Help, My Characters Won't do The Thing!

Okay, so my novel-in-progress, The Cave features four kids. Two of them are already pretty connected, but two of them, Luke and Julia, won't do the thing! They're only thirteen years old, the both of them, but one of them ends up dying, and I want the other to figure out that they loved the dead one in the first place (in the future)! HOW DO I DO THE THING?!

Thanks!
-Cups

Hello, child.


You do this subtly, gradually. It could be like his heart broke more than the others' hearts when she died.Maybe he took a little longer to recover. Maybe random things remind him of her. Maybe he remembers things about her that other people overlooked or forgot about. Maybe he just sees her everywhere.

The choices are endless. But go from subtle to obvious slowly. If you'll PM me more info about context I can be of better help. These tips are applicable if the boy died and the girl loved him too.

I'd say that before you can actually get two characters to have a realistic and interesting connection, they need to be fully dimensional characters. Try fleshing them out and focusing a bit more on who they are alone before you try to establish some kind of romantic connection between the two.

Another thing that might be making it difficult for you is that the characters might not have enough chemistry bouncing off of each other. Romantic chemistry doesn't have to be an obvious thing (and personally I prefer subtle romantic chemistry), it can be portrayed through a lot of things. Body language: are they warm and relaxed around each other? Do they get nervous or itchy? Do they tease each other out of reflex to hide their feelings? Compromisation: Are they taking each others' feelings into consideration? Do they ask about how the other might be affected by something before making a major decision? Empathy: Do they comfort each other in times of need? Will one be motherly while the other gives some tough love?

Little things like that should affect their interactions and begin forming a romantic arc.

But as I mentioned, before you do that, try getting your characters to be more dimensional. Give us some back story, some personality traits, insecurities, hobbies, ideas, dreams, nervous habits and what have you. You don't necessarily even have to mention all of these in your novel, even if only you know these things, they will be helpful in creating realistic interactions and people.

Good luck and stick with it!

@Desdemona, Thank you so much! I'll PM you about it more often.

@vincentvinniealonso, I most certainly will try and implement your advice.

Sometimes, characters don't want to do the thing.

Characters end up incompatible. You end up not having romantic sparks because they're just not two people who can fall in romantic love. There is nothing wrong with this. Romantic love is not the only motivator that can happen.

Ask yourself: why do you want this to happen? Can the character development happen in other ways? Does it have to be romantic love, or can it be platonic love (platonic love is wildly undervalued as a motivating tool)?

Also ask yourself: how do the characters want to fit together? Are they puppy love types, or are they anchors to each other? Are they best friends? Are they more sibling types? Are they rivals who care for each other because nobody can pull out that level of "better"?

You can generate the same result of a love realization without romance or sparks flying. Take the characters as they are and don't try to force what doesn't want to happen.

By not forcing your plot and respecting what has been written and the characters you've established, you'll end up with a much better story in the end. It might be different from what you imagined, but chances are, what you imagined wasn't the best possible outcome for the story. Listen to what's happening and adjust accordingly, and if you don't like it, fix it in the rewrite.

Thank you. I never really thought of it that way. I'd guess that I'll just have to wait and see how the two go together, then see how everything works out.