I'm gonna try and make this one short, since I always post long walls of text for each of these. Among my four main characters, two get involved in a romantic subplot. Long Story Short: this goes unresolved. Long Story Not So Short: It's a slow-burn, starting sometime before the endgame of the first act of the story. It keeps building until the end of the story, where one would think it would be resolved with The Kiss (trademark), or some equivalent. In my story, however, it doesn't make sense to have that at all. The story is basically a long mission to stop a small team of dangerous enemies. There are some hiccups which manage to extend this mission, which should've only taken a couple of months into a multiple-yearlong expedition. It all ends with one of the two deciding to live in a completely different world (Yes, that's a thing, just roll with it. The explanation is unimportant and would take too long for my taste), the other character's world. The first one never learned how to express romantic feelings, and the second one wants to give her a while to adjust to the new world before he tries to start anything. The Point: I have a romantic subplot that has no legitimate reason to be naturally resolved by the end of the story. Would readers find it too disappointing if I left things like that? I mean, both characters know that they feel these things for the other, but one has a lot to adjust to and the other wants to give her that time to adjust. I think that including an epilogue that details the surviving characters' lives after the story could resolve this, as they do get married and have children in the future, but I'm not sure. Thoughts?
I feel like it would be best to give some sense of resolution to this plotline. Just some indication of where it ends up. So, you might not have to make any reference to what actually happens at the end, as long as it's clear where it's going. If you want these two characters to end up together in the future, you could simply make it clear they are both interested in doing so and leave them in suitable circumstances for it to happen in the future, and we probably won't have to see it happen at all to be satisfied because we can imagine it ourselves (since at this point we should know the characters well).
I think the readers would either be disappointed or outright livid depending on the amount of focus the subplot had in the book, so... yeah, I think you should tie the subplot either by doing what DK suggests, a typical confession/dramatic kiss, or, my favorite method, an epilogue, and it doesn't even have to be a long epilogue, just a page or two showing that they are married is enough (seriously, you can just pull the narrative version of what Hiromu Arakawa did with FMA... or request a commission and do exactly what Arakawa did with FMA)
Yeah, the short epilogue was my original idea. Personally, I like when the characters' lives after the story are shown. It adds a sense of finality to the whole thing, and I don't intend to make a sequel to this, so an epilogue won't close that avenue.
Okay personally: if these two know they got romantic feelings for each other I would get frustrated with why they don't get together. With this outline you've given I'd rather they didn't end up with feelings at all. I also have a grudge against how romance is portrayed in media generally, but this is my thoughts. I would want to see these characters have a talk. Maybe the guy asks the girl, the girl says 'I don't think I can right now' and the guy backs off. That would actually be pretty neat. But if nobody is talking and the guy is just assuming that he knows best that would drive me batty. Also if they end up on different worlds how would they end up married? That would just cause more questions in my mind. If you wrote it like a 'could have been' romance, that might be interesting.
Right, I guess the different worlds thing could've been better explained. They start out on different worlds, but they end up on the same one. Next, they don't know the other feels that way. The guy knows his feelings, but the girl never learned (throughout her life, I mean) what hers were (They are romantic, though). I mean, she has an idea, but that idea is kind of biased towards an environment where you're likely to die in a fight, so it isn't really compatible with a peaceful life. I don't get why the guy not immediately pursuing her upsets you. He just wants to give her some time to adjust to living in a different world, the decision doesn't hurt anyone. I get where you're coming from with how romance can be portrayed in media. Personally, I hate when characters have problems, they fall in love with someone, they do the romantic arc thing, and that romance is treated like the solution to their problems even if it shouldn't be. Also, when characters fall in love with someone based on one or two interactions between them; that's really annoying. So, what're your beefs with common portrayals of romance?
Okay it sounds like you might be approaching it in a way that would peeve me less. A lot of my problems with romance in media comes from me not really liking romantic subplots so unless you're doing it good enough to overcome my knee-jerk bias, I'm gonna be annoyed it's even in there. The different worlds thing: Okay, yeah, makes sense. Confusion on my end there, sorry bout that. The feelings thing- I can see that but this'd also probably strongly come down to execution. Honestly though, the 'we have feelings we're just going to acknowledge them' in general is a thing that bugs me moreso than others. It this instance- it feels like its taking agency away from the woman. She can't make a choice because he's not giving her a chance to. Also- hostile environments don't erase feelings. If anything they make them more intense. If your gonna die at any time, why not hook up with this guy? The falling in love quickly is something that also bugs me- especially when the narrative validates it. I like to see realistic romances. Where things can sometimes be messy and complicated, but because of the choices the two make, they make it work. I think that's what it comes down to- writing it in a way where choices are more important than feelings.
I think unless there's a reason why it should be left unresolved, then you should resolve it. It depends on the tone of your overall novel and the sort of message you wanted to convey - a more realistic, perhaps melancholy novel would mean the audience may expect some realistic, perhaps open-ended storylines, and in that case perhaps it would be acceptable to leave it unresolved. But a typical, more commercial novel, I'd say it's probably expected that at least some hint is given as to how the subplot would resolve. I have a fairly similar dilemma myself. I've given a hint but technically it's unresolved (love triangle subplot) and I'm just gonna leave it as is and wait for beta reader feedback. I'm open to changing the ending of the subplot really, but I can't tell (like you) what would be best.
