I just take pleasure in completely breaking my characters. But it also HURTS. I have wanted to hug my MC and tell him it's gonna be okay… but I can't.
So I should probably just stop procrastinating and write so I can give him happiness.
Random author question:
How many characters have you killed off and nearly cried doing so?
I have such a hard time killing off my characters :/ So far, the only characters that I've killed off were either just kind of nameless side characters that no one is really supposed to really get attached too or else they've been characters whose deaths were so relevant to the plot that the story literally couldn't progress until they were killed off. I'm not usually too attached to these characters, so I don't really get too emotional when I do kill them off.
I do have a couple main-ish character deaths planned, but I'm kind of second guessing at least one of them.
As much as I am loving the convo of killing characters, I too have a question. Have you had any ships that you absolutely loved that wound up sinking?
I hope not. I have one. If it sinks I will cry for years.
As much as I am loving the convo of killing characters, I too have a question. Have you had any ships that you absolutely loved that wound up sinking?
… I really really didn't want to break them up, I really didn't. Ryan and Skyler where one of my all time favorite couples I've written and I had to break them up. My hope is later they will get back together but right now they love each other so so much but Sky can't be in a relationship right now she has to much going on and she and Ryan aren't mature enough to be in one right now so they had to break up and I did cry but it just had to happen.
I didn't exactly break Azizia and Eyamir up I just made Azizia leave for 2 year's so they have had no communication for three years, but when she get's back home it will be a very cute reunion and it will be a very nice thing to write. I also cried when Azizia left but it had to be done.
I had one that I dubbed the SS Wale (or Wale for short). It was between my demonically handsome character, William and my friend's character, Cale. We were co-writing a story, but my friend decided to back out to focus on her own work (which I understand).
As much as I am loving the convo of killing characters, I too have a question. Have you had any ships that you absolutely loved that wound up sinking?
Well that’s a fun question. As a matter of fact I have and it hurts to do so. MC falls in love with this super sweet guy who seems to genuinely care about her (and he does eventually) but he ends up being the villain and WOW that hurts to do
As much as I am loving the convo of killing characters, I too have a question. Have you had any ships that you absolutely loved that wound up sinking?
Not really. I've had a couple pairings that I ended up not really liking and just cut completely out of the story, which I don't really think is quite the same thing. I tend to not really have a lot of romance in my stories though.
If anything, I feel like the opposite tends to happen to me. Like, I'll have these two characters where I'm not really planning on putting them in a relationship but then once they start interacting I'm like "Oh my god. You two are perfect for each other."
It kind of low key sucks though, because as much and all as these characters have good chemistry I like to promote the idea that boys and girls can be friends without falling in love with each other but somehow this keeps happening.
All this talking about relationships makes me want to talk about one I REALLY want to write.
It would be soulmates (either in an au or just the concept) but neither platonic or romantic. Like, really wholesome but no labels other than "soulmate". So like,
"Oh, who's this?" "My soulmate." "You didn't tell me you were dating someone!" "I'm not."
I just… I have been thinking about a relationship like this for a while and REALLY want to write one but I'm not sure if that would fit in with my current story.
Any specific relationship dynamics you really want to write?
Complete and total opposites. Like, rich, snobby English-accent person and convicted criminal and thief person. But in my own story terms and such, ya know? It's hard to explain actually. I don't want it to be the "opposites attract" trope. I want it to be more like "opposites are fricken opposites and can hardly agree on anything but life is complicated and sometimes you have to change for the other person if you truly love them" kind of relationship, if you know what I mean.
Any specific relationship dynamics you really want to write?
I've noticed that the one I really like to write are where one half of the relationship has been through some kind of trauma and the other half is like, trying to help them through it. I don't really know what you'd call that dynamic, but apparently I really like it, because it applies to nearly all my stories in some way including the one I started planning like, yesterday.
Also friends to lovers is also great when it's done right. That's another one that tends to show up in my stories quite a bit.
I have one ship that I broke. Nathaniella. (Which ship name I just accidentally created by typing that.) Nathaniel and Daniella are amazing for each other and care so much. And then Nathaniel dies. He's my worst death. (The other one comes back though because I can't take that hit.) Their relationship never really took off, but it would have been wonderful…
I have an enemies to lovers, but it's more like Ledhalav was an asshole and then got over it.
I also have a trauma couple. But they were both perfectly fine and then both wen through some really rough stuff and were horribly broken and needed each other so much.
I have a trauma couple. One of them is mostly over it but the other is VERY MUCH NOT (mah poor baby everything's gonna be all right I promise).
The important thing with writing romantic relationships where one/more of the partners have trauma is to portray it in a healthy manner - and to be especially careful about not glorifying a borderline abusive relationship. It should never be someone completely relying on the support of a partner. Part of me wants to write that healing process with shifting dynamics so bad. The other part of me knows I wouldn't do it justice.
Well for my two I mentioned, what they're going through is very not healthy (kidnapping of one, the other believing her spouse is dead and then for the other one person just being plain rude). But I give it realistic depiction as much as I can.
The important thing with writing romantic relationships where one/more of the partners have trauma is to portray it in a healthy manner - and to be especially careful about not glorifying a borderline abusive relationship.
I feel like not glorifying abusive relationships should be a given regardless of whether or not there's trauma involved. For my trauma couples, I feel like most of them are ok since they're not totally dependant on each other. There's mutual support and respect, and they're kind of just mostly trying really hard to move on from their pasts. At least two of them are kind of more of a friends to lovers situation.
I agree that you absolutely SHOULD NOT glorify trauma or abuse in any way. There is also a difference between "bad boys" and abusers that I feel like some authors ignore which really frustrates me.
Romance tends to be handled poorly in books it's sad.
It's one of the reasons I haven't been reading much lately.
Yeah. I've roleplayed better romances than I've ever read. It's sad.
Romance tends to be handled poorly in books it's sad.
Truly. Part of why I am not a fan of a genre. No one knows how to do it. But I blame that on a culture that seems to have forgotten how to love. But that might be my old Japanese man speaking.
I've never been in a relationship, yet sometimes, I can think up romance scenes in my head, on the fly, and they're better than some I've read.
Yeah. There are some /fanfictions/ that are better than published works.
Romance tends to be handled poorly in books it's sad.
Truly. Part of why I am not a fan of a genre. No one knows how to do it. But I blame that on a culture that seems to have forgotten how to love. But that might be my old Japanese man speaking.
I think this is why I don't really like very much romance either. It kind of is too bad that a lot of authors don't really seem to handle it well, because a good romance can really add to a book but most of them seem to take away from it instead.