In the Market for True Love

by Alyssa Symon from the September 20, 2021 issue

Tagline: When fellow farmer and foe Eddie winks at her across the stall at the farmers market, Kathleen senses something new growing between them.

Observations: This story used a trope that I remember Alex Pollock saying she wanted to see more of...enemies to lovers. The key to this type of story is to move from the character "hating" the other person to deciding they might be a potential mate. It's hard to do in 800 words but obviously possible.

First you establish the reason for the animosity. In this story, Kathleen and Eddie had rival farmers market businesses. But as the story progresses, we see her feelings going back and forth, moving from negative to positive. Here's a breakdown:

• Negative: She notices the crowd across the way at Eddie's stall and hopes his squash are underripe.
• Negative: "...as much as Kathleen loathed the way his business took away from hers..."
• Positive: "...she couldn't help but admire the view [of his body.]"
• Positive: "He had that intoxicating smell she adored, the earthy aroma one acquired form picking beans and digging up tubers."
• Positive: Flustered, she flushes when he winks at her.
• Positive: She giggles when he suggests their situations will reverse next Saturday.
• Positive: Her heartbeat quickens when Eddie rubs a smudge off her face. 
• Positive: She gets butterflies due to his proximity.
• Positive: She accepts is dinner invitation.

Interesting to see there wasn't really too much negative, right? So, to write an enemies to lovers story, start out with the reason for the animosity and spend the rest of the time showing the feelings change over time. In this story, only a day passed, but you could easily make the story cover a longer span of time.

Photo by Gemma Billings via Flickr Creative Commons License