I’m dating Glen Powell! (on the page)

How to have fun writing a love interest.

Call TMZ: I really am dating Glen Powell. (Don’t tell my husband.)

What’s exciting about this is that I’ve had a total crush on him this summer. I went to see Twisters, where he plays the hunky-villain turned love-interest, and walked away from the theater thinking, Wow, that man is hot-hot-HOT. And people, it’s really difficult not to crush on this man. Happily I still have Anyone But You to watch ahead of me. (Don’t worry, Glen, I’ll get there. I’m saving that one for a rainy day.) This crush is despite the fact that I really hated Glen as the villain in Top Gun: Maverick (though I loved seeing that movie in the theater so much.)

But much like Anne Helen Peterson in her amazing article about my current boyfriend, “A Unified Theory of Glen Powell,” I too am a Glen Powell convert. I used to hate him but now I love him.

And we’re going out!

. . . in the novel I’m currently playing around with when I wake up in the mornings.

Well, technically my new protagonist is dating him.

But dear reader: Glen Powell is such a motivating love interest to write! I mean, truly irresistible. Enough that I look forward to writing my protagonist’s (i.e. my) romance with Glen when I get out of bed each day.

Glen Powell is such an excellent muse.

And lately, I’ve been in this writing rut. But then Glen swooped in, in his muddy, tornado-chasing jeep and saved the day. And now It’s a love story, baby just say yes!

All this to say: as a longtime writer, I highly recommend that you indulge your own crushes on the page. Especially if you’re stuck. I promise, it will keep you churning out words because you’ll want to get to those enticing scenes where there’s flirting, banter, smoldering glances, or very, very serious and meaningful love-making. YUM.

And please have no shame (I obviously have none on this front): the best part about dating a celebrity crush (or an old flame, or an old flame-that-never-flamed-yet-you-wish-it-had-burned-like-a-bonfire) via a protagonist, is that the only life consequences are as follows:

• Total fun.

• Lots of inspiration.

• Many (exciting!) words on the page.

And while I’m confessing about my fictional boyfriends, I’ll offer you another few celebrity (and non-celebrity) inspirations I have loved (and dated on the page):

My love interest inspiration for my recent rom-com STEFI AND THE SPANISH PRINCE (Xavi) is:

Uhtred from The Last Kingdom (Netflix). So swoony. You have to see the show to fall for him, I think. I didn’t think he was quite that hot at first. Then by the end of Season One I was calling out to Alexa asking if the actor, Alexander Dreymon had a girlfriend. (Sadly, he recently got married and had a baby. Don’t tell his wife I dated him (on the page via Stefi). I also may have watched that whole show through twice (all 5 seasons!). That’s how swoony he is. So motivating to make Stefi to go and kiss that man! Among other things!

A celebrity crush I’m saving up for a future novel:

Henry Cavill from The Witcher. I know. I’ve gone through a long-haired-man phase. Long, shaggy-haired, sweaty-dirty, sword-wielding men, apparently. I didn’t like Henry Cavill that much before The Witcher either. But people, then boy did I. Watching him grunt along in that hot manly-way of his, covered in monster guts, also had me hitting pause to ask Alexa if he had a girlfriend. (Sadly yes, at least when I last checked.) Luckily I can still date him on the page, all I want!

In a variety of my novels:

• I’ve also gone back and “re-dated” old boyfriends—from high school. From my twenties.

• I’ve dated the boys and men I never got to date from my past.

There is truly nothing more inspiring for writing a story about two people who fall in love (or in and out of love), than doing so by imagining that person is someone who makes you swoon in your real life. Writing romance and love stories are all about fantasy—fantasy for the reader sure, since we all love to watch two people fall in love (and have sex!). But even more so, it’s about the writer getting to indulge her own romantic fantasies too. That’s how (I believe) you can add that romantic spark to a meet cute, to a scene when the love interests first lay eyes on one another,

You need to want to date that love interest as much as your protagonist does!

So my advice:

Indulge all your own celebrity crushes on the page. Go back and re-date that hot high school boyfriend or girlfriend who was never going to be long-term but who was really totally swoony and reimagine those fond scenes and moments from your youth. Or date that person you always wanted to but never did. Create the romance you never lived each day when you go to your laptop or notebook or write your novel. Love vicariously via your protagonist.

You can make these sweet. You can make things steamy. You should always make things swoony regardless of the steam or lack thereof.

Let’s yourself have all the fun.

You too, can date Glen!

Once I’m done with him. 😊