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30DoW: Day 16
Aug. 16th, 2010 12:59 am16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
Yes, with words, and all the way if necessary.
Oh, you want more? Fine...
I don't shy away from romance in my stories, but neither am I going to go out of my way to include one just because. It does need reason, and saying "well I have a male main character and a female main character, they should hook up" does not cut it with me.
Currently, I do have a story where romance is part of the main plot, the Noir one. The story is centered on Rachel, head don of her mafia organization, keeping her business life seperate from her new love life with a city detective. Wow, that's kinda cliched, now that I actually write that out, but I'm having fun seeing how close I can keep these two stories together without completelying crossing them. She's assertive and has always gone after what she wants, so when she wants to pursue a relationship like this, she maintains as much control over every situation as she can to be happy. Rachel walks a thin line when she talks about her work, using phrases that are technically true but have much different meanings than what the boyfriend assumes (he needs a name too), and keeping her two lives seperate. She's well aware of the concequences, but continues on anyway because she does actually love him.
I think I do alright with relationships and romance, in that they don't come off as hackneyed (I hope -.-;). When this element does come up, I'll make it as natural as I can and not "easy"; you know, "I've only seen you once, I love you long time" "I love you too, but I'm going to pretend I don't for one or more books because that's called tension and we don't have any if acted on our obvious emotions". There are fights, flirting, passion, sublty, all the things that make up real relationships. It's not easy (all the time).
As for how "far" (why is that parahesised, you want to add a "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" to that too?) I'll go, I'll go as far as the story needs and allows. So if sex needs to be seen, I'll be as tactful as I can while maintaining as much emotion as the scene needs, but depending on the story I'm not going to start having characters act different just because hormones are taking over. I'm not going to throw in a sex scene because "OMG dat's hot", because that's just pandering to the voyeur demographic. I'm not writing erotica (unless, of course, I am) so there's no point in having something that doesn't help the plot.
I've written these kind of stories before, they're fun and challenging to attempt now and again, so I'm not uncomfortable with the prospect of it. And I won't shy away from relationships forming. But overall, I'd rather not have characters whose only purpose is to be pined after and eventually bedded, because they tend to be flat and boring. Sex is boring without the passion behind it. And there's no passion in "My groin yerns for you"/"I'm attracted to you being attacted to me!".
Yes, with words, and all the way if necessary.
Oh, you want more? Fine...
I don't shy away from romance in my stories, but neither am I going to go out of my way to include one just because. It does need reason, and saying "well I have a male main character and a female main character, they should hook up" does not cut it with me.
Currently, I do have a story where romance is part of the main plot, the Noir one. The story is centered on Rachel, head don of her mafia organization, keeping her business life seperate from her new love life with a city detective. Wow, that's kinda cliched, now that I actually write that out, but I'm having fun seeing how close I can keep these two stories together without completelying crossing them. She's assertive and has always gone after what she wants, so when she wants to pursue a relationship like this, she maintains as much control over every situation as she can to be happy. Rachel walks a thin line when she talks about her work, using phrases that are technically true but have much different meanings than what the boyfriend assumes (he needs a name too), and keeping her two lives seperate. She's well aware of the concequences, but continues on anyway because she does actually love him.
I think I do alright with relationships and romance, in that they don't come off as hackneyed (I hope -.-;). When this element does come up, I'll make it as natural as I can and not "easy"; you know, "I've only seen you once, I love you long time" "I love you too, but I'm going to pretend I don't for one or more books because that's called tension and we don't have any if acted on our obvious emotions". There are fights, flirting, passion, sublty, all the things that make up real relationships. It's not easy (all the time).
As for how "far" (why is that parahesised, you want to add a "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" to that too?) I'll go, I'll go as far as the story needs and allows. So if sex needs to be seen, I'll be as tactful as I can while maintaining as much emotion as the scene needs, but depending on the story I'm not going to start having characters act different just because hormones are taking over. I'm not going to throw in a sex scene because "OMG dat's hot", because that's just pandering to the voyeur demographic. I'm not writing erotica (unless, of course, I am) so there's no point in having something that doesn't help the plot.
I've written these kind of stories before, they're fun and challenging to attempt now and again, so I'm not uncomfortable with the prospect of it. And I won't shy away from relationships forming. But overall, I'd rather not have characters whose only purpose is to be pined after and eventually bedded, because they tend to be flat and boring. Sex is boring without the passion behind it. And there's no passion in "My groin yerns for you"/"I'm attracted to you being attacted to me!".