Relationships

It's no secret that I love a good romance in a story. That's just the kind of person that I am. I'm like that in life, too, always happy to see a good relationship forming, so it makes sense that it translates into my reading and writing. However, I am just as irritated to see a bad relationship forming, be it in real life or in fiction, as I am happy to see a good one.

Explaining the difference can be challenging, however, as it can be difficult to explain just what it is that makes a good relationship good. There is a certain je ne sais quoi about it. Generally speaking, however, you can tell when someone who has never been in a relationship tries to write one. It feels ridged, forced, and characters say things that no person ever would. Things feel too perfect, or the problems in the relationship make no sense.

Of course, most people who talk about the problems with relationships in stories will point out that they don't even need to be relationships most of the time. "What's wrong with being friends?" is a question asked quite frequently when it comes to stories, as many people feel that stories are far too oversaturated with romance. This is a sentiment that I don't necessarily disagree with, but I feel like the idea that characters should be friends and not lovers is missing the point.

If nothing else, a good relationship should be defined by being good friends. You can't love someone without liking them, after all. Even if your story reaches its end and the reader still does not think the couple should have been together, they should at least believe that they were friends. If you want to dabble in the storytelling of hate sex or what have you, then whatever. But don't try to sell something as being romantic if there's no friendship there to support it.

The fact that people ship characters who are little more than good friends is proof of concept. I have seen people do this frequently, and people are free to think whatever they want. My point is merely the fact that if people do this, then you should use that to your advantage as a writer. They can fight and disagree, as all friends do, but at the end of the day if they are friends, then people will believe that they can be lovers.

I can't give any insight past this point. If I tried, it would probably end up sounding more like life advice, and that's not really what I'm talking about. People already spend too much time thinking that fictional relationships are good bases for how to think about real life relationships, and I don't want to push that any farther. But if you want to write some romance into a story, don't just make them fall in love because you want them to. Make them fall in love because they're more than just friends. But start at friends. It will be so much easier, and so much more believable.