Is there a couple in a show, movie, or book that you just love? And I'm not talking about an "Aw, they make a cute couple" kind of thing. I mean the kind of love that has you simply doing too much, reacting to fictional couples the way that might be frowned upon. You're the happiest person alive when they profess their love. You're depressed for days (or more) when they break up. You get angry when they don't suck it up and admit their feelings for each other. You literally over react over the simplest of things they do.

"Oh my god, they touched!"

"They looked at each other!"

"Holy crap. They're in the same room!"

I've been a fangirl almost all my life (Barney fandom, where you at?), and I've been shipping long before "shipping" was even a term. I was a huge Power Rangers junkie (still kinda am, don't judge me), and I always shipped rangers with each other. These days I've been into more grown up shows, but I'm still shipping like crazy. And yes, I am that fan that gets a little too attached to a couple and cries when they break up.

My crazy shipper feels have gotten me thinking a lot lately, what is it about these couples that make us go crazy about them? Why do we want them together so badly when we know a relationship like that would never work in reality? So I decided to do a little observing of my favorite couples and answer my own question. And along with my answers, I would give you all some tips for making your couples loved so much that your readers might cry if they break up. 

Spoiler Alert!

There's going to be some spoilers in there for some shows that I watch. So I'm warning you now, if you aren't up to date with Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Castle, Glee or Teen Wolf, skip the parts that mention them.

1. RELATIONSHIP

Looking at my favorite couples, I realized that each of them has a special feature or detail that makes their relationship special. Some of them are cliche, others, cliche with a twist.One of those details I usually get drawn to is how the couple got together, or what their relationship was like before they did get together. I'm talking about the cliches like enemies turned lovers, best friends turned lovers, Boss and secretary/ assistant relationships. I'm pretty sure you can think of some more. I know a lot of people don't like cliches, but like I once heard, they became cliches for a reason, right?

One of my favorite couples, Jackson and April, Japril, from Grey's Anatomy, fall under the best friends turned lovers category. These two were part of a foursome and their best friends died (because Shonda Rhimes likes killing her characters), leaving them with each other. Something changed along the way and next thing you know she's giving him her virginity the night before their medical board exams.

The thing that makes these cliches so popular, I believe, is the transition. People are interested in seeing how two people could go from best friends to being in love, what could make two people love each other after hating each other for so long.

TIP #1: Have a smooth transition

Whether you chose to go the cliche route or not, it's important to have a good transition from one stage in the relationship to another. Characters can't be enemies one day and then be madly in love the next. Write those fun, unique, random events and situations that gradually changes the relationship from one way to another. 

Another thing that gets That popular is a cliche with a twist. Meredith and Derek, yes another Grey's Anatomy couple, had that going for them. It was a classic "met a hot guy at a bar, slept with him and found out he's more than just a hot guy" thing. Derek turned out to be her superior, but that wasn't the big twist. Derek was married! At the ending of an episode, a woman walks up to them, introduces herself, and looks at Meredith and said: "And you must be the woman that's screwing my husband". I think it was this that got me officially hooked.

TIP #2: Add a Twist

Cliches are sometimes hard to get away from, it always feels like someone already wrote the idea you had. If you don't want your story to be really cheesy or predictable, add a twist. Switch the cliche around a bit. Or you could start off with a cliche but then throw the readers off. There's a weird level of satisfaction when your readers are shocked because what they thought would happen, didn't. 

As readers and TV watchers, we love it when a character admits their feelings to another. There's the grand gesture thing that we love watching, like when Jackson stood up at April's wedding, in front of her soon to be husband and his girlfriend and said: "I love you April, I always have". (How did it get from her giving him her virginity to him professing his love when she was about to marry another guy? Long story).

But do you know what I noticed we love more than characters admitting their feelings? Characters not admitting their feelings...well, specifically taking forever to do so. Tell me I'm not the only one who is a sucka for a couple who take forever to say they love each other? Now I'm not talking a season or two, I'm talking the almost the whole series, or at least half of it.There are a good bit of my favorite couples that fit in this category, and some of them with different endings. Stiles and Lydia from Teen Wolf are one of these couples, and it looks like things might actually be happening for them in this sixth and final season. Another couple was Richard Castle and Kate Becket from the show Castle. The show showed them not admitting their feelings, finally doing so, getting married, and in the last episode, having children. Every shipper's dream right? Then there's Tony and Ziva from NCIS. The chemistry was amazing, and the sexual tension?

When Ziva left the show, all fans got was a goodbye kiss. When Tony left the show last year, fans found out that they actually did do the nasty before the goodbye kiss and Ziva got pregnant, which she didn't tell Tony about. But how did Tony find out? Ziva DIED!

And that precious little girl had to live with the only family that was still alive, her daddy who didn't know she even existed. 

We as readers might be pissed at the character for not admitting their feelings, but it does keep up captivated, hoping and praying that they one day get together.

