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LakeLake
May '22

Particularly for characters who just met or have only known each other for a short time. Who the readers only get to see a few interactions between before the story is over? And have to primarily rely on the narrative that the two characters have been spending maybe a few months at most of "off page" time together.

The above scenario is something I often struggle to find fully believable despite being willing to read said story. I'll preface that with the fact that I am aromantic, so I might simply not relate to a lot of fast romances without any build up/ clear forming of friendship seen in slow burn stuff. Hence why I want to ask a more general group of people. Given that the short story I'm finishing has said scenario, a romantic sub plot with limited interactions due to the story's very short length, about 9,000 words, and I'm uncertain if, as the author, I'm more willing to suspend my disbelief due to the characters literally living in my head versus something I've read written by another.

So, to readers, or writers noticing how your audience reacts, what is your take? How do you all feel about quick/short/limited romance plots, in general does the romances feel believable; or are readers in general seemingly able to accept it to be believable?

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    May '22

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LouisWinter
May '22
1

I think what writers and movie directors do when it comes to short stories with blossoming love is that they have the twoshow great chemistry. I can suspend my disbelief if it's clear that the two's vibe flows so seemlessly. When a movie shows the two have the same level of chemistry as when they first met later on, it doesn't seem jarring, at least for me.

MartaTod
May '22

I read romance novels, and I know other readers and some indy romance writers. It's often very easy for us to suspend our disbelief, especially for short stories. As long as all important events are covered in the story itself, and it's well written.

Swamp
May '22

I don't think i need to suspend disbelief if the romance is happening offscreen.
If a story wants me to believe it was True Love at first sight and there's no need to fall in love from there, that's asking me to suspend disbelief and agree to a world where magical connections form in an instant.
But like... if a story tells me a couple's been happily married for twenty years, that's not unrealistic just because you didn't write all twenty+ years. You can show a realistic love growing in 5 panels and no words, IMO.

TheLemmaLlama
May '22

Hmm ... if you wrote the story and you find it believable enough, you could try tweaking it in a way that makes your own suspension of disbelief break? If you're unable to do this (i.e. you find it believable no matter how you write it), then there's probably authorial bias there. And if you are able to do this, you can look at what variables you've changed and to what extent that caused you to be less willing to suspend your disbelief :]

darthmongoose
May '22

I can imagine for an Aro, and especially Aro-Ace it's probably hard to comprehend, but sometimes love really does hit that fast.

For non-Aro people, while some relationships are quite a slow-burn progression from "this person is my friend" to "I think I might actually want to be with this friend romantically" over months or years, sometimes it's literally like you meet somebody for the first time and in the space of one evening go from "Wow that person really stands out maybe I'll talk to them..." to "I want to spend all night talking to this person, oh my god, this person is the coolest person I've ever met and I feel so excited and happy just being near them!"

So to a lot of people who do experience Romantic feelings, it is totally plausible that a pair fall in love that quickly and requires no suspension of disbelief. Being in love is wild. Like your body produces a ton of hormones that really do affect your thinking and behaviour like a natural high. If the writing can capture that heady excitement and make the pair feel plausible as a couple to let the reader experience a taste of the experience of being in love, they can definitely pull it off.

LakeLake
May '22
Swamp

I think my struggle lies a lot with not wanting to explicitly state that the two characters are romantically attracted to each other and my attempt to show that more subtly through interactions and dialogue. Basically, trying to find the balance in show don't tell. ((albeit I'll likely be posting the story under GL, so that might be telling enough for some regarding the romance aspect of the story, or at least cause some to forcibly read into the relationship even if my writing falls short.))

So, I can confidently say, unfortunately, that there is a lot of authorial bias present. Although I'm not quite certain what would need to be tweaked in order to try to break my own suspension of disbelief. Although I can say that the main plot of the story wouldn't be able to wrap up properly if the characters weren't seen as showing some interest, either romantic or platonic, in each other.
I did try to add a few small bits to at least drive in a sense of closeness between the characters.

So, this is pretty close to the relationship, at least from the protagonist's side. And I might just be struggling with rationalizing it and saying yes this is actual romantic interest, as well as trying to decipher the other character's feelings as she initially responds more to the protagonist mostly out of loneliness and its hard for me to say if the readers will be able to tell if she ever left that mindset, or at least pick up the signs of romantic attraction from her side as well. Honestly, my uncertainty is ultimately, is this story romantic enough to be tagged as romance? or should I stick with fantasy even though its a bit more general and risk the story from missing out on the audience I think will be more likely to enjoy it.
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Thank you to the folks who responded.
I think I'll go ahead and try my luck with the project and come back to the forums to seek criticism/advice after the fact, instead of trying to explain things in the vaguest way possible. Especially given how intangible the topic can be.
((although if anyone has anything further to add feel free to do so))

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closed Jun 9, '22

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