I'm fairly bad at Romance writing, when it does happen to my characters. I've only had one good romance subplot, one where it just kind of...happened. One moment the characters were doing their usual bantering, the next they were in a romance subplot. Compared to that, all the others seemed... arbitrary. Forced.

My question, that I've taken too long to get to, is this: What's the best romance subplot you've had? And what advice can you give on writing one?

Rtron said
What's the best romance subplot you've had? And what advice can you give on writing one?

To question one, I did win "Most Romantic" in a "Speed Dating" RP competition, in which one of my characters went out on a date with another person's character... also won "Best RP" on top of that. As for the second question? Hard to say, since romance is an individual thing. You're either a romantic person, or not. Best thing is to just let it flow. Like you already noted, don't force it.

Hmmm. I hate to suggest it, but... heh... I thought mayhaps reading "Romance" novels might help. I've never read such things, buuuut who knows?

Rtron said
I'm fairly bad at Romance writing, when it does happen to my characters. I've only had one good romance subplot, one where it just kind of.... One moment the characters were doing their usual bantering, the next they were in a romance subplot. Compared to that, all the others seemed... arbitrary. Forced.

My question, that I've taken too long to get to, is this: What's the best romance subplot you've had? And what advice can you give on writing one?

I think I would disagree with you on this matter, Big Guy. I've seen you in action.

All in all I'm a big fan of romance in RP, I always have been. It isn't a requirement for me (especially in groups) but it certainly adds to my fun. I have had so many lovely romance subplots happen that I would be hard pressed to say which was "best". Just be open for it and watch for which characters and players appeal to you/your character and see where it goes. Chemistry is key. I have had some lovely partners with which whom I had great writing chemistry and therefore had great fun with them. So I guess my advice is not so far from what you'd do in RL... Chemistry and being open to it, but not desperate for it.

Also, keep in mind the journey is where I find the most fun. An established RP relationship feels more forced than one that grows over the course of the RP. Again, I'll reiterate, the growing relationship is loads more fun than the end result. Time it as best you can so that things fall into place further into the RP if not just before the end. Drag it out and enjoy it but don't make it the point of the RP, just one of the many flavors to be savored.

That is enough mushy rambling from me at this point I think.

[quote=Roose Hurro]
To question one, I did win "Most Romantic" in a "Speed Dating" RP competition, in which one of my characters went out on a date with another person's character... also won "Best RP" on top of that.[/qoute]

Color me impressed. Belated congratulations.

Roose Hurro said Hmmm. I hate to suggest it, but... heh... I thought mayhaps reading "Romance" novels might help. I've never read such things, buuuut who knows?

I'm not against reading romance novels, hell, The Fault in Our Stars was a damn good book, and I'm planning on reading John Greene's(the author of the aforementioned book), Looking for Alaska, another Romance novel. Just don't suggest something like Twilight or 50 shades of Grey. *Shudders*

[quote=Lillian Thorne]
I think I would disagree with you on this matter, Big Guy. I've seen you in action. [/qoute]

I believe we're still in a debate about that, no matter how adroit I may be.

Short Sweet Tips from a guy who knows a thing or two about Romance

#1: Make sure you can tolerate the person writing the other end of it. If they drive you mad, it'll reflect in your writing subconsciously. Conversely, this also applies if you have a crush on them: You'll be more naturally inclined to write romantic gestures towards them subconsiously. There's a lot of things you can still manage to do with someone you vehemently dislike: Writing romance between your characters is not generally one of these things.

#2: Make sure your character has motivations and goals outside of romance, and that those goals generally occupy most of their thought time. It's sweet when a person is working and notices something that reminds them of their lover, or heart wrenching when they are separated and suddenly realize how alone they feel without the other person, but if your character has no independent life of their own--that is, if the romance subsumes their very being--this isn't just incredible unhealthy and obsessive, it's ludicrously boring and doesn't go anywhere.

#3: Whatever good advice applies to relationships in real life applies to relationships in writing, generally. So 'forced sex'ing a person you met ten minutes ago? That's not romance. That's extremely illegal and at least a little immoral. On the other hand, realize love comes in more flavours than just the typical boy-meets-girl romance that Hollywood adores. There's coworkers who have the spark but never act on it, there's jovial brotherly love, there's the love of a mentor for their student... Basically what I'm trying to say is that love is not confined to how you physically act towards another person, but purely about how you feel towards them. A shy, reclusive character who shares heartfelt poetry and who's idea of a romantic time is simply being in the same room with the other person is just as much in love as the person who puts a great deal of emphasis on cuddling, touching, hugging, and so on.

#4: No relationship is perfect but don't force cliché, nonsensical, attention whoring conflicts, especially in a group role play. It doesn't have to be about the relationship 24/7 and really shouldn't be as referenced in point #2.

