I've started a story with the intention of having a B-storyline romance, but it feels a bit cliche the way I am portraying it. I know they'll be best friends beforehand and that one is going to save the other (no way around this). So, how do I make it less, you know, trope-y? Any advice is appreciated!
I am having the same problem with the story I am creating. Mine is more Romeo and Juliet, two people from different worlds falling in love. I think for your situation, I'd either a person or situation that gets in the way and mixs up their feelings. Instead of having them both love each other, have one be unsure and be coaxed into the idea. Maybe that person after being saved realized they can't live without them and then they realized their feelings. Hope that helps.
Maybe neither of them realize the depth of their feelings until one is forced to save the other - this one has to make a quick and difficult decision, and choose to save the other despite the danger - and that's how that one realizes they would risk something for the other character. And the other character realizes it because they were saved.
Just have them be constantly making sarcastic remarks about how cliche it is. Acknowledging it will make it slightly easier to read.
True ^^^
Thanks, everyone! This is all super helpful stuff!
Pintrest is a good place for story prompts. One I've seen is a villan's and superhero's alter ego falling in love and then later realizing who the other is.
One takes a love potion. Falls in love. Turns out, potion is a fake, it's just water, but the love is 100% real.
okay, @Kaia, that's pretty good. I like that idea!
Frequently romance that stems from close friendship fails to recognize how that functions in real life. Often times, if friends are in love with each other for a time before they actually get together, they idealize a potential relationship and imagine how the other may act as a lover rather than a friend. Many times, friends who become romantic partners have to go through an awkward people where they act more like friends than a couple because it's what they KNOW.
They may struggle to show affection for each other because, despite wanting to, it may take some getting used to since it's a change. Many times couples realize they're better off as friends, but other times they overcome the awkward exchanges (likely after discussing the matter and some heart-to-heart conversations about their boundaries and what they like).
In your case, perhaps the romance could blossom in the heat of the moment and have some awkward undertones in the aftermath of the "heated moment"? Perhaps the incident prompts the other to discover feelings for the other? And perhaps the savior questions whether the love is genuine or fueled by a "knight in shining armor" sort of effect? There's plenty of ways to write it without falling victim to tropes and unrealistic expectations! :)
– a girl who's had romantic experiences with previous BFFs
good luck with that, buddy.
If you still need some help I find that when writing romance, it's hard to make it a romance without it being cliche, so it's fine to have cliche moments don't worry about it too much. If you feel like it's just like every other romance, add an unexpected plot twist like oh no they died but that was actually person A's twin, who fell in love with person B and acted like person A and murdered them or something crazy like that.
If you don't feel like crazy it can be chill just write in the little things, they add up trust me. Just something little like instinctively looking to where the other person would usually be or one person being super proud of themselves for not making a fool of themselves in front of the other person.
That's all the advice I have since I'm not very good at romance, but this is just my personal preference when reading a romance that seems too cliche, good luck with writing
Well, in my opinion, the person who's gonna be your husband or wife SHOULD BE your best friend. You don't necessarily have to be best friends before you fall in love (love at first sight, blind date, etc etc), but ultimately they should become your best friend, your partner in life, the one who understands you the most and will always stick up for you and make sacrifices for you (AND YOU'D BETTER DO THE SAME, YA SELFISH–). If you can make that a reality in the romance, showing how they slowly grow to that point, it doesn't matter if it's cliche anymore it'll be AWESOME.
But another key is that just because they're "soul mates" or whatever DOES NOT mean they'll never fight or have problems. AND it CERTAINLY doesn't mean that if they fight it's the end of the world ("oH NOOOOOO they're fighting they were never compatible it's the worst people who fight can never love each other this will never work out AGH." Like no, calm down). It's good to show fighting and problems without the readers having to feel like they're little kids watching their divorced parents (sorry that got dark). It's good to show these characters learning to forgive the other and still love each other. It's something you have to continually learn for the rest of your life, kind of.
So if you can come up with scenes that show them becoming better friends, show them learning more about the other (what makes them tick? what do they enjoy? what makes them laugh? what's their love language? how should I comfort them? how do I resolve a fight? how do we work through our differences?), and just coming up with funny scenarios (cuz I love humor and so do most people) would make the romance colorful and alive to readers!
Sorry that was kind of long…