Here's the thing: I've got this awesome story going on, and I don't know if my characters Jessie and Friday should end up as a happy couple or if they should 'Just be friends'. Help me, Please! Dear Journal, Sometimes I wish I was somebody else. Or that I had never met her. Well, technically I haven’t met her, she’s my little sisters best friend. She’s so cute. And even though she’s only eleven, she has a great personality and mind. Okay, now I just sound like mom. All, ‘ Oooh! My students are so open-minded! They understand and except all concepts!’. Ugh. That is so lame and nerdy. Okay, I know it’s kinda mean and rude and that she HATES stereotypes but, I can’t help it. Dear Journal, Today I caught her staring at me. Maybe she feels the same way. Or maybe I had spinach caught in my teeth. She had a expression of either dreamy looove or discomfort. By the way, I took some random pictures of me. Here’s my favourite one: [RIGHT HERE IS A PICTURE] That’s me, Jessie. Here’s a picture of her[I jacked it from Brandy, my little sis]: [RIGHT HERE IS A PICTURE] ←That’s her, Friday. I so wish i had her as my girlfriend. We’d kiss and hold hands and... Okay that is sorta looking too far into the future. B.R.B. gotta get the phone. Later... Whoa! Friday just called and asked for ME! Me, Jessie Ryan Fido. Wow. And guess what she said. She told me to tell Brandy(who just happens to be at Dance) that she was coming for dinner. Our parents invited her. Whoa, i just thought of something. What am i going to wear?!? Cya later, I gotta go pick something! [Wow. That sounds really girly and lame. Ugh. I think I’m turning into a girl... ] Dear Journal, Wow. That was perfect! She laughed at all my jokes and our parents even joked that we would make a good couple, if it weren’t for the age difference[BTW, her mom & dad came, too]. And then Minnie[her mom] was all “It’s not that much, they could actually date. We should set that up! So, Jessie, how do you feel about The Java Express? That coffee shop n the corner of-” And both Brandy and Friday interrupted. Friday with “MOM!” and Brandy with “Umm, Minnie, that’d never EVER work. EVER!” Mrs. Young, at that point looked utterly disappointed. “Oh.” She skulked like that for about five minutes. Then she joined my parents in their gushing about Brandy future as an ‘Interior Designer.’ Which basically means she paints walls inside houses. All the while Brandy just beamed like the sun. Disgusting. Dear Journal, Friday asked me out. Friday asked me out! FRIDAY ASKED ME OUT! OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! We’re going to The Java Express tomorrow. For lunch. Oh my. Oh my. Oh, BTW, tips are welcome!
Date or hate? You're the writer. Which relationship creates the best conflict for your story? Make that decision...the rest will be obvious.
Sexual tension can be a powerful "stakes raiser", but it wears out the second you grant fulfillment. In other words, if the conflict that makes your story interesting is centered on the tension between those two characters, keep it going. Either save them getting together for the end, or have things go not so smoothly once they are together. (Maybe something immediately threatens to tear them apart again.) Or have them never get together--sometimes that's how things go.
Yes, which is why there are no happy marriage/love affairs in soap operas. There is no story in contentment. Stories are based on struggle and conflict.
I agree. But as with anything, there are "reasonable limits," which are all-too-often pushed to the breaking point in television, due to actor contracts, and sometimes in books, too, though there's never any good reason for the latter. Once you've painted a city block with the horse's remains, you ought to know that sucker is dead. There comes a time when you need to bring in some fresh meat to beat. (Wow, that sounded horribly wrong.)
So they could do any of the following- 1. hate then eventually date 2. date then hate then date again at the end 3. date & hate at the same time, but then eventually date without the hate Lol, so you see with any of the above, there will be conflict. Without the conflict, you have zilch.
You are the writer, but sometimes the characters take their own story and write it. So, here's the thing. How long have the characters known each other? Are they soul mates? Are they going to get together? Sounds like this is a major plot of your book. Is your book them finally falling in love; or them finally becomming friends? This is something that you must decide for yourself.
I feel there's an incredible lack of realism in characters that hate n' date. Sure it can happen for a while and become very interesting, but the fun fizzles out and the end result is either domination of one or the utter hatred of each other. And that itself can be interesting, but if you have them despise each other and then fall head over heels in love without the logical consequences (people who don't get along as friends don't often work out as lovers either) you cheapen the story, IMO. I rather stories where the characters were acting within some lines of logic rather than have it all just "work out" in the end. I can't actually think of a single situation in real life where former enemies turned bed buddies had a happy ending. Ever.
