New book on Wattpad written by me
I think I've finally found the kind of story I want to write.
I've been outlining a contemporary romance called One Last Thing, and for the first time, I feel like I know exactly what I want my writing to feel like.
It's not a story built around a huge misunderstanding, cheating, toxic relationships, or dramatic breakups. It's about two people who simply... grow up.
The story follows two 17-year-olds, Niyati and Dev, who finish their board exams and decide to complete a bucket list of 25 things to do before graduation over their final two months together. Every chapter revolves around one item on that list.
Things like:
Getting lost without Google Maps.
Spending an entire day letting a coin make every decision.
Asking strangers what happiness means to them.
Watching every train pass without getting on one.
Spending a whole day without checking the time.
The list slowly becomes less about completing tasks and more about creating memories.
Then graduation comes.
Life happens.
No dramatic fight. No betrayal. No villain.
Just different cities, different careers, changing phone numbers, and adulthood.
Years later, they reunite, and one of the things they dig up is a time capsule they buried when they were seventeen. Inside are old letters, childhood keepsakes, and lists they wrote to their future selves. Some letters almost get exchanged. Some remain unread. Some finally get opened years later.
I want the story to feel like warm coffee on a rainy day, or finishing a comforting book and sitting quietly for a few minutes afterward because you're not ready to leave those characters behind.
Another decision I made is that the entire novel will be written in English, even though the characters are Indian. I love Hindi, but I write much more naturally in English, and I didn't want to force dialogue that didn't sound authentic to my own writing voice.
I'm also avoiding long physical descriptions. Readers won't immediately know exactly what the characters look like. Instead, their appearances will slowly reveal themselves throughout the story, just as their personalities do.
I'm still in the outlining stage, but the more I work on it, the more it feels less like a romance and more like a story about growing up, ordinary moments, friendships, and the people who quietly become home.
I'd genuinely love to know:
Would you read a slow-burn, slice-of-life romance where "life happened" is the reason for the separation—not because the characters stopped caring about each other, but because adulthood simply took them in different directions?
I'd also love any thoughts on the concept or things you'd personally enjoy seeing in a story like this..