Romantic Subplots?

[autumnveir]

What I will talk about isn't novels where romance is the main theme, but novels where romance is a secondary theme. We all have different tastes and I will respect that.

What I will talk about is romance subplot not done right, or a love interest that feels like the story would flow much better without the love interest at all. Of course, I don't mean all characters that hinder the protagonist. They are needed as plot devices. However, there are instances where conflicts originating from said love interests... feels irrelevant.

Am I alone with this terrible feeling?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

No.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I am bad at intentionally writing romance so I actively stay away from trying to create romantic subplots. However, if two characters start to show signs that there could be romantic tension then I let things happen and maybe it will come to fruition. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It all depends but people have told me that my romance scenes seem a bit more natural than others.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Those bad romantic subplots or sub-romantic subplots as I call them almost always happen when the author has (almost) no idea how either the plot influences characters or how characters influence the plot or both.

A standard case of "plot happening to the characters" where the plot moves anyway, ignoring how characters would shape the plot and instead being shaped to fit the plot.

Or the authors just weren't exposed to enough good subplots to figure out why/where theirs is a bad idea.

 

[Noel_Elitia]

i think romantic plots are necessary to bind the characters together and i use a lot of it to relieve the seriousness of chapter in my novel. though i only use it as a side dish, my novel does not use romance as a main driving force for the story.
And conflicts arising from romance plots do seem terrific when overdone, but there are instances in history when wars did happen because of that.

 

[Lloyd]

I'm just adding mine extremely slowly. ?

 

[BlackKnightX]

What I will talk about isn't novels where romance is the main theme, but novels where romance is a secondary theme. We all have different tastes and I will respect that.

What I will talk about is romance subplot not done right, or a love interest that feels like the story would flow much better without the love interest at all. Of course, I don't mean all characters that hinder the protagonist. They are needed as plot devices. However, there are instances where conflicts originating from said love interests... feels irrelevant.

Am I alone with this terrible feeling?

Of course, it’s because it’s a subplot. What do you expect?

 

[Bartun]

There are instances in which a romantic subplot can greatly enhance the quality of a book, especially when the interactions between characters are done in an appealing way. What happens is the opposite, the sub-plot remains just a sub-plot without interfering with the story, which is the most used nowadays, the romantic sub-plot is delayed due to the characters focusing on the main conflict, bottling their emotions until they finally admit their feelings in the climax, before the final battle.

The kind of romantic sub-plot you talk about is often referred to as "romantic sub-plot tumor" which is what happens when the sub-plot stop being a sub-plot and takes over the main conflict, it makes you wonder why they don't just make it full romance entirely instead of action/adventure. You can tell instantly when a character is exclusively created to be a love interest, instead of being their own person with dreams, fears, and motivations.

What romance writers try so hard to do is to create a situation in which the couple's interactions create the main conflict, which makes you wonder why don't they just break up to solve the problem. If you don't balance it with something that justifies their intense desire to be together, it can be difficult to stomach.

 

[Echimera]

So basically half the movies that come out of Hollywood and are not outright romances?
I've not watched too many movies recently, it might have gotten better.

 

[AliceShiki]

What romance writers try so hard to do is to create a situation in which the couple's interactions create the main conflict, which makes you wonder why don't they just break up to solve the problem. If you don't balance it with something that justifies their intense desire to be together, it can be difficult to stomach.

I dunno, I think being in love is plenty reason to want to stay together even as issues arise. You don't need a specific reason, when your feelings are enough to justify it.

... Talking from experience here, really. All relationships have problems. Part of being in a relationship is learning to solve problems together with your partner, finding compromises when you can't solve things your way, and learning to accept some parts that you dislike when your partner is unwilling/unable to change them.

So I dunno, I never felt "They should just break up" when I start seeing some problems arise in a romance story, because like... Well, that's just par for the course? All romance has troubles. That's just normal in the end... Seeing how they overcome their problems together is part of the charm.

 

[Bartun]

I dunno, I think being in love is plenty reason to want to stay together even as issues arise. You don't need a specific reason, when your feelings are enough to justify it.

... Talking from experience here, really. All relationships have problems. Part of being in a relationship is learning to solve problems together with your partner, finding compromises when you can't solve things your way, and learning to accept some parts that you dislike when your partner is unwilling/unable to change them.

