Hey, The story I'm writing has a romance on the sideline of the main story, and the feelings between the two main characters will have significant impact on the outer plot later on. My problem is this... Whenever I try to delve into the feelings between the two, it just turns out so...emo. Both characters have an internal blocade that they must conquor, which I guess attributes to the whole emo wibe I get from it. But I can't make fundamental changes to the characters without losing them. In the most basic essence, they're both lonely souls with fear of intimacy. Every time I try to dig into the attraction/romance, this will surface, and it just becomes...emo. How do I get around this? If you have experience reading/writing romance, I'd love to hear.
Kill them both. Works every time. ...seriously, maybe have one of the characters begin to pull away from their fearful nature and maybe that's what helps the other. I dont really know much about emo though, so who knows. Maybe killing them both would work better in the end....
no one can really help you, but you, since this is a writing issue... the best way out of your dilemma is to see how the best of the romance writers deal with similar stuff...
Tell that to Gollum. Just do whatever seems natural. Don't try to force anything. If nothing you try meets your standards, then there are two main options I can think of: change something (with the characters, the story, whatever), or lower your standards for a while. But whatever you do, don't delete what you've written just because you insist it's horrible. You may come up with something later on to make what you've already written a bit better, or you may decide that you were actually on the right track. Who knows.
Completely change one of the characters. This will probably heighten the tension. Make one of them spunky, spontaneous, outgoing. Make her want the other person and make her have no fear. But she can't have him because he is so damn emo and keeps pushing her away because of his fear.
As Maia said, read how established writers of the genre do it. Otherwise, you could create a scenario where one of your characters is radically changed, as part of their character arc, or journey. A life-enhancing/changing realisation could occur after struggling to achieve an objective, maybe where their lover's life is endangered, or where they're forced to face up to their inadequacies during a personal crises. Hey, maybe someone else comes along and sweeps them off their feet? Hmmm...
Thanks a ton for the many responses. I made a minor break-through today, by shifting the exposition of one of them's fears, as the other is talking to a 3rd character, who is the one exposing it. Think of someone exemplifying the prejudice the character fears, rather than having the character moan about it themselves... I've also been thinking that maybe 'less is more' in this kind of drama. To avoid dwelling on emotions, of any kind, but move on once they've been established. I want the story to have heart, but not be sentimental. It's a terribly fine line between...
I'm still pondering what truly defines that line though, so anyone who have good examples, I'd love to hear them.
The line between a story having heart and being sentimental? Well, the best way to see how to avoid the romance becoming too sentimental or depressing is to read a lot of romance books (or general fiction/romance) so that you can understand how to pull it off. This is why the most common advice given by published writers is to read a lot. The other one is to write a lot.
a good example of 'the line': segal's 'love story' vs. anything put out by silhouette/harlequin... the former was the top selling work of fiction for all of 1970 in the United States, and was translated into 33 languages worldwide... the latter are sold on wire racks by the checkout counter in supermarkets, next to the tabloids...
Hey Mammamaia, I read the first couple of pages online, and will definitely get me a copy of it. I was hooked. Cheers.
Make one of them come up with an acronym: ITTGAP-It's Time To Grow A Pair Basically, he says "Screw it, I'll ask her and see what happens, even though I'm afraid." That keeps the emo away most of the time (unless, of course, you are Stephanie Meyer) But make the female character (or the male, if you want to break tradition) still afraid. You still have the fundamental plot and character, and still avoid emocity (my made-up word) Just a thought.