#5: Arguable one of the most important pieces of advice about love in real life or in a fantasy: Make sure the characters are still friends. In fact, most of the time, while they might share the occasional flirt, the most natural relationship is the one with the least amount of presence most of the time. Everybody knows Joel and Sally are dating, they don't need it reinforced every single time they meet with some passionate kiss and endless talk of how in love they are with each other: Let them be who they are. Sometimes Joel and Sally are just sitting together eating food. Sometimes they're just beating off monsters or playing games just for the sake of it. Because the initial relationship made from love and acceptance of each other, wouldn't have started unless they got to know each other at least to some rudimentary degree and enjoyed what they saw in one another.

Your lover is also a best friend. One you should implicitly trust, because if you can't, that relationship is already boned. Speaking of which...

#6: Don't be afraid to let a relationship between two characters die or change. This is also normal and opens the door to more possibilities.

#7: Realize romance as a genre is like horror in that it doesn't stand on its own very well. If you're creating a romance story, think about another genre you can mix it with, because romance alone suffers the problem described in point #2: There's no other reason for those people to exist and so it's very forced. This is why a lot of romance subplots are just that: Subplots, something that goes on in the background of a story. (Like Leia and Han Solo in Star Wars.) Or, if romance is a primary element, it's mixed with another genre, often comedy. This prevents emotional over-saturation, it lets the romance be cut with feelings of excitement in an adventure or intrigue in a mystery or so on and so forth.

#8: Specifically on sexuality: While sexuality can be a very complex, interesting thing to explore, be they dark urges that a character struggles with internally as a person, or the lack of any urges at all (asexual), or homoerotic urges, and so on, if your entire character's reason to exist can be described by their sexuality, you're doing it wrong, start over. A person is not just a lesbian: Being a lesbian is a piece of who they are, along with several other traits that make up the essence of who they are and how they think and what they believe.

#9: Sex is not the ultimate expression of love. Stop listening to Bioware and Hollywood, really, it's not, anyone can do it, for any reason, and not call it love. Sex with intense feelings such as love is great, but sex is not the ultimate expression of love, at all, just, no. Don't make this your end game for the relationship. If your main objective to affirm a relationship is any kind of sexually gratifying action, then your relationship is, I'm afraid, predicated on rather bestial feelings, we inherited through four billion years of evolution, not love.

#10: Don't force it. Let it come as it may. If you're really looking for it, mention it with your partner (1x1) or to your group. It's perfectly okay to mention who is willing and who is wanting to have their characters look for romance, it's even okay to bat around with a little planning about potential scenes you can do together. Just make sure to do them organically, let your character do what would seem most natural in that moment. If character X does something character Y dislikes, defy your looseleaf script and let Y slap X. If someone else wants to enter the fray, let them, and remember all of the above points so your character has something to do other than obsess over someone all the time. It will flow easily and naturally if you keep orchestrating reasons why they would talk to each other, and if they can be good friends... Well, there's the reason.

That's about it really.

Thanks. I'll keep those tips in mind.

We've had several stories fall on #2 and #3, so we can certainly agree there. The rest seems like common sense, so we'd agree there too. The ones built around other goals tend to work, but where the "goal" was to get two characters to sleep with each other, the story segments rarely moved beyond that point, always falling on it because of the lack of a proper goal. When romance becomes plot rather than subplot, its very easy for the story to break.

Some such can be fun to write, but in the end, most such end up being fairly pathetic.

We have no truly great romance subplots we'd like to bring forward, but its still an interesting topic. Not in the least because a proper romance subplot is a very powerful storyteller tool if wielded right. Make or break for the story, really.

I think my favourite so far is the two queens of Renalta: Alex, and Kouri. They slowly grew to care for each other, they argued sometimes, but they cared. Two years in real life that period of perils, that rocky road. Kouri slowly healing her heart from a tragedy, Alex slowly doing the same. They healed each other in a way nobody else really could.

Eventually, one day, after Kouri nearly bit the bullet (literally) Alex finally moved forward and together they ended up surviving what was by all rights a suicide mission to restore Kouri's kingdom.

Now their love is a more mature one, since years have passed in the world. They are completely comfortable around one another, they know each other so well they can predict each other nearly to the minute. In the public eye they're professional, reserved even. Behind closed doors they are just... Hand in hand. Like Romeo and Juliet. One scene that keeps playing in my head is them playing a piano together, sitting side by side and resting on each other. It is that kind of love, the sweet kind. The kind that requires no affirmations and yet has them all the time just by the way they treat each other.

I love doing romance writing, but sometimes I can force it too much. Like, some things would happen too soon than it should be. Though, I guess it just depends on what type of rp it is. If it's something like Final Fantasy and the entire RP only occurs within a 4-10 day span, then relationships will happen real quick. Though, if it's something spread out over a few months, then pacing is everything. At least, that's been in my experience.