FORBIDDEN WORDS
. . . and its variants.

In dialogues
o “Love.” – Yes, that also includes “I love you,” “I know you love me,” etc., etc.
o “I want you.” – No comment.
o “I need you.” – . . . No comment.
o “I’m sorry, this is going to hurt . . .” – I know you know what I mean.

In narrative
o “[Insert name here] fell in love with [insert another name here].” I don’t think I need to explain.


FORBIDDEN THEMES

o Two enemies that are forced to work together and fall in love. If you’re enemies, then you’re enemies for a GOOD reason. Being “forced to work together for two whole seconds” should NOT change that. By the way, this doesn’t include people who tease each other or pretend to hate each other. That’s different from enemies.
o Similarly, someone who’s out to get (read: “kill”) someone else, and ends up falling in love with their target instead.
o Someone who spent years pursuing a love interest who appears to not reciprocate. But in reality, they do have romantic feelings for the pursuer.
o True love.
o Anything involving an amnesiac. Been there, done that, yawn.
o Two people are trapped together, and must keep warm by taking off their clothes and using their body heat.
o Anything involving rape – NO. N-O.


WORDS/THEMES THAT SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION

Words
o “Have feelings for . . .” Either in narrative or dialogue. Actions speak much, much louder than words.
o “Kiss.” Unless it’s in character, this really should be used sparingly, especially as a plot device. (C’mon. “A passionate kiss that caused her to melt blahblahblah?” Are you sure that’s love?) This is a love story, not a make-out session.

Themes
o Love at first sight. If they completely fall in love after being four seconds in each other’s company and ride happily ever after into sunset – don’t deny it – you know that it’s clichéd.
o Stuck up, spoiled, Miss/Mister “I’m-above-everyone” who is, of course, insecure as a child and is only looking a little love, so loosens up as s/he goes along. This was going to go under the Forbidden section, but it could also be made very, very interesting – if you’re original about it.
o Forbidden love. You know what I’m talking about.
o Destined love. Unlike true love, it has the potential to be not pukishly cheesy.


THINGS THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT SHOULD BE DISALLOWED BUT ISN’T

o Love triangles/squares/pentagons/etc. It sounds like it is clichéd, but I’ve seen a lot of instances where it turns out to be very interesting with unexpected twists.


That’s it for now, but should the need arise, I will not hesitate to edit this list.