LESSONS FROM LOVE ISLAND

 Now there’s a title I never thought I’d use for this blog!

But it is true, this summer I am watching Love Island.

Our eldest son is back home for a while so I’m watching it with him. I’m interested to see why he enjoys it and I love building bonds through a shared interest. And it’s giving me much cause for reflection, including some surprising parallels with being a writer.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure, a group of young people live together in a Majorcan villa hoping to find a relationship and win a big cash prize at the end of the series. The producers regularly mix up the couples in a sort of relationship version of musical chairs. Apart from the occasional uninspiring date or strangely themed party games, they hang around talking to or about each other. It’s like Big Brother in bikinis.

I must be getting old because I was immediately horrified by how scanty those bikinis are. To be honest, there was at least one that I was convinced was simply the wrong size. But then I remembered some of the outfits I wore in my twenties, which I loved, and decided to avoid hypocrisy.

These young people expose themselves in more ways than the obvious. And that makes them vulnerable. Thousands of strangers will know their intimate secrets, judge their decisions, form opinions of their character based only on this edited and forced situation.

Maybe those skimpy clothes (and apparently, there is a whole wardrobe and team of stylists in the villa with them) are symbolic of how they are also baring their souls and personalities in public?

The first time I published one of my poems in a Facebook group, I felt as if I were standing naked in the high street. Any of us who write anecdotally similarly bare our lives to public gaze. But whatever we write, we all put at least a little of ourselves on show. I guess the only difference is that we choose our own edits.

The other surprising aspect to Love Island is while they may look confident, sassy, perfect, the contestants are all looking for the same thing. There’s something rather sweet about how much they make of having a cuddle and in their desire to have a lasting relationship. Several of them have talked about wanting to get married and have children. There’s an artlessness and innocence in their desire for love and connection.

And isn’t that what we are trying to do as Christian writers?

Build connection with our readers. Point them in some way to the lasting source of love. Model the eternal relationship.

I’m finishing this post only a few hours before the deadline.

“Well,” laughed my son, “You had more important things to do last night, Mum, like watching Love Island!”

“No, love,” I replied, “That was research!”

But that’s my last point. How can we engage our readers in what we write without taking the time to understand the world they live in? And how can we communicate God’s love to others if we don’t learn what’s important to them?

Who’d have thought? Love Island – it’s educational!

(Probably the nearest I'll get to Love Island!)

Liz Manning fits writing around being an Occupational Therapist, BB captain, wife, and mum to two adults. Or perhaps it's the other way round. She blogs regularly at https://thestufflifeismadeofblog.wordpress.com/, has two WIPs and more ideas in the pipeline.