Couples need a shared project or conflict that is not their relationship. Call it the "Third Thing."
Rule: If your characters only talk about their feelings, their relationship is hollow. Give them a wall to build, a mystery to solve, or a dragon to slay. Love lives in the margins of action.
Before a single spark flies, you need a foundation. Romance without structure is just fireworks—loud, bright, and over in seconds.
Real love isn’t a boombox in the rain. It’s a thousand small, consistent acts of repair.
Better than a grand gesture: A pattern-breaking small act.