💘 YOUR LOVE INTEREST HAS NO PERSONALITY. HERE’S HOW TO FIX THAT.
listen. if your readers say they “didn’t connect with the romance” or your love interest is just kind of... there... i need you to know something:
you’re not a bad writer.
you’ve just written a love interest designed to be loved, not a character designed to exist.
and that’s fixable. like, wildly fixable.
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😶🌫️ how do you know if your love interest has no personality?
• they only exist in scenes with the protagonist
• they have no personal goals, interests, or hangups
• their dialogue is just... hot one-liners and quiet staring
• their traits are “mysterious” and “devoted” and “tragic” but nothing specific
• you wrote them with vibes, not interiority
don’t panic. this is so normal.
a lot of writers accidentally build love interests like a Pinterest board. aesthetic, romantic, brooding. but when you actually try to write them in a real scene? they crumble like a wet paper towel.
here’s how to fix that:
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🛠️ STEP ONE: ASK, “WHAT ARE THEY DOING WHEN THEY’RE NOT WITH THE PROTAGONIST?”
what’s their daily life like?
who do they talk to?
what are they obsessed with that has nothing to do with the main character?
example:
you’re writing a mage + warrior romance. the warrior spends half the book protecting the mage. that’s fine. but what does the warrior want?
revenge for a fallen friend? proof they’re more than a weapon? a forbidden library they sneak off to at night?
your love interest should feel like a protagonist in their own private story. even if we never see that story fully play out, we should feel it.
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💬 STEP TWO: GIVE THEM STRONG OPINIONS + CONTRADICTIONS
a love interest with no personality is often agreeable. chill. easy to get along with.
you know what’s way hotter?
someone who pushes back.
→ give them moral lines they won’t cross
→ give them something they hate that the protagonist secretly loves
→ let them contradict themselves (it’s realistic, i promise)
maybe they pretend they don’t care about politics but keep quoting anti-crown writers. maybe they say they don’t believe in love and then check the protagonist’s pulse after every fight.
they don’t have to be easy to understand. they have to feel real.
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🎯 STEP THREE: MAKE THEIR AFFECTION SPECIFIC
your love interest shouldn’t fall for the protagonist because they’re “not like other girls” or because they’re “different.”
i need to know what made them choose this person.
not “she’s strong.” tell me he noticed how she uses her sleeve to wipe down medical tools between healing strangers in an alley.
not “he’s brave.” tell me she can’t stop thinking about how he stood in front of a mob even though his voice cracked.
specificity is the difference between swoony and shallow.
and if your protagonist is falling for someone? readers need to understand why. otherwise it feels like insta-love. (even if it’s chapter 18.)
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💥 STEP FOUR: LET THEM F*** UP
please, for the love of tension, let your love interest make mistakes.
make them mess up the confession.
make them say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
make them doubt the protagonist when they shouldn’t, or believe them when no one else will—and regret it later.
perfect love interests are flat. but flawed ones? they stick. they hurt. they linger.
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🏁 FINAL REMINDER: THEY’RE NOT JUST A LOVE INTEREST.
they’re a whole person.
they existed before the protagonist showed up.
and if your story ended, they’d still keep going.
that’s what makes them believable.
that’s what makes readers fall in love.
that’s what makes you root for the ship, even when it’s messy.
so next time someone says “your love interest has no personality,” don’t panic.
just ask: what’s their story?
and then write it, one scene at a time.
💌 —rin t.
this is in my free writing guide if you want more tips →
https://thewriteadvicerin.gumroad.com/l/openingpages
🕯️ download the pack & write something cursed: