Learn the Language of Love
I sincerely believe that good romance takes preparation, and that the most important preparation you can make is to discover in what way your special someone most receives love. Since we all receive love differently, discovering which ways your partner receives love is an important first step for any successful romance and will essentially get you the most response for your efforts. (read: more bang for your buck)
Gary Chapman, in his book The Five Love Languages highlights what he thinks are the essential ways of communicating love: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. Here is a link to Chapman's definitions of each.
Personally I don't believe that there are only five dialects of love, but being aware of these five is an excellent starting point. I would encourage you to take the following quiz and decide how these five rank for you. (Feel free to share them if you like.) Most importantly, find out how they rank for your special someone, and understanding that, plan your romance accordingly.
-Mr Romantic
4 - Words of Affirmation
9 - Quality Time
4 - Receiving of Gifts
5 - Acts of Service
8 - Physical Touch
Is there any indication of compatibility between various 'languages' in Chapman's book? In a previous relationship I would describe part of the problem of us not working out as having different languages... and she nit picked, argued, criticized, corrected, and manipulated too much :-)
I don't think Chapman covers compatibility in his book, but what I've discovered that it's not so important what language I receive, so much as what language I speak. (they are quite often different) For example, one may receive Words of Affirmation but speak Gifts primarily. I believe that anyone can train themselves to speak any of these languages, but will find some more difficult than others.
I now base my relationships on the "I just am, and she just is. And it works" theory
She called me stubborn and a quitter... I call it being real, living life and cutting losses. I am now single :-)