z

Young Writers Society


Prolonging Romance?



User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 990
Reviews: 4
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:08 pm
Zeige says...



okay i'm in the middle of the third chapter of my story and the two charecters who end up together near the end are already getting a bit close and its pretty obvious somthings sparking between them but i don't want anything to happen this early any ideas on how to drag it out??
-The Alpha-
  





User avatar
2058 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 32885
Reviews: 2058
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:14 pm
Emerson says...



Lol, sounds like you already Shot it.

Thats the problem with writing, good anyway. Your characters do what they want. Is it you that is making the romance to noticeable, or the characters wanting to hook up because they're the ones guiding your pen?

If its the first: I'd have to actually look at it for you. There are subtle tricks used to hint romance, and you've have to take them out. It would be a bit challenging...

If its the last one: Your characters act on their own yay! But, that leaves you no room, you're not going to want to change it because thats what the character wants, and they'll get it (or the story will end up bad.)

I'm sure someone else has better advice...This is all I can think of. Hah.
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
  





User avatar
504 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 5890
Reviews: 504
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:16 pm
Dream Deep says...



Try reversing it - the classic misunderstanding. ^_~

Character A gets the impression/is told by an unreliable source that Character B did something less than commendable. Ergo, they grow apart - Character A no longer wants to spend time with Character B. At least this'll buy you some time, from chapter 3 to the end.

So at the conclusion, when all is resolved, their relationship is more striking. ;)

Perhaps a thought.
  





User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 990
Reviews: 4
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:34 pm
Zeige says...



its proberbly my fault but so far they've been smiling and giggleing with eachother etc and at the start of chpt3 they're at a formal ceremany and they end up dancing, then that leads to slow dancing now its after the party and i'm stuck.

The plan was that she has a crush on him but he sees her more like a sister type but its all goin too fast

there are two other m and f chararters who i can mess around with, the old jelousy game but not sure.
-The Alpha-
  





User avatar
2058 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 32885
Reviews: 2058
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:39 pm
Emerson says...



You could just create all out Havoc. That is ALWAYS fun.

One of the characters does something HORRIBLY wrong, I fight happens, there are tears and nasty words said, and now they HATE each other. Sure, this will create a cliche maybe... But if you also want the sister thing hmm...

Like I said, it would help if I actual saw the story and/or knew the whole plot entirely, because then I could twist it around in my own head and see what you could do.

Try stalling. If all else fails, go NanoWrimo on its butt and add something really crazy, unexpected in, just to put the romance on hold (Who says ninja-rabbits can't stop romance?)
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
  





User avatar
3821 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: Female
Points: 3891
Reviews: 3821
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:45 pm
Snoink says...



Well... I know that this has happened to several occasions to me. I guess you're starting to feel like a parent. Just... instead of saying, "But I don't want her to fall in love with a guy until she's 16 and I don't want her to date until she moves out the house!" you're saying, "I don't want her to realize that she's in love with him and he's in love with her until chapter 8 and I don't want them to kiss until chapter 43!"

...the chapters being randomly picked, of course. :P

Anyway... like I will tell a parent, you can't really control what your characters will do. What you CAN control is the conflict. There's the classic misunderstanding thing... but that doesn't really do it for me. What I like is when the characters realize, "Holy crap! I'm in love!" But they're separated through some lovely plot device and have to find their way back to each other. ¡Que Romático!

If your story is not primarily a romance, this only makes it easier to do. You have a main plot, which is whatever it is, and this romance is a subplot. Vary the conflict a little so the main conflict gets in the way and the subplot is set aside... but still very poignant.

Hope that helps! :D
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

Moth and Myth <- My comic! :D
  





User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 990
Reviews: 4
Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:47 pm
Zeige says...



Yeah thanks sure somthing will pop up to leave things in peices for them the poor little fools :P

Dance little puppets dance!

i've already got her a bit paranoid with him she thinks he's hiding some big dark secret so i'm going to try and make that stall it for a while then throw a few spanners in the works and see what happens.

Thank You for your help, ill try and post it on here soon well maybe the first chapter or somthing
-The Alpha-
  





User avatar
324 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 890
Reviews: 324
Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:29 pm
-KayJuran- says...



Dream Deep wrote:Try reversing it - the classic misunderstanding. ^_~

Character A gets the impression/is told by an unreliable source that Character B did something less than commendable. Ergo, they grow apart - Character A no longer wants to spend time with Character B. At least this'll buy you some time, from chapter 3 to the end.

