im writing a story and im thinking about if i should add a love intrest for my mc. the story itself isnt about love. its about a war set in medevil times in a fantsy world. the only magic is healing. im telling you that so you can see what type of world it is. my main problem is that im not good at writing love stories or bringing love into my stories. i think it would make my story more realistic and provide someone for my mc to confide in. but i cant seem to figure out how to add love to my story. ive tried and i cant seem to make it sound natural, it always feels forced. so my question is should i bring love into my story and if so what are some tips on how to make it feel natural instead of forced.
I'm debating the same thing. My thoughts are it could be a love story, with full on passionate scenes or could be an admiration from afar (an unrequited love interest). Enough that it explains why your mc confides but you never have to get into either mushy or sexy scenes. If you write from both characters points of view it could even be a situation where they are both in love but neither one is prepared to admit it out of fear that it isn't reciprocated.
you shouldn't 'add' it simply to provide some romance and sex... if it's vital to the plot then it should be there... otherwise, it'll probably stick out like a sore thumb and do more harm than good...
You used the phrase "add a love interest", so please don't. The fact that you said it like that means that you're thinking off adding it like an ingredient to a cake: If the cake in its cake-ness doesn't depend on it and you aren't apt at improving cakes, please, please don't. Tacked-on love stories are one of the few things that can irrevocably destroy an otherwise good narrative.
No. Don't just add things that you think have to be there. If it doesn't fit into the story at large... it just won't work. The novel I'm writing doesn't really have any romantic plots or subplots at all... the relationships are there, sure, they're just not a focus. But there's ways to write romance without the cliché boy meets girl, both fall in love and are together at the end or one dies etc. As mazg said, there's ways of doing it that won't make it seem just added on. If you can't write romance, why not add a friend to confide in? And if you're thinking it strange that your MC is running about without being with a woman once in awhile, there's always brothels. Or make your MC gay. Or asexual. There's many options.
i think that it would help my plot. im thinking about makeing her a tratoir or something. and homosexuality isnt an opion for my mc. if i dont make a romantic sub-plot ,wich im still on the fence about, what are some ways i could make it work
Each of us have things that comes easier than others. Romance is one thing that many people seem to have a problem with, especielly guys I think, but the only way of improving is through exercise. You can't expect to be good at something you haven't written before. It's like I would sit down and try to write fantasy, it's not something I've ever done before or even read. Maybe as a first step you could start reading a couple of novels or short stories to figure out how you want it to be and which is the best way to write it. If you haven't read much of it of course it seems difficult, but think of it as research.
