Do you always try to have a love interest in your story?

Does adventure always come hand in hand with falling in love? (I know it does in the movies...most of the time )

Personally I find it quite refreshing to read a book where there isn't necessarily a love themed sub plot.

I think that trust (or distrust) happens when adventures happen, and trust is the basis for a good relationship of any kind (including a romantic one).

That doesn't mean that romance has to happen when adventures happen, though. * grins * Like I said, trust (or distrust) is what happens. Romance could just as well stay out of it, if the writer wanted. And I don't think it's necessary for a good story, there is plenty of room for exploration of other kinds of close relationships and love.

Though I would say, it's unrealistic if there's no mention of it at all in a book, because it sort of exists pretty commonly.... * grins * People fall in love or get married all the time, so it usually comes up sometime or other in my books, if only a mention from a minor side character.

I don't actually dislike romance... that could be because I haven't read enough to get tired of it being done gratuitously, though. I don't like writing it very much, for some reason. Whenever I do write about romance, and like it, it's because I did something weird with it – like a story about two people trying to fall in love because they're the only two people left and they have to marry each other anyway. * laughs *

Well, most of the time I try and stay away from that in my books, I'm younger, I prefer to write about what I know and have learned then that I haven't experienced (if that makes sense).

And I have to agree with you, in our world today, it seems that the interest of everyone is "worldly love". Everything we read, watch, and sometimes listen to, usually has a hero loves maiden theme. When I stumble on something that never even comes close to that theme, I have to say I'm suprised!

Well, that just my two-cents.

I'm single so right now I really don't write much about romance. Also most of the time romantic side plots are kind of annoying to me.

My sister had the same taste as I concerning romance. That is until she got married. Now she say's she enjoys romantic plots.
So now I can see how love would be more interesting to so people than others.

I like to read good romances, but there aren't very many. (Side note: I have some ideas for a blog post about why romances today annoy me so much).

My first book is an adventure novel that does not have any romance in it. Well, not really. One girl flirts a bit, but that's about it. Books 2 and 3 are love stories, but they are very different love stories.

They both have a man and a woman who fall in love, but they figure out they are in love without a tragedy or something awful happening. They also know each other for months and become good friends before they "fall in love", instead of knowing each other for a week or so before said event happens.

/end of rant. Hopefully it kind of makes sense.

I guess you wouldn't much like one of my romances, Faith.... They promise to marry each other about six hours after meeting each other, and only because of a great tragedy they went through together. * grins *

I get what you mean, though, I think. I get annoyed by all the romances where the people don't even spend enough time together to really honest to goodness know each other, but fall in love and get married. Sometimes a single mood can last a week, and most all you'd know of them was that mood.

I must say, the above romance ends up a wee bit difficult for all involved and they are separated for several years before meeting again and actually getting married (and the difficulties don't end there either).

I want to see a romance between two people who are already married (not involving them falling out with each other and having to re-fall in love).

It does bother me how little people seem to develop marriage culture. It would be good to study marriages in other cultures to get more ideas, if not free our minds to make ideas of our own.
We have East Indian friends who told us a lot of very interesting things about Indian weddings.

I like the romance in Les Miserables pretty well, but I do not think Juliet does... Though I agree it is usually badly portrayed in musicals and movies.

You could have a romance where a girl falls in love with a villain, and through this love she becomes a powerful villainess; however the villain is converted from his villainy by her love, so they trade places. Or a man falls in love with a villainess, and they trade places.

Depending on the plot line and what else is going on besides the romance, I actually do like to read them. I just get annoyed that there is such a formulated "plan" for romances. That and the fact that most of them time, I think the people who are "falling in love" are actually falling in lust.



In my series, Book #3 kind of has that as a continuation of book #2's romance. Or will once I start writing that part of the story.



Now that sounds very interesting. When are you going to write it?

I shall add the idea to my mulch document.

I think I like the idea of the man falling in love with a villainess best. It is less common to see a villainess, much less one who converts.


The Greater Trumps is a good "romance." A girl stops her fiancee from murdering her father, and unknowingly unleashes an end of the world scenario. It is one of my favorite books.
The romance in Sherlock Holmes is good.

The Hobbit is one of the top bestselling books on earth, and has no romance in it whatever. However Tolkien is one of the best writers of romance that I know.

Yep.

I have that, in a way.

I think one problem with that, though, has to do the way stories work. A good story will mean that something happens, and if your story is a romance story (not just a 'story with people being romance-y in it') then something has to happen in the relationship. And there aren't too many ways of something important happening in a relationship other than falling in love or out of love (or something along those lines). All of the relationship based stories I can think right now are that sort of an idea, even if the relationship is not one between a man and a woman romance-ing.

I haven't thought about it much, though, I may be wrong. It was only something I was just thinking about.

There is Sam and Frodo, nothing really happened in their relationship, they just went through a lot together.
Little Women has a sort of romance between "marmee" and father. The Galway Chronicles does a good job of a married romance, though both of these examples have to do with going through separation.
I think that brings up another problem. Usually the men go and the women stay when there is some threat to be confronted. Some cases where this would not apply would be sieges, famines, plagues, and perhaps crime fighting.

There are plenty of relationships in books where nothing really happens, but those aren't relationship stories – the progress of the story does not rest on the back of the relationship. Like, in Lord of the Rings, the progress of the story rests on whether they'll get to mount Doom. (Story progress and the different kinds of stories is something Brandon Sanderson talked about in his video series... it was very interesting.)

I think I'd call those 'a story in which some people are romance-y', rather than a romance.

