Book love, Bachelor style
Love at first sight and instant attraction are a well-worn theme in fiction. But can someone instead find love and attraction via a scientific formula?
That's the premise behind Sara Donovan's debut novel, Love by Numbers, in which human resources executive Alice is hopelessly infatuated with charismatic colleague Ryan. Not only is he totally unsuitable as a partner, he appears to be utterly disinterested in her as well. Cue Alice's attempt to rewire her brain, via a seven-step method, to instead be attracted to her nice-guy friend, Nathan.
Donovan says the story evolved from a "fascination with the neuroscience of the 'brain in love', the ability we have to rewire our brains and my love of obsessive heroines".
"I grabbed an A3 page, wrote 'love, lust and neuroscience' in the middle, and started mind-mapping my book," she says.
"Scientists think that certain experiences can trigger love and lust brain chemicals. For example, after an adrenaline rush you get a hit of dopamine (the 'pleasure' and even addictive brain chemical) and sleeping together can trigger oxytocin (the 'bonding' brain chemical). Meaning, if you and someone you chose had those experiences together, you could increase the chances of falling in love with each other.
"The seven steps are kind of like creating a holiday romance back home by deliberately repeating those experiences. That's the heroine's quest as she tries to trigger passion with an available friend."
Donovan believes that as long as you don't turn each other off in the first place, putting yourself in environments known to trigger love and lust brain chemicals can lead to romantic feelings.
"It's something I think the producers of the TV show The Bachelor utilise," she says. "So many of the women have romantic feelings for the guy very early in the show, way before they know him.
"The relative sudden onset of romantic feelings has a bit to do with the environment, in my opinion — the competition, the glamour, the location can produce two of the seven steps: adrenaline and emotion."
As Alice deals with her unrequited feelings for Ryan, especially when he hooks up with her flirty flatmate Holly, she experiences many awkward friends-with-benefits moments with Nathan -- desperate to prove that you can indeed use your head to control your heart.
Donovan, a Sydney-based corporate facilitator who has a science degree, says her interest in psychology started early.
"Being repeatedly told by my third-class primary-school teacher that I took myself far too seriously set me off on a path of wondering how I could change myself," she says. "I didn't read my first psychology book until years later, of course, but I had a big hunger for learning about my mind from early on."
Love by Numbers is one of the first titles released under HarperCollins Australia's new digital imprint Impulse, however, Donovan has no qualms about it being released as ebook-only.
"Many people read rom-coms on ereaders, so I was delighted to get the backing of a traditional publisher to be digitally published," says Donovan, who was picked up by HarperCollins through its Wednesday Post submission process.
"It took me 18 months before I had something I was happy to submit.
"I run a small business which was incredibly busy during that time so I gave up TV, most of my social life, even yoga, and wrote weekends and nights -- often until the early hours. It sounds hard but it wasn't. I had a lot of support from my family. It was a wonderful 18 months."
Now Donovan, a married mother-of-two, is looking towards her next writing project, another rom-com, and possibly a screenplay.
"The greatest reward, I think, is the ability writing has to let you deeply appreciate your own life," she says.
Love by Numbers is published by HarperCollins Australia under its Impulse digital imprint (ebook $3); to follow Sara Donovan, visit her author pages on Facebook or Goodreads.