So I dunno, I never felt "They should just break up" when I start seeing some problems arise in a romance story, because like... Well, that's just par for the course? All romance has troubles. That's just normal in the end... Seeing how they overcome their problems together is part of the charm.

I understand, of course, real-life is very different than fantasy romance. I know very well the pain that comes up with love. What I wanted to say is that in order to make a romance novel interesting, writers create conflicts that are far greater than any real-life situation, I mean like the fate of the world is at the stake because of you and your partner kind of conflict.

 

[AliceShiki]

I understand, of course, real-life is very different than fantasy romance. I know very well the pain that comes up with love. What I wanted to say is that in order to make a romance novel interesting, writers create conflicts that are far greater than any real-life situation, I mean like the fate of the world is at the stake because of you and your partner kind of conflict.

Oh, I agree that this is stupid... Unless the author really does a good job with it. Possibly with some time loop shenanigans, so that there are two versions of the MC (one good and one evil) and both wanting the Love Interest so much, that none would be willing to give up on the love interest... Making the evil MC create a war to destroy the world because of pure yandere desire for the love interest.

... Unless someone can pull this kind of crazy idea off well, then they shouldn't put big stakes on a relationship... I was really thinking of more mundane problems when I made my previous post, like... Different opinions on work ethics, child raising, household keeping and the like.

 

[Bartun]

Oh, I agree that this is stupid... Unless the author really does a good job with it. Possibly with some time loop shenanigans, so that there are two versions of the MC (one good and one evil) and both wanting the Love Interest so much, that none would be willing to give up on the love interest... Making the evil MC create a war to destroy the world because of pure yandere desire for the love interest.

... Unless someone can pull this kind of crazy idea off well, then they shouldn't put big stakes on a relationship... I was really thinking of more mundane problems when I made my previous post, like... Different opinions on work ethics, child raising, household keeping and the like.

Yeah, my point exactly, you can only add so much conflict before the novel turns into a circus. But you don't really need to go that far, just think about the thousands of "we are different" stories like you are a werewolf and I'm a vampire, our kind would never let us be together, something still fantastic but more down to earth. So overused that it became a cliche.

 

[AliceShiki]

Yeah, my point exactly, you can only add so much conflict before the novel turns into a circus. But you don't really need to go that far, just think about the thousands of "we are different" stories like you are a werewolf and I'm a vampire, our kind would never let us be together, something still fantastic but more down to earth. So overused that it became a cliche.

I mean... Yes, it is a cliche, but it's not like I'll blame anyone for copying Romeo and Juliet. I think they have the right to do that, it's not a bad trope to go with~

The execution needs to be good though, since... Well, it's Romeo and Juliet all over again. If you're gonna try to make a modern take on a classic, you better do a good job at it.

Though personally speaking, I prefer a slightly different execution for this kind of trope... Instead of "our kind would never let us be together", I prefer the "we're physically incompatible with one another" like... Human x Fairy or Human x Giant, or Human x Elemental... Or anything like that, that like... Instead of outside circumstances making the relationship "impossible", you instead have biological circumstances getting in the way. I think it's a nicer take on "something outside our control cannot let us be together", because the solution to it depends a lot more on the couple than on anything else on this kind of scenario.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I've agonized over romantic subplots where I think the woman should end up with both guys. This one has a romantic subplot done right:

 

[Bartun]

I mean... Yes, it is a cliche, but it's not like I'll blame anyone for copying Romeo and Juliet. I think they have the right to do that, it's not a bad trope to go with~

The execution needs to be good though, since... Well, it's Romeo and Juliet all over again. If you're gonna try to make a modern take on a classic, you better do a good job at it.

Though personally speaking, I prefer a slightly different execution for this kind of trope... Instead of "our kind would never let us be together", I prefer the "we're physically incompatible with one another" like... Human x Fairy or Human x Giant, or Human x Elemental... Or anything like that, that like... Instead of outside circumstances making the relationship "impossible", you instead have biological circumstances getting in the way. I think it's a nicer take on "something outside our control cannot let us be together", because the solution to it depends a lot more on the couple than on anything else on this kind of scenario.

You're right, beating a classic is always difficult. Now that you mentioned it, "physical compatibility" is like the new trend. I was planning something like it for the next arc of my book.