blog Weaving a Romantic Thread

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Black Dragon submitted a new blog post:

Weaving a Romantic Thread
This article is by by B.K. Bass, and is presented by Worldbuilding Magazine.

We’ve all been there: the butterflies hit our stomach, although that’s too kind a term, as it feels more like a pack of angry badgers scratching to get out. Our heart thumps like the drums of an orcish warband. Sweat breaks out on our brow in what we hope is a glistening sheen but eventually runs down our face in rivulets. There’s somebody we’d like to talk to, but the anxiety kicks in even thinking about it.

Romance is a difficult thing. It’s filled with all sorts of social nuances, unwritten rules, and unspoken body language that even a master of the craft would be hard-pressed to translate. Often, mastering this enigma is a central goal in many of our lives; or if not, it is a major secondary goal. Why then should this be any different for the characters in our stories?

There’s a lot of people giving writing advice these days, and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably heard this: “You have to have a romantic subplot in your book, no matter what it’s about.” I’m going to start by setting the record straight and saying that this is rubbish. By no means should you feel obliged to wedge a romance into an otherwise fully developed narrative. Imagine a perfectly crafted stone tower. What would happen if you tried to...
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[FifthView]

Thanks! An amazingly concise, clear and quite helpful article on the subject.

I happened to watch the first Pirates of the Caribbean film yesterday for the umpteenth time, and your outline of the Maxwell and Laira romance reverberates in my fresh memory of the romance between Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann.

 

[Arranah]

My protagonists are always a little horny, so I just imagine myself in their place and someone I'd like to be with, and then let it flow. I don't write romance, I just weave it into what ever kind of story I'm writing.

 

[Darkfantasy]

Never written a romance into one of my stories and it's so refreshing to find something that says 'you don't need one'.
There are so many other human relationships that are less explored.

 

[Arranah]

To me, I like the added element. Otherwise a story can be too stark and "who cares." We each need to write stories we would like to read. That's what I do.

 

[Clara Atsinger]

Thank you for this article! The structure you have lain out is super helpful, and I've realized that I have been rushing the romance a little in my story.

 

[Clara Atsinger]

Thank you so much for this article, I've realized now that I have been rushing the romance in my book a little, so the guidelines you laid out are super helpful!

 

[Arranah]

One of my problems with my current novel is also not to rush the romance, although I don't think of it as romance. It's a love interest. Romance to me is artificial. In my current story my protagonist and her love interest realize they have known each other myriad lifetimes. So I basically wanted them to become instantly heavily involved. But that isn't as intriguing as stringing it out a bit. I think about how it would be for me if suddenly I realized the guy I was interested in was in my life numerous times before and those memories started coming back.