TIP #3: Drag That Sucka Out! 

Ok, so you don't have to drag that sucka out, but if you do, make sure you do a lot of planning. There is a lot that goes into making these types of relationships successful, and it has a lot to do with how you tell the story. It's good to stir stuff up. Write situations that make the feelings they a trying to suppress go crazy, like one of them dating someone else. Don't just let them stand there looking longingly at each other the whole book, make things happen between them. Let them almost kiss, and then someone popping up and interrupting them. The readers might hate the person who interrupted them for a while, but they will be excited over the fact that they almost kissed, and want to keep reading, knowing that it could happen again. The point is, bring them together, bring them close to almost sharing their feelings, and then pull them apart again. This is sometimes difficult to write, but with some planning, it will work out. If you're having some trouble, a good example to check out is one of my favorites here on Wattpad, the Storm and Silence series by Rob Their. Robert does an excellent job of getting Lily and Ambrose into situations that pull you in, but at the same time, he doesn't give out too much. 

As I continued trying to answer my questions, I realized that there was a weird reason I had (a reason I've been applying to my personal life...but that's a whole other story). The unlikely couples, the two characters you never thought of as a couple, but once they were, you started digging it. This usually doesn't happen with the main characters, but the secondary ones, the ones that don't get a lot of attention. Jackson and April were one of these couples, I only saw them as friends. But then the boards happened and I was hooked. Another for me was Sam and Mercedes from Glee. I never once thought of them together, but was hooked when they did, and lived for the little screen time they got.

TIP #4: Surprise Them

If you decide to do this, it might be best to use secondary characters, that way, no one really pays attention and is a bit surprised when something happens. With these couples, there is usually an event that happens that brings them together. For Samcedes it was the Junior prom where he told her she looked beautiful and asked her to dance. So, if you like, write an event that brings these unlikely characters together. 

When it comes to these relationships, there is actually one reason that I believe outweighs the others. The reason that some of us have and may not even notice. That reason? WE, the readers, and viewers are covetous, envious and jealous! Don't you believe me? Think about this. Why are the stories about the school hottie falling in love with the nerdy quiet girl who has a crush on him become so popular? The people known for reading the most are the nerdy quiet girls, right? What are the chances that there is a hottie at their school that they're crushing on? Do you see where I'm going with this? We love couples because they have what we want. I love secret romances. I love it when the characters sneak around, hiding their relationship from others. I'm not talking about affairs. That is wrong and very unbecoming...unless it's for story plot purposes, then it's acceptable (Don't judge me). I love them because if (and that's a strong if) I ever get in a relationship, I want it to be like that. Why? It seems fun for some reason...plus I'm surrounded by nosey people. The point is, we love what we want. We may never get to have it, so we fantasize and put ourselves in the character's shoes.

TIP #5: Be Covetous

That sounds like a weird tip but follow it. Write about a relationship you want. Not only will you bring in some readers who want the same thing, you'll be more inspired to write it because it has more to do with just your imagination and creativity.  

We've been talking about the relationships themselves, but do you know that there's more to why we love a couple?

2. CHARACTERS

Yes, characters. The characters themselves sometimes determine just how obsessed we get with a couple. Why would I think that? I want you to think about it. Is your favorite character half of your favorite couple? That would be a yes for me and some of you as well. But why is that? 

See, we love characters for a whole lot of different reasons. Sometimes we love a character because of their past. Sometimes we love them because we relate to them. Sometimes it's their personality (I love the characters that can make me laugh until I pee myself). And let's not pretend we don't like characters simply because they are very appealing to the eyes.

Our favorite characters eventually turn into loved ones. When we love a character, we want what is best for them, right? Someone does them wrong, we hate them. Someone does something nice for them and they're on our "I like them" list. When we see them with someone that loves them and that they love and makes them happy, we tend to get on board. 

TIP #6: Create a Great Character

When you write diverse, imperfect, relatable characters, the audience falls in love. Creating a character is one of the most difficult parts of writing a story, it is for me at least. One thing I use to help with the process is using the Five P's. I discovered it a few years ago. These P's are Physical, Psychological, Personal, Personality and Practices. (I plan on writing a whole article on this for you guys). Using this helps you to come up with a very complex character. The difficult thing after that is sticking to it. Write great characters readers will love, and that love they have for the character might go over to the couple.

And there you have it, the reasons I think we love the couples we love. But before I end this article, I want to add one final tip.

TIP #7: Too Much Fluff Isn't Always Good

We all love seeing our couple happy. We go crazy over the cute moments they have, and how many times they say they love each other. But sometimes, all that fluff might be too much. Making your couple go through some ups and downs make them realistic and relatable. Letting them go through some tough crappy times don't just make the couple stronger, but makes the readers love them more.

Now I'm officially done. I hope that my tips are helpful and that you guys use them.

And I urge all you shippers, to keep on shipping!

Tell me, who are your favorite couples and why you "ship" them?