But I do very much like the idea of more romantic elements in stories being between married people, and not always people who aren't married yet.

Most of my stories tend to be children's fiction, so romance is out of place. (Am I the only one who rolls my eyes when eleven-year-olds start falling in love? ) However, in my more YA stories, there tends to be at least some romantic interest, but I usually build the interest through the course of the story and kind of leave it hanging in a hopeful maybe at the end.

I have a superhero story where romance is hinted at for several of the characters, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to avoid it altogether as a serious aspect of the story. I have two steampunk novels where one POV charrie is a boy and the other a girl and there are some awkward moments for them which turn out nicely in basically a "hey, let's try courting" at the end of the story.

But it's not romance for romance's sake--for me, it's never romance for romance's sake. If it fits for the character and the story, then it's good and meant to be. If I'm trying to force it where it's not supposed to be, then I'm manipulating the characters for no good reason.

That being said, I do enjoy writing stories where the parents of the MC are very romantic. That's fun. XD

(I do have one story--still in plotting--that's more for adults and two of the MCs have a back-and-forth romance which doesn't end very happily...but it's part of the characters and part of the story and even though terrible things happen for these two charries, it works out for the best of the story. but I'm rambling now, so I will stop. )

I write middle grade so far, so I haven't really done much in the way of romance. For some characters, I did hint that when they grew up they might get married, but I haven't done much beyond that. I probably will put some romance into my YA sci-fi dystopian when I get to it, but my fantasy is top priority right now.

As a reader, I prefer romance to be a subplot in an adventure book. I really enjoy a good, clean romance, but there has to be more to the story than that. I don't like for things to get really mushy.



The last two Dragon Keeper books by Donita K. Paul kind of do that and I love it.

To me, the most important part of a romance is the relationship, not just the lovey feelings, you know? Feelings are all very well and good, but if an author can show me that his/her characters really work well together, that they really enjoy doing non-romantic things together, that they're the kind of people who would stay up late just talking and talking with each other, and they are in love with each other to boot - then I can really root for a couple, and actually enjoy the mushy bits. So to me any good romance needs to be based on a sound relationship, the kind you could imagine between friends. And maybe that relationship can come after an initial attraction...but it really needs to be there soon!

Romance based on a relationship also generally leads to the couple being more committed to each other, which is always nice. I hate it how in books like Divergent two people will be very physical with each other before they even want to commit themselves by saying, "I love you." And also when an author focuses more on a couple's relationship than their romantic love for each other, then the author tends to give them a bit more privacy...which is always nice. One of the great things about a story is how it really lets you get inside the depths of somebody's mind and heart...but that doesn't mean authors can't respect their characters and let them kiss in peace sometimes.

And also, a romance with a happy end that's based on a relationship is more realistic and believable than a romance based on feelings that ends up happily. It bugs me when two people get together entirely because of superfluous attraction to each other, then they are Happily Ever After even though their partnership doesn't really seem to be based on anything sound. Yes, it does happen sometimes in real life, and so it's fine that it happens here and there in stories...but can we see more people in literature get together just out of mutual attraction and then have a lot of problems because their relationship doesn't have a strong foundation? But then, I tend to go for romances that end miserably...

Of course, this is kind of tricky to discuss because the English word "love" is so overloaded. You "love" that cool new video game, you "love" God, you "love" the person you happen to be infatuated with, and you "love" your spouse. The fact is that I do enjoy romance in books when the "love" is of the pure and sacrificial kind...as long as it doesn't get too overdone and cheesy, of course. What I really don't enjoy is romance when the "love" is of the self-serving, falling-into-lust as Miss Elizabeth said kind. The relationship needs to be healthy! If I can't imagine some characters getting along well together even if they weren't romantically involved or attracted to each other, maybe something is wrong...


Yes! I generally like to do that too. "Write what you know", eh? At the same time, though, I also like to explore love in my writing...it's a good (and pretty safe!) way to figure out what I think about it and what I ultimately may want in a romantic relationship someday.


Yes! That's the kind of romance I appreciate. Also nice that they can figure things out without some cataclysmic event happening to trigger it.


...but here you have some COMMITMENT! That's always welcome! Actually, one of my favorite romantic plots is in a book called The Sherwood Ring, where you have a guy asking a lady to marry him when they've only been together for a few hours. There wasn't even any huge terrible event to bring them together. And I loved it.


Yes! Very true! Actually, I think it would be great if authors developed all parts of culture more in their books...it's often rather neglected. Admittedly, if you make the culture too different from that of your target audience, they can end up kind of confused...but if you do it well you can really open up their minds to how people can be different. Though again, there's that advice to "write what you know". If you misunderstand how a culture works and then you put that misunderstanding into your writing, it can be annoying at best and harmful at worst...


Ditto!


Where is this video series? I have been very impressed with what I've read so far of Sanderson's writing (particularly with the romance, incidentally) and I'd love to know.


Lol, no. That's another one of my pet peeves. You fall in love with somebody at twelve and so you're going to be married happily ever after...obviously...

O.o That got really, really long. I am really opinionated...but hopefully what I said will be interesting to somebody!

It's on his site... they're really long, it's a recording of a college course thing he does.

Grr... I looked for them again, and the only page with them that I came across was this one. I'm not sure if they even work. You can see anyway. I hope they do work, I really enjoyed them and learned a lot. http://brandonsanderson.com/writing-cla ... s-updates/

Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Yes, well, there is that. I see what you mean.

Mm... that sound interesting. * grins a bit * Is it a book you'd recommend?