A lot of books -- a lot of books -- have some sort of element of romance in them. I'm here to help you write a love interest that your readers will be able to love as much as the protagonist does. To clarify, I am not going to tell you how to write a romance, just the love interest. The former will come later in the book.

So I have some things I believe to be very important in any love interest whether they be male, female, straight or not. For the sake of consistency I'm going to refer to the love interest as a male.

Just like any character, the love interest needs flaws. This is often forgotten in love stories, because girls like to write about their dream guy and our dream guys tend to be flawless. But, it never works in stories because, as I've mentioned before, we just don't like perfect people. We envy them and jealousy is a powerful thing. Another problematic situation that is so often seen, especially with bad boys, is the male having flaws initially, but the girl changing them so that they fix those flaws.

It can't be that way. You can eliminate flaws so long as the character develops more. No one is perfect. Plus, it is excruciatingly boring to read about a person with no internal struggles. That being said, you really need to have a balance. There needs to be redeeming qualities that make your character a likeable person, but the flaws should be there too. You'll notice that I won't list many specific traits because it's really up to you to decide as a writer what traits you, personally, find attractive. Every character is different (at least I would hope so).

Don't forget to include physical as well as personality flaws.

The next part is that the character shouldn't be so unbelievable and have everything set out for them that we just cannot relate to them in any way. This builds off of my last point with the flaws. Flaws are relatable; as are everyday issues, maybe social issues. The key is to have them have something holding them to Earth, something many people can empathize with and understand.

The second part to this is that the love interest should relate to your protagonist. They don't need to be the same person, but they need to have shared experiences, especially traumatic ones. They should grow together and fall in love that way. If they can't relate to each other, how are they supposed to be there when something is wrong? How could they attempt to understand what the other person is going through?

A huge mistake when writing love interests is the writer often only implements them for the purpose of them being a lover. Let's all be honest; it's something we have at least considered. How many times have you asked yourself if there should be someone to form your protagonists other half? The thing is, this character must have some ulterior motive, some reason for being there in the first place. This comes from their backstory (again, that word).

Their motives can change because of them falling in love with the protagonist, but they still should be there to start with.

The character must have a reason for loving the protagonist aside from how they look. In fact, it is far more swoon-worthy when they don't love them for their looks; but for all of their flaws. Anyway, your lover isn't there just because it is convenient; it has to make sense. What do they see in them? Why did they fall in love?

This is what brings the conflict (a lot of the time). All relationships need conflict, but more on that later. Believe it or not, but the love interest and your protagonist shouldn't agree on everything. They can love each other, but that doesn't mean they believe the other is right all the time. A good love interest should challenge the protagonist, push them in a new direction and make them question their own biases. If everything went well, how would they even know if they love who the person is or just the fact that they agree on everything?

This is very similar to my last point. Just because two characters love each other, doesn't mean they are each other. All characters should be distinctly unique, especially those as important as these two. If they are different, more interesting situations and conflict can be created from it. Ever heard the saying "opposites attract"? Keep that in mind. Many people see only flaws when they look in the mirror. Don't let your character look at their lover and see themself.

By necessities, I mean the four qualities I believe a healthy relationship must have. They don't need to be there right away; they should come with time.

The first is understanding. This is because of shared experiences and the love interest's past. They should be able to or at least try to understand what their counterpart is going through. There should be empathy there.

The next is trust. This is one that definitely needs to come with time. As it goes on, both people in the relationship should learn to depend on and trust the other. It's one simple step to every formula on creating great romantic relationships.

My third is a very important one and something I feel very strongly about. Women are not inferior to men and should not be treated as such. There should be respect on both sides of the equation, not just the female respecting the male. And the man (remember that this still applies to same-sex relationships) should not assume he is superior. If he does, it's an unhealthy relationship, which isn't something I personally would care to read about. Despicable love interests suck.

The last necessity is support. Even if they don't always agree with each other, these two should come around in the end and support the other's decisions or help support them with whatever they are going through. In the end, they should be a shoulder to cry on.

Just like any other character, there should be a character arc. Over the course of the story, the character must change. Here comes the interesting part. This change can cause the couple to grow together, apart, or they could stay just as close as they were before the change. Or maybe they even change together.

Whatever it is, you can't forget that the love interest is not perfect, never was, nor will he/she be. They are a very important character and they have to change. If they don't, they just add dead weight. I'll remind you again that they should serve a purpose other than sweeping a girl off her feet.

Like I noted, the love interest should push and challenge the protagonist. They should encourage them to question what they know and believe. A lover should have a direct influence on the protagonist, which is part of what makes them so beloved in the first place. Teaching them a lesson or bringing an important message to the table are two things that are very often seen in love interests.

Here is the question that we've all been waiting for: what would the love interest do to save the one they love? How far would they go? What would they sacrifice? The answer should be almost anything, if not everything. If it's true love, they would go out of their way, maybe even cross moral lines, to ensure their loved one's safety and happiness. If the love interest would not do these things for the protagonist, maybe they aren't meant to be together.

That's it for now, but it is very likely I will add to this in the future. Let me know in the comments if you found this helpful or what you believe is important in an effective love interest. I love hearing what you have to say!