazing thing.
    And oh my goodness, you just explained something I wanted to put in this post but I couldn’t get the words to come out right so they made sense but you just did it. Yes! “The fragment of time theory” by Kim MacCarron. I 100% believe in that.
    Thanks so much for sharing. xoxoxoxo

  3. Carlene, I believe in love at first sight! But to me, it’s not about the way a person looks but something he or she does. In books, as well as real life, I will witness a single solitary action and know to the core of my being the inherent goodness of a person. This happened with my husband. Not at first sight, but a few months after we met. One action, and I knew I loved him. I try to put these same moments in my books, but you’re right. It’s hard to make them convincing, so we can’t be lazy with our writing.
    Great post, Carlene!!

    1. Oh Pintip, I think that’s beautiful about whatever your hubby did to steal your heart. I know the love at first sight experience will be different for everyone and that’s what makes it so wonderful and unique. Whether it’s truly at first sight or a few months down the road. How cool to have a glimpse and know it’s your future. Thank you so much for sharing that.

  4. I don’t know about love at first sight but, in my case, one moment stands out in my relationship with Peter. I was arguing with my then-boyfriend and Peter stepped in. “I think she’s absolutely right,” he said, and my jaw dropped. This gangly, nebbishy, awkward graduate student (to me), suddenly became absolutely and truly human. I’ve always said I began to love him when he took my part and shut down the patronizing dope who thought he had all the answers.

    1. Your Peter is awesome, Susan. I’m fascinated to know, because you eventually fell in love with him, what were your exact initial reactions to him at first sight? I wish I’d cataloged mine down when I first saw my hubby but it was such a long time ago! Hahahaha. I think they probably went something like, “Oh there’s that cute boy who likes all my friends.” Can’t wait to meet your main man, by the way. 🙂 xoxoxo

      1. Skinny, dark, all glasses and hair and nose. Awkward, shy, given to smarter-than-you comments. After the unexpected support (I remember blurting “Really? You think *I’m* right?”), I was at least willing to talk to him. A year (and two boyfriends) later I had to stay at school for the summer, and we started going for coffee.

        You can imagine the rest. <3

  5. I believe!

    I’m glad you reposted this! You know what I love? When two people and/or characters have that immediate dislike for each other but it’s really love. They’re just scared or intimidated so they go right for fight-mode. That’s hot! 😉

    1. Ooooooo, excellent call, Kerri … that’s why you’re My hero! Yeah, I love that too. It’s like they care way too much and have no idea how to handle it so they turn off their humanity. (Sorry, I’ve watched way too many Vampire Diaries lately).

      And because you believe, a tiny little love at first sight fairy is glowing somewhere.
      xoxoxo

  6. Unfortunately, I could be one of those people who don’t exactly believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in that gesture, that act that causes the second glance, the small smile, or the sigh, a visceral reaction the body can’t stop because the feeling is that powerful. The fun for writers is you can pick what that first meeting means to one character — there is always the character who loves first. The other one needs time to catch up.

    1. Denny, and that is why I love you. Even if it’s not love at first sight, it’s still a powerful feeling with potential. “Something the body can’t stop.” Oh man, and yes, that there is always the one who loves first and the one who needs time. Fishy sister, have you listened to yourself lately? Brilliant I tell you. xoxo

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