So this may be somewhat of a controversial topic, but for my story it’s necessary. For context my story is a time travel adventure romance of sorts…and the tumultuous relationship between the two leads begins with one kidnapping the other and attempting to sell them into slavery. So I know it sounds bad…but I really think it works in the context of the story. Still, I could be wrong. A friend reading my initial draft brought this to my attention as a potential issue, and upon doing some research online I found that people really cannot get behind this trope for understandable reasons. I mean I think I’ve executed it way better than most, and avoided Stockholm syndrome, but as the author I’m obviously biased. Do you think a healthy relationship can result after a kidnapping? Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts and opinions, as I’ve really been struggling going back and forth with this in my head. It doesn’t last very long and the kidnapper makes up for it in a way, plus it’s really only the genesis of their relationship and they go through so much after that…but still I don’t want to accidentally write something problematic, especially since their relationship is the crux of the story…so what do you think?
I don't know, people are weird and complex. But unfortunately in many parts of the world bride-kidnapping is super common. Many, many families start this way. Healthy? I don't know, but stable at least. In some places where it is (officially) banned (central Asia, Caucasus) the normal wedding ceremony might feature a simulated kidnapping, that's how engrained it is in certain cultures, for instance I recall seeing this in a video of a wedding in Xinjiang, China (not sure if the couple were Uyghurs or Kazakhs).
As a history nut I love this answer…in the case of my story the kidnapping is for purely financial gain (one captures the other to sell to the antagonists for a substantial reward) and the romance develops later. That is fascinating though!
I assume it's a male that kidnaps a female? And the female is the time traveler? She comes from the future to a time when slavery is much more culturally accepted, like one or two thousand years ago? To a time when there was no such thing as universal human rights?
Dude. Write whatever the hell you want. Problematic or not. Like, calm down. Write what you enjoy. Fiction isn't reality and I see nothing wrong with this plot. It sounds original and interesting. Please write it and don't worry so much. We all like fucked up romances- more than we like to admit.
Also, Everyone is a sucker for Hades and Persephone. NOT because he kidnapped her. But because he's a good guy. Zeus kidnapped and rapped a shit ton of people and we don't have 500 versions of that. Why? Because he was bad person. But Hades... rich. Apparently attractive and caring = best god in the universe.
Excellent questions, I should have clarified. The female kidnaps the male. The male is the time traveler, who goes back over 200,000 years ago, into a time in prehistory when humans (cave people back then) had no rights at all, and were enslaved by a species of giant lemur-like humanoids with a Ancient Rome-like ancient civilization.
For a historical example of a celebrated romance between captive and captor, Suleiman (Ottoman sultan) and Roxelana (Ruthenian woman captured in a slave raid and brought to the harem).
Wow thank you! Yeah it just felt right to me because I’ve always liked relationships that start off extremely rocky, but then slowly develop positively from there. And you’re so right, I won’t let other people change what I like about my story, I just wanted to cover all my bases because you never know what will get people to turn on you in this cancel culture obsessed world. I’m glad you see potential in it.
Oh, wow, sounds like the makings of a fascinating story! From the sounds of it, it won't be accurate to the archaeological record, but that doesn't mean you can't make it work. Language was only in its very early stages 200,000 years ago. How will they communicate?
You're welcome. I get that. Rocky relationships are always fun to write. And people can turn on anyone on the internet. Cancel culture is fickle and unfair and the only way to combat it is not to care. Do what you want. People will always hate you. There is always ways to get your books out there and if you are canceled, just ignore it and continue to do you. You can buy all the supplies to print books with covers for about $1000. There will always be people who want your books. Don't disappoint them because you bowed to the mobs.
