Phrases for falling in love

[thomas1965]

The most popular phrases I have read on the Kindle store in the romance genre so far are:

1. His heart skipped a beat
2. Her tummy flipped over

What phrases do you use or like ?

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

I don’t think that a single phrase can encapsulate falling in love. It’s about a collection of moments, a building of connection and emotion. Phrases like that describe lust, or infatuation, and writers use them as shorthand for love because they’re lazy and don’t want to go into the details of what it takes to describe the emergence of love. And I’m not someone who is precious about the term “love” — it can happen over years or it can happen in a day. The important part is to show the unique connection between two people. Stock cliches won’t cut it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

In most of my stories, the falling is long and slow, but by the time they get there, it's unspoken. It's more usually a touch of gentle fingers on a cheek, moving a curl away.

What always intrigues me, as their writer, is which of my characters I fall in love with. It's not always who I expect, and it's not all the time - although I suspect readers can tell. When I start dreaming them, there's the clue .

 

[Zootonius]

I like when it is expressed by not expressing it. Something like,

"She was overwhelmed by her feelings at that moment."


Or an example from the best, Pride & Prejudice

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I try to show it more than say it, until they're finally ready to say those three little words. Being kind or thoughtful to each other, always wanting to touch and kiss and hold each other speaks more to how they feel than either of them saying that their heart skips a beat, or their tummy is flipping. At least in my humble opinion.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think the most striking lines, at least at lit, are about falling in lust, not love! "Desire swept over her, waves of lust, like ocean waves crashing over rocks on the shore."

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I'm not a fan of these dainty descriptions of falling in love. I'm much more a fan of things like

"Those damn butterflies are back, he feels sick."

"He forgets how to breathe."

"Oh not this again."

"Did he just get hit by a bus or is that just the hottest thing he's ever seen?"

 

[Seadog777]

The most popular phrases I have read on the Kindle store in the romance genre so far are:

1. His heart skipped a beat
2. Her tummy flipped over

What phrases do you use or like ?

The very first time that I saw my wife she took my breath away.
My buddy Josh elbowed me in the ribs to get me breathing again
So I like to see "She took my breath away" because I can relate.

 

[Lady2020]

He sounded like a beast when he came. As a woman I had two choices. I chose to tell him he was hot af. It took a while to understand this, to his detriment and mine. It's not a detriment now. Which is probably why he wants me more than my schedule allows.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I don't know about falling in love, but I will definitely use some of those when the main character first sets eyes on the love interest.

His breath caught in his throat.
She found that she'd forgotten how to breathe.
Bruce felt his gut tighten when the sultry woman winked at him.
David found that he'd completely forgotten why he'd stepped into the room.

 

[TxRad]

Love? I thought we were still working our way through lust.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'd (and thus my characters) never be quite so straightforward and obvious. The closest I've got to someone realising they're in love would be partner going "So what gives you pleasure nowadays?"

(Lists some hobbies, sucking cock has got boring, - stops speaking, realising everything with this guy is a pleasure) Narrator has tried to resist emotions since his wife died:

I've turned to stone. My throat's gone dry. What I want, need, to say is, 'You'.
Instead I just stare into the space that happens to include his blue eyes. My head's a rocket. I'm falling to fuck.
I do know this feeling. I've been trying to avoid it for five years.
I'm fucking falling for the bastard.

None of my other characters have been that explicit.

 

[NakedNymph]

https://guya.cubari.moe/media/manga/Kaguya-Wants-To-Be-Confessed-To/chapters/0136_80xfd62s/3/15.pnghttps://guya.cubari.moe/media/manga/Kaguya-Wants-To-Be-Confessed-To/chapters/0136_80xfd62s/3/16.png

 

[HordHolm]

He sounded like a beast when he came. As a woman I had two choices. I chose to tell him he was hot af. It took a while to understand this, to his detriment and mine. It's not a detriment now. Which is probably why he wants me more than my schedule allows.

Nice

 

[Rob_Royale]

He sounded like a beast when he came. As a woman I had two choices. I chose to tell him he was hot af. It took a while to understand this, to his detriment and mine. It's not a detriment now. Which is probably why he wants me more than my schedule allows.

Please don't tell me you used "hot af " in a story. Yuck.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Most instances of my characters falling in love is some variation on a theme most aptly captured by Beyonce. Specifically:

 

[Lady2020]

Please don't tell me you used "hot af " in a story. Yuck.

 

[jehoram]

In The Godfather, Mario Puzo used "the thunderbolt" as a device for explaining how immediate and profound the sensation of falling in love was. It was a Sicilian idiom, according to him.

 

[SimonDoom]

Please don't tell me you used "hot af " in a story. Yuck.

If it's a usage that's consistent with the character of the first-person narrator, it's completely OK. I wouldn't use it as a third-person narrator, but I've used the phrase myself in conversation or in other circumstances, so I could imagine using it if I were writing a story with a first-person narrator who is something like me.
I will say, I think of it as more of a "falling in lust" than "falling in love" phrase.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I will say, I think of it as more of a "falling in lust" than "falling in love" phrase.

You're such a romantic!

 

[Euphony]

If it's a usage that's consistent with the character of the first-person narrator, it's completely OK.

This, 100. (another sometimes groaned over youthful expression worth keeping buried somewhere in the toolkit)

Such expressions are in the same area as dialects/accents to me. Have a place to establish more character traits but can quickly grow tiresome and out of hand when heavily wielded.

I don't *think* I'm the worst about it but I have become more cognizant of all the abnormally "mature diction" 18 year olds inhabiting many stories. If there are other artistic characteristics or high technical merit, I can stay engaged but the idealized 18 yo can creep into the unbelievable when the characterizing makes them seem a crafted/ Pygmalion plaything just for the unchallenged advancement of some other main.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

This, 100. (another sometimes groaned over youthful expression worth keeping buried somewhere in the toolkit)

Such expressions are in the same area as dialects/accents to me. Have a place to establish more character traits but can quickly grow tiresome and out of hand when heavily wielded.

I don't *think* I'm the worst about it but I have become more cognizant of all the abnormally "mature diction" 18 year olds inhabiting many stories. If there are other artistic characteristics or high technical merit, I can stay engaged but the idealized 18 yo can creep into the unbelievable when the characterizing makes them seem a crafted/ Pygmalion plaything just for the unchallenged advancement of some other main.

Exactly. Eighteen year old are awkward and dorky. I always find it weird when characters under 20 are written as being genuinely seductive. Especially if they're supposed to be virgins.

 

[Euphony]

Exactly. Eighteen year old are awkward and dorky. I always find it weird when characters under 20 are written as being genuinely seductive. Especially if they're supposed to be virgins.

There was a story that NAILED the maturity Dunning Kruger the 18-21ers have and I saw it all the way to the end even not loving some of the themes/tags central to the story.
Degree of relationship/emotional intelligence should come in to play more than it seems to. 18yo BDSM superstars, even in our informational age, is a bit much.

 

[Euphony]

Especially if they're supposed to be virgins.

I feel genuine agony for the seemingly multi-orgasmic female virgin. How excruciating must it have been to do all the work to learn your body yet not get to share all the fruits of your curiosity labor.

Child must've wore out like 4 Hitachi motors at least.