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I could not help but wonder what everyone hear has to say about the genre known a romance, may it be straight, or gay.

I'm currently making a sprite comic based on that subject, and had to wreck the whole thing since I detested the early stages of my old work (though I prefer to think of it more as a disaster.

I wish to know what makes a romance story unreadable. Be it scratch, or from established characters and placing them in various situation where you try to forge intimate ties.

This applies to straight, lesbian, and gay romances so if possible, I'd like to hear from all fronts.

I don't really watch/read much romance, but I love a romance plot within other stories (adventures or whatever). The "romantic" stories I enjoy most are the romantic comedy types -- as opposed to dramatic tragedy stuff where someone suffers a terrible loss and is comforted or brought back to their spirits by a romantic partner.

Anyway, as far as romantic comedy (my preference) goes, there are really two common types I've found myself enjoying. One is the mismatched pair. A couple of people who can't stand each other or snub each other just because of general society or other factors but get to know each other and fall in love usually because they are forced to interact by fate or career or something. Another fun romantic comedy plot is a couple that is together but a series of misunderstandings almost pulls them apart.

Another romance set-up is having an engaged couple (or otherwise committed -- even married) but one or both meet their soulmates -- in other people. And the main conflict is between following their commitments (and safety, the "known") or taking a chance and following their hearts at the risk of losing everything. This set-up can be done with any mood (dramatic or comedic), and it's fun when the people go through character growth and end up with someone you didn't expect -- or even alone (and it doesn't even have to be a bad thing ;) )-- in the end.

I think the biggest way to make a "bad" romance is by using one of the "tried-and-true" gimmicks (*cough* everything I've written here has been done dozens of times *cough*) without building your own interesting story and well-developed characters on top of it.



Also... using sprites could be a recipe for a "bad" romance. Your writing could be golden, and I mean no offense, but sprites have some real trouble showing emotion and getting that type of story across. It's like grade schoolers performing Shakespeare. -- But I dunno. Maybe you could make it work (?)

Well I thought so too on the sprite front, but I decided to use Rouge & Amy since they had the broadest emotional range of any sprites I saw thus far (But that don't mean that's what's going to stay). But yes I have dabbled in fiction writing, but the story was true garbage, it sucked more than a gay vampire.

In fact, the comic I'm doing is the "refined" version for that dumb story.

Thank you for the input. I will put it to use as I refine my own style. :)

I second the opinion of sprites + romance = NO.
I don't know who Rouge and Amy are, but if they're Sonic sprites, change that to = lolNO.

As far as bad romance goes:

1. 0 sexual tension (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
2. Wish fulfillment (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
3. MarySue/ GaryStu
4. Soap opera/ melodrama
5. Forced pairing by writer
6. One of the characters being despised by readers (Lana Lang in current Smallville)
7. Characters feeling something the reader totally doesn't feel/get
8. Gratuitous tragic backstory (see #7)
9. Gratuitous/cliched romantic situations (see #2,4)
10. Gratuitous/cliched breakup situations (see #4, or "OMG she just got on the train they missed each other by 30 seconds~!" )

Were those listed in any particular order of what would set you off the most?

I don't plan on doing tragic backstory flashbacks, but I do use them as a way of explaining things. Story starts off with the relationship in step, but I use the flashbacks to explain how things got that way. Telling the story in reverse.

Miai, thanks for the list. But since there seems to be nothing new in the world it may be VERY hard not to fall into a Mary/Gary trap without realizing it. :P

1 = worst, 10 = not too bad.
In general.

No it's not that hard.

Edit: Somewhat hard. But just reread your script objectively, on different days.

Ok, I have a beef to pick with romance in fiction. The Archie triangle (better known as a love triangle) is seriously getting on my nerves. If someone uses a stinkin' Archie triangle, they shouldn't prolong it. It gets really ridiculous when it gets several years down the road and the main character still hasn't decided which girl or boy they should go with. Also goes with the will they won't they thing. Prolonging that can make a story get tired very fast. Frankly what I'm saying is that at some point there should be a payoff to the romance.

The problem with most romances you must believe that if you met these two people that they could be an actual couple.

Good example of how not to write a romance
Look at last years Shia LaBouf movies Disturbia and Transformers, tell me if at any moments would you actually believe that those girls would even trust him. The plastic Carrot of Transformers and the girl from Disturbia are both niave and stupid and actually fall for a guy who is practically a stalker.

mlai
As far as bad romance goes:

1. 0 sexual tension (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
2. Wish fulfillment (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
3. MarySue/ GaryStu
4. Soap opera/ melodrama
5. Forced pairing by writer
6. One of the characters being despised by readers (Lana Lang in current Smallville)
7. Characters feeling something the reader totally doesn't feel/get
8. Gratuitous tragic backstory (see #7)
9. Gratuitous/cliched romantic situations (see #2,4)
10. Gratuitous/cliched breakup situations (see #4, or "OMG she just got on the train they missed each other by 30 seconds~!" )

ditto to everything Mlai said.

mlai
I second the opinion of sprites + romance = NO.
I don't know who Rouge and Amy are, but if they're Sonic sprites, change that to = lolNO.