Thanks, I sure hope so! And yes there’s definitely some more fantastical elements in there, but it’s far enough in the past that I think I can pull it off. My idea is that back then humans hadn’t developed their own languages but most of them could speak the language of the giants (12 feet tall btw) that ruled over them. The giants are a species of primate that evolved sapience and civilization way earlier than Homo Sapiens. They still look rather hideously ape-like but wear clothes and are rather advanced in terms of weaponry and stone architecture, just like Rome or the Aztecs. The protagonist is roughly from our time (I won’t be specific, but 2010s probably), a scientist who studies ancient cultures and has been teaching himself an ancient language pieced together from a Rosetta Stone-like tablet found that compared Ancient Sumerian to the language of the Giants. So when he accidentally goes back in time he can speak the language, even if his pronunciation is a little off! Great question.
I agree 100% thank you! I also think it works because they don’t really know each other that early on in the story, and it sets up their character arcs.
It will be very interesting to see what your two main characters learn from one another about what it means to be human.
Thank you yes that is exactly one of the things I want to explore, especially considering that she is half giant and half human and therefore a societal outcast rejected by both groups.
I think it's important to look at the kidnapper's motivations. You mentioned that the female is the kidnapper, and she wants to sell the male into slavery. Why? Is he extremely valuable because he can time travel? Has she been commissioned by someone to kidnap him? Has a bounty been placed on his head? If her motivations can be cast as more practical than evil, you'll have an easier time selling the romance. Another option would be to make her motivations darker but base them on a lie. Maybe she believes he killed someone she loved. Later learning that he wasn't responsible would change the nature of their relationship dramatically and force her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter where they start and where they end, as long as you can show a clear progression from one to the other. We need to see the moments that cause her to change the way she views him (as well as the moments that show him changing how he views her). The same is true in any relationship plot. Shrek and Fiona. Gru and the girls. Riggs and Murtaugh (Lethal Weapon). The kidnap angle doesn't really change anything unless you make the kidnapper evil. That's a harder thing to overcome. It can still be done, but it's not likely to end in a healthy relationship. Think Thanos and Gamora. Even though Thanos actually seemed to love her, that love would never be more important than his mission. And for her part, she was clearly troubled when she thought she had killed him, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to kill him again. There's no possibility that their relationship would ever be warm and fuzzy.
Hi, first of all thank you for your input! You raise some excellent points: Her motivations for selling him into slavery are definitely more pragmatic and based on earning money for food, plus it happens soon after they first meet, before they actually get to know each other. She’s a lone outcast (due to being a half human hybrid—humans are dominated and enslaved by the lemur-like giants that rule this primeval land) surviving by her wits—rejected by both the giant and human communities. She knows that the protagonist’s relative strangeness (due to being from the 21st Century) will make for a lucrative trade. Unfortunately her deal falls through when she gets double crossed by the greed-driven giant slavers, who take both of them in together as slaves. From this point on they’re on an even playing field, and (slowly…begrudgingly) actually get to know each other in a genuine way, form an unlikely alliance, etc… So yeah you hit the nail on the head with “We need to see the moments that cause her to change the way she views him (as well as the moments that show him changing how he views her)”, which is something that’s really important and I’ve been putting the most thought into. I’m mostly trying to balance the romance and the adventure 60/40. Anyway, thank you so much for your advice, I appreciate it!
I'm seeing a real potential for a theme here of dehumanizing (and de-lemurizing?) someone who feels different, and then learning about their richness and fullness of personality as you get to know them. Maybe she saw no problem with kidnapping him because he was so different—neither human (for that time), nor one of her own species (half-species I suppose). He was an odd man out, the weak one at the edge of the herd who makes an easy target. And maybe because she's half-and-half she always got the same kind of treatment. In fact maybe she has simmering resentments because of it, and was acting out a hate fantasy by kidnapping him to sell him into slavery. Maybe in a sense she sees him as being like her, an outcast from both worlds, and projects whatever pent-up self-loathing she might have onto him. But when they're both thrown into the same predicament as victims, they begin to see each other more fully, and have to rely on each other at several points in order to try to escape or whatever. Idle question—how tall is she, and how inhuman, in terms of physical traits etc?