So at the conclusion, when all is resolved, their relationship is more striking. ;)

Perhaps a thought.



Has this come from you watching Pride and Prejudice...? ;)


I'm not too sure about how to do romance, or at least... I'm not so good at doing it well, from what experience I have. In NaNo the two characters who were meant to get together somewhere near the beginning never actually did. Just one of many instances where my characters decided to go crazy on me.

One important question: Is the relationship the main plot or just a sub-plot? If it's the main point then I guess it's more important, but if not... well, I don't think you need to worry so much.

I'd echo what other people have said though. Try putting in something unexpected, something to break them up or whatever. Of course... there's always the re-write option, but I wouldn't recommend that if you're so near the beginning.

Have fun with it!

Kay.
"There you go - sausages à la bread!" - Blue.
  





User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 990
Reviews: 4
Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:59 pm
Zeige says...



its a sub-plot but its a big part that i want the charaters to go through
-The Alpha-
  





User avatar
131 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 2834
Reviews: 131
Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:12 am
smaur says...



I ditto Snoink re: the classic misunderstanding scenario, and not doing it. I hate the misunderstanding thingy. If these two people really like/love each other, they should be able to, y'know, communicate, and if they misunderstand each other to the point that they are willing to break it off, that clearly shows a lack of miscommunication. And after that, I stop buying the romantic thread of the story. They're silly and irritating and end predictably and just, gyuh.

(And that didn't answer your question at all.)
"He yanked himself free and fled to the kitchen where something huddled against the flooded windowpanes. It sighed and wept and tapped continually, and suddenly he was outside, staring in, the rain beating, the wind chilling him, and all the candle darkness inside lost."
  





User avatar
1258 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 6090
Reviews: 1258
Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:23 am
Sam says...



Hmm...it seems like I recommend this to everyone, but do the 'Fortunately/Unfortunately' game, because conflict is always good. :wink:

Basically, you start with a simple sentence, like: "Bobby wants to go out on a date with Sally."

And then terror strikes: "Sally is run over by a car."

But there's a silver lining! "Sally has only injured her toe."

And so on. You can repeat this until you've got enough conflict to keep them going on until the end of the story.

Also, make sure you keep the romance a subplot. That is, it's not the focus of the entire thing- there's other things going on in the characters' lives to keep them distracted. For now.
Graffiti is the most passionate form of literature there is.

- Demetri Martin
  





User avatar
221 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 890
Reviews: 221
Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:57 am
Elelel says...



Other characters could not want them to be together and try to separate them in various ways, and maybe it could be affective for a time being.

One could get the idea that the other really doesn't like them that way, and thusly get all embarressed and stuff and try to avoid them. But the other could have no idea why the first one doesn't want anything to do with them, and thinks they've done something wrong (or they could just decide the first one is a stuck up jerk, whatever suits).

Aliens could kidnap one of them and drop them on the other side of the world and so they have to struggle to get back to their lost love (while also struggling with the difficulties of being pregnant with an alien child, due to an alien experiment).

A parent of one of them could die and make their child promise, on their deathbed, to marry some other guy/girl, for whatever reason.

The country could be taken over by some other people who put up a law about girls from conquered countries only being allowed to marry or be with guys from the conquoring country (you know, to breed them out). So if the girl is seen with the guy they will both be hung or shot or something.

Some cute guy comes along and flirts with the girl more than the other guy, and she is swept off her feet and since she's pretty sure the first guy only thinks of her as a little sister she goes with the new cute guy. Or vise versa.

If it's more of a subplot sort of thing you could just separate them and give each of them something bigger to worry about, like other people suggested.
Oh, you're angry! Click your pen.
--Music and Lyrics
  





User avatar
614 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 1106
Reviews: 614
Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:58 am
Swires says...



Im with Claudette - Throw a mad gunman into the works. Just add an "unfortuneatley" into the plot.
Previously known as "Phorcys"
Witherwings Harry Potter RPG
  





User avatar
5 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 890
Reviews: 5
Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:54 pm
View Likes
de_budding says...



[quote="Zeige"]its proberbly my fault b...goin too fast...quote]

You said it yourself, maybe things are going to fast? this leads to alot of complications sometimes.
"One who understands much displays a greater simplicity of character than one who understands little."
-Alexander Chase
  








Poetry is my cheap means of transportation. By the end of the poem the reader should be in a different place from where he started. I would like him to be slightly disoriented at the end, like I drove him outside of town at night and dropped him off in a cornfield.
— Billy Collins