Okay after going back to the drawing board I've come up with a supernatural story line that's about a girl who falls in love with a man that was pretty much her stalker. The idea is that in the beginning she meets a guy who looks completely normal but it turns out he's a monster both literally and metaphorically. In the beginning he stalks her and terrorizes her, her friends, and family with the demand that if she does not marry him he'll kill the people she loves. Now eventually she starts to fall for him for real though this takes place in the sequel I have planned now does this seem very realistic?
He stalks her and terrorizes her, threatens to kill the people she loves and then she falls for him?? I'd say the challenge is that one of them has to undergo a complete change of character. So, no, it doesn't seem realistic to me at all.
[MENTION=52161]erebh[/MENTION] - I thought about that. OTOH, I thought this was more on the order of "what has to happen to a character" than, "is this an okay idea". I dunno...the Yankees and Mets both won last night, both coming from behind. So, it's already kind of a cosmic incident kind of day.
It also made me think of Ed. The bigger concern I have here is that the idea is conveyed to us via a video clip. Although it's fine to be inspired by something seen on television, if that's really the basis for the story, the idea may not be developed well enough. It does strike me as very odd that she'd fall in love with him after he does all of this, unless there is some sort of psychosis or mental illness or other physical brain illness (i.e. tumor, brain damage, etc.) to cause it. But this is the problem with asking us whether something is okay or works as a story based on a general concept or brief description. Anything can sound ridiculous when stripped down to it's most basic elements. It is possible you could write the story in such a way that readers would accept it.
I'll try that in real life and let you know if the girl loves me or gives me a restraining order. And I saw that video clip. She should have kneed that guy in the nuts. I really hate it when characters find themselves in situations that they DON'T try to fight back in. :/
I feel like perhaps a crucial detail is missing from the description. Why would your female lead eventually fall for this guy? This may sound silly, but I see a big difference between stalking and terrorizing. I've never read the books, but I know that a lot of jokes are made about the protaganist of Twilight "stalking" the girl that he loves. That kind of pseudo-stalking has clearly worked with many readers. However, I don't believe that he ever terrorized her family. That sounds like something that would be hard for a woman to get over, no matter how attractive the guy is.
Ask yourself, would YOU fall in love with the man who not only stalked you but made death threats to your family, and whom you knew without a doubt was a monster? No, it's not plausible, and I'd venture a guess that it'd piss more than a few readers off. You spent an entire book hating the guy and egging the girl on to defend herself and stay strong, and then she goes and falls in love with him? That's not only implausible but downright infuriating, the sort of plot point that I'd certainly tell all my friends about so they can avoid the book.
Actually pretty early in Twilight you can see Edward as a creepy stalker or at the very least a strange person, which made me not like him at all. Robert Pattinson's take on the character is very different from the book IMO and a bit more sympathetic. Back to the topic, I think it's not a good idea because I have no idea how this character could be written so that it becomes acceptable to the public that he has a romance with the protagonist in the end. It simply isn't very realustic at all, unless the girl has some sort of disorder. Who knows, you might be able to pull it off, but I wouldn't recommend it.
You would be surprise by what some women can fall for. I don't think it's a good premise for a story, but it's definitely not outside the realms of possibility. People might actually go for it, who knows.
It's not just women. Men do the same thing. Feelings are illogical, but many of our actions are based on them. Even if this person is a monster who threatens to kill her family, someone could still love him, but there has to be some reason. Doesn't have to be a good reason, but it has to be some strong desire or unfulfilled need that she thinks she gets from him. If you write it like that, it would add a lot of depth to the psychology of this character, and the story would be much darker because of it, which might be interesting but very difficult to pull off. If If not, I agree with the others. It's not believable and sends the wrong message.
So if that's the case (Stockholm syndrome), how do you expect your reader to feel about the male character? Even if the girl can get past the terrible things that he does, I think it will be difficult to convince the readers to similarly change their feelings toward him. When you ask, "What do you think about my main character?", are you asking what we think of the man or the woman? If it's her, I suppose I could buy into Stockholm syndrome. With him, I'd have a difficult time not seeing him as a "bad guy." Am I supposed to? Sorry if I'm making your head spin with questions.
In The World is not Enough, Electra King falls in love with terrorist Renard after being kidnapped by him, then plots with Renard to kill her father. Cheesy example, but it exists.
I was just thinking of The World is Not Enough as well. The thing is, Electra turns out to be the antagonist. That's the path I see DarkWriter's female lead taking as well, though I'm not convinced that it's what is intended. A woman who sides with the man who threatened to kill her family will almost surely lose favor in the eyes of readers.
Well at first I was planning on him being her boyfriend and for him to be a killer the idea was that she starts suspecting there is something wrong with him but she's so in love with him she doesn't want to admit it. Then when reality sets in she freaks runs from him and then he snaps and starts terrorizing people and eventually he kidnaps her.
Unless she has extreme psychological issues, I'd say it's absolutely unrealistic. The only way I can see it work is if he influenced her supernaturally somehow, an equivalent of brainwashing or a love spell. But then she breaks it and gets away by the end?
Well, women are strange creatures. Let's not forget that some of the most sadistic convicted sex-killers and rapists get fan-mail and marriage proposals from countless women whilst languishing in their prison cells. Judging from your brief post here, on the surface of matters, no. It doesn't seem realistic. However, weave in certain circumstances involving the psychology of the character and one can make a work of fiction believable. The premise of the film Buffalo '66 is a girl (Christina Ricci) who falls in love with her kidnapper (Vincent Gallo) who frequently threatens to strangle her (and other violent consequences) if she doesn't comply with his wishes. And that is a quite brilliant film. One of the greatest love stories on film in the last 40 years. And of course, one only has to read De Sade to understand the sado-masochistic psychology that can be at work in relationships.