As far as bad romance goes:

1. 0 sexual tension (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
2. Wish fulfillment (everything goes swimmingly beginning to end)
3. MarySue/ GaryStu
4. Soap opera/ melodrama
5. Forced pairing by writer
6. One of the characters being despised by readers (Lana Lang in current Smallville)
7. Characters feeling something the reader totally doesn't feel/get
8. Gratuitous tragic backstory (see #7)
9. Gratuitous/cliched romantic situations (see #2,4)
10. Gratuitous/cliched breakup situations (see #4, or "OMG she just got on the train they missed each other by 30 seconds~!" )

Thanks for the tips. I already follow most of that list with my pre-written stories, but there was some stuff I didn't think of.

Bad romance? Maybe I could add a few.

- Lack of character development or no progress in the romance level.
- Beat around the bush storytelling or juggling romance. A loves B. Then loves C. Then falls back in love with B. Then falls back in love with C. And back in love with B and so on continuously. Ultimately, A doesn't want to commit to herself who she should really love.
- Abrupt ending before the romance even reach to a satisfactory engaging level.
- Having the worst paring or characters that the readers feel undesirable. This is good for writing comedy but certainly not for serious romance. An example would be like the girl willingly get married to a guy but still says to the other guy that she could still see him. In other words, she's a slut.
- Lack of special moments when the pair are together. Special moments are important to give the readers the impact to feel for the characters' emotion.
- Placing sexual scenes above romance. This is good if you want to aim for readers who likes porn or kinky storyline. But if your target audience are those who are into romantic storyline, then this would not work.

What makes a romance story terrible to me is when the characters are PERFECT and their's nothing wrong with them, neither of the people ( straight, lesbain, gay couples alike) have ANYTHING wrong with them. When they're relationship is just like: "We're in LOVE. OMG" Is when it's not good and also when they break up and get back together every other plot line.
Don't worry about pairing or gay, straight or lesbian pairings, work on making good characters and an interesting storyline. :)

An extension of the wish fulfillment no-no is when a comic book character does something that would NEVER work in real life, and he/she succeeds with it.

The most extreme case is of course the rapist-turned-lover. You can argue Stockholm Syndrome, but then you better write it well.

The more common cases are when nerds/geeks/dorks use absolutely horrific techniques, but end up with the hottie because they're so sincere/real/good personality/whatever.

mlai
The most extreme case is of course the rapist-turned-lover. You can argue Stockholm Syndrome, but then you better write it well.

Agreed so hard. If it's Stockholm Syndrome, it had better be written as the psychological, creepy, very likely destructive relationship it really is rather than all sunshine and daisies.

Rape, for many people, is a very touchy subject - for me as well - and I am heartily sick of it being used as a plot-device.

The more common cases are when nerds/geeks/dorks use absolutely horrific techniques, but end up with the hottie because they're so sincere/real/good personality/whatever.

It's one thing if they're sort of endearing when they try to flirt, but it's quite another when we as readers are expected to forgive them for being horrible to their crushes and the people around them just because you're supposed to root for the underdog.

As for what makes a bad romance... I'm sure I'm echoing a whole lot of people when I say this:

1. All characters should be treated as characters, and not just empty plot-devices. If they can easily be filed under Romantic Rival or Designated Love Interest and never grow beyond that, then that makes it unreadable for me. I need to care about these people - I need to want them to get a happy ending, whether they get it or not.

This point can really be summed up as "All characters are people" - this is doubly true for the yaoi/yuri genre, where stereotypes and characters who conform to them are unfortunately very common.

2. The characters need to work to get their happy ending. Boy meets girl/boy meets boy/girl meets girl, they fall in love, happily ever after - it has no tension, no excitement, there's nothing interesting about it. There's nothing there to tell. Set up some conflict - both internal and external (as in, both between the two characters, and circumstances partly beyond their control) - to create interest.

3. If conflict is set up, follow it through. Don't chicken out on conflict only to make your characters perfectly happy all the time - conflict breeds interest and plot.

4. As a corollary to the above, don't wallow in angst either. The whole "star-crossed lovers with the whole world against them" is getting stale - make it sensible conflict, hurt your characters if you need to, but always give them something to do about it, even if it might not work.