You made a character designed solely to be the main character's love interest? Wow, for some reason I don't like that. It's probably because every character I create has a life of their own, if they fall in love it's because they start growing closer, just like real people. Different writing styles with different people, I guess.* Anyways, creating a character as a plot device, wow, that's never crossed my mind. Er, I'm not sure how I would go about advising you on this little predicament. Though, it probably would be a good idea to give her more depth than that. I mean, if you don't your character runs the risk of becoming more two-dimensional than a drawing of a line.* Avoid 2D characters like the plague, they are often among the most demonized thing about a book, uh, story, whatever.*
I don't think it's a problem at all. I have some characters that exist on the outer-ring of the main character. We can't go into detail of every little bit - but having a love interest could be interesting. However, my question to you is - why is the main character in love with her? It could be as simple as just an innate response to his heart/hormones. If it pushes the plot and is relevant, I don't think it's bad. "Relationship Sue" or not, it's about the Main Character or the subject at hand. This sounds like it's deeper than a Relationship Sue considering your description. Just for the sole purpose of being in love? But didn't you mention plot elements revolve around that?
Thanks Infernal. Yes, there are plot elements around it - the romance doesn't exist just for the sake of adding a bit of romance. The effects on the MC are twofold: firstly, it distracts him from doing his job and lets the antagonist get up to stuff under his nose. He has lived and breathed his job up until now (especially as his home life wasn't very happy) so this is a big character shift for him. Secondly, it provokes his wife to team up with the antagonist against the MC. She possesses one very important piece of information about the MC that the antagonist can use to devastating effect, and if it hadn't been for this romance she wouldn't have been provoked into giving it to him. So, even if the female character only exists to provide the love interest, is this excused if the romance itself has an important function in the plot?
It's not excused unless you half-butt it. It's like watching those movies with forced romances for the sake of romance. As long as there is an understanding in the romance and actions of the characters are not overly done (remember, they are their own selves, not particularly a romeo and juliet or any other character - they move themselves) then it would be fine. Just be careful of the forceful romance that seems awkward and out of place. Romance is a good tool to dive deeper into the mindset of the characters or even the woman, but if you're not doing it then I may have to say it would be awkward. It sounds like you might to dive deeper into the love interest and romance. If you're asking the questions I feel as though you're teetering on the edge of importance for the characters involved in the romance I could be wrong though.
And Ginny Weasley (in Harry Potter). After my opinion and impression, it is clear that she was only created to be Harry Potter's wife and to be a "reincarnation of Lily". Nakhti, please don't do the same thing. Try to develop the "love interest" more.
Personally I find the character type you mentioned extremely annoying. One recent example I can think of is the character of Lumen on Showtime's Dexter. She is designed down to the molecule to be perfect for the protagonist, she has little, if nothing, to talk about besides the main narrative she shares with Dexter and is calmly put on a bus (almost literally) when the story is done. The fact is, everyone has their own goals in life, their own beginnings and their own likes and dislikes. I know of a grand total of zero instances where couples agree on every opinion they have, where they both share the same hobbies and where one person's only purpose in life is to love the other. Real relationships are about finding someone who's worth compromising with over the little stuff, who shares similar dreams and who you can work as a team with. Notably, couples rarely hit their stride in the first weeks or even months of being together, so if you're writing a new relationship, things need to be a little awkward to begin with. But ultimately, each character needs to feel as if you could pick that person up, drop them in a brand new town without any of the other characters, and the reader would have some idea as to how they'd go about living their life. If the 'relationship sue' is boring you, rewrite her from scratch, find a voice in her which excites you and don't feel as if you have to design her to love the MC. Funny thing with humans, you have love which crosses class divides, wealth divides, racial lines, national lines, age barriers and even social barriers. No matter who people are, if love is there, it finds a way. It doesn't need to be forced.
I don't watch Dexter, but I think I'd find that character annoying too, purely because it sounds like very lazy writing Oh yes, lil miss love interest certainly has those, even if her life goals initially seem quite passive - deal with her lot as best she can, and try not to make things worse (she's just been duped into slavery). She doesn't particularly have any desire to run away in her present character incarnation - perhaps that would make her more interesting and add tension to the romance? i.e. if she was only behaving nicely to make her master treat her well, but the whole time she's scheming to run away, only to be presented with the perfect opportunity to do it... and all of a sudden she realises she doesn't want to leave? Except in the aforementioned scenario, when she is deliberately TRYING to seem perfect in order to allay any suspicions while she plans her escape. But yes, there will be character differences, and awkward moments. When I said I was trying to write her as the perfect partner for him, I guess what I meant was trying to write her as a perfect romance character - the kind you know is destined to end up with the MC, but things don't necessarily go smoothly. Their relationship certainly crosses class and race divides, a little bit of an age divide (depending on whether you think a 16 year old girl is too young for a 29 year old man - you have to remember it IS ancient Egypt though) and social barriers... well, yeah there are people who think he's nuts for wanting to marry a slave when he could just bed her and let her raise his illigitimate bastards. There are practical reasons for making her his wife, but essentially the main reason is 'because he loves her.' Is that too sappy and sentimental?
Nothing is too sappy or sentimental if you write it properly. If you can make your reader think, "yeah, I'd probably do the same in her situation," then you've done your job.