Yes! That’s pretty much exactly what I want to explore with this story, alongside a theme of opening yourself up to love and to new experiences in life. Both protagonists are ‘lost’ and lonely/misguided in their own ways, which they don’t really realize until they meet and get close to each other. It’s definitely interesting, because I think that for her it’s nothing personal. It’s merely survival. As you pointed out, he’s a curiosity, an easy target, a human the prosimian giants would pay much for. I see her as a female Robin-Hood-esque figure (irrelevant side note: plenty of swashbuckling in this story!), minus the altruism. Oppressed humans don’t trust her, and the giants look down on her, so she feels that as a hybrid she can only really rely on herself, and doesn’t feel kinship with either species; therefore, tricking and using a bizarre stranger she meets in the jungle is merely a lucky break to her. It’s a dog eat dog world. At the same time he intrigues her in a way she doesn’t quite understand yet; so while she finds him somewhat interesting upon first acquaintance, she still has to earn a living. Exactly. Initially they both assume things about each other. He mistrusts her, she underestimates him, but after being captured they both have all their cards on the table and it allows them to build a more honest connection. They find there’s more to the other than they had thought. Great question. The prosimian giants themselves are on average ten-twelve feet tall. Due to a quirk of genetics, as a hybrid birthed by a human mother she’s not any taller than the average human (I based this on Tigons, which, unlike Ligers, don’t exceed lions in size*). She’s fairly human-like except for… - Diminutive claws - Large and strange yet beautiful eyes - Animalistic lemur-like nose and ears - Grayish bluish tinged skin - Rather unkempt long shaggy hair (just on her head) - Inhumanly heightened senses/strength and physical abilities In other words, she has some attributes from her prosimian father, but she has enough from her mother that the average human male would still find her rather attractive. *So essentially in this analogy Prosimians are Tigers (larger species) and humans are Lions (smaller species). “Ligers” (Human father, Prosimian mother) wouldn’t really happen for obvious reasons. However “Tigons” (Prosimian father, Human mother) would occasionally occur (obviously similar things happened with slave women in Ancient Rome and Greece). While most hybrids would be killed soon after birth, the deuteragonist in question was smuggled to relative safety and was forced to grow up alone to fend for herself on the edge of society.
Zeus was infamous for impersonating husbands who were off at war. So trickery as opposed to forcible rape. A minor distinction, but considering the Greek Gods were avatars of human faults and often used for morality tales.
And, of course, our view of the Greek gods is heavily influenced by Ovid who was, frankly, a bit...fetishy...with his writing.
One of the story plots i have drafted in my "to be written" folder involves a kidnap plot. I justify it by making the FMC's life horrible BEFORE the kidnapping (also a slavery plot....shes a house slave to a wealthy family). She is in posession of a rune that is on a necklace with no clasp and cannot be cut off. The only way to get the rune is to kill the wearer (but killing the wearer renders the rune useless... but no one knows that part). She has no memory of who put the necklace on her, and shes always had it. The family keeps her around because they know the rune is important. They just dont know how to get it off of her. So they experiment with various methods, and also make her life hell in other ways. A theif on the hunt for rare runes, sees her and goes to steal the necklace. He ONLY wants the necklace. But when he realizes he cant cut it off and she tells him he cant kill her, he decides to just kidnap the whole person to deliver her to his boss. She doesnt put up much of a fight because he's "rescuing" her from slavery (she does try to work out an escape plan after he gets her safely out of town). Romance ensues. They need each other.... she needs him for protection, and he needs her because of the rune. She's secretly using him to get the necklace off so she could be free, and he's using her to get rich. But, romance gotta romance.... they realize they actualy have feelings for each other. Call it "enemies to lovers " trope. So i guess my plot is an unintentional kidnapping? Anywho... either waybits depicted, its going to be problematic from some and not others. Many Dark romantasy tropes are like that. I had a MMC slaughter a servant who betrayed him while his mother watched. One of my beta readers said it was very problematic and cruel and an protagonist wouldnt do that and i should change it (me, not knowing any better, DID change it.... and i felt horrible about the change, too)
