I'm having trouble getting my two characters to meet & be around each other

[catty152]

I have this idea for an adventure story with fantasy elements but I'm having trouble getting my two characters to meet. I don't know how to come up with a strong enough reason for them to be constantly meeting and around each other. What is a good way to resolve this that you have done before?

[shazzbaa]

Probably the easiest general thing is for the characters' goals to intersect in some way -- even if the characters don't have the SAME goal, they both feel they can better accomplish their goals together than apart. Characters can also just genuinely like each other and want to travel together. Characters can decide to travel together for a little while, and then something happens that forces them to work together longer than they'd initially planned.

There are infinite ways to have characters meet each other, but it depends on the characters! What is making it hard for your particular characters to meet, and hard for them specifically to be together? That might help us give more relevant examples!

[Kayke]

I think it really depends on your story. Try to think of common ways the characters meet in movies, TV, comics, video games, ect.

Do they go to school together? Were they sent on a mission together by someone higher up? Are they magically bound? Are they striving for the same thing? Going to the same place? Were they on two separate quests but ended up in the same town? Do their parents know each other? Do they have a shared interest? Did they compete against each other at some tournament? Did one of them see the other preform in some kind of show? Did one of them get the other mixed up in trouble that they had to fake their way out of together? Chased by the same bad guys?

Those are just a few first meeting tropes I can think of off the top of my head. Really the possibilities are endless. Think of all the different ways you've met people in your life!

[catty152]

Hi, the two characters live in different worlds. One lives in a civilisation in the sea and the other on land with the normal humans. I kinda want the story to continue mostly on land and not the sea.

[shazzbaa]

I mean, that seems like it still depends on what the story is and who these characters are! Like, their personalities and hopes and motivations!

Like, if the person who lives in the sea is really adventurous and excited about the idea of exploring the surface and learning about life there, then it would make perfect sense for them to leave and find the main character somehow. If the character really doesn't want to leave the sea, then you'd have to figure out what makes them need to -- do they need to find something on land to help their family/friends/country, or were they sent to land for some reason? Or is the person from the surface curious and adventurous and found the person from the sea and convinced them to come on land with them?

Do the characters like each other at first? Do they want to spend time together, or is something going to have to make them want to hang out because ordinarily they wouldn't? Do they have goals, and if so, can they help each other achieve them?

[J.Z.Castillo]

If one of them is from the sea and the other from the land and you want the story to take place on land just make the marine character infatuated with the surface, then meets the terrestrial character and they become attracted to them (romantically or platonically it's up to you). It's an easy fix since I don't know much about your story.

You can also make the marine character kind of resentful towards their civilization, or something like that, and then leaves to land and since they don't know anything they get into some sort of trouble and then terrestrial character saves them. Marine character feels indebted to terrestrial character so they decide to go on a journey. Story begins from there.

I feel like these type of stories are pretty easy to come up with a reason to have these characters that come from different (fantastical) backgrounds be together. Look at the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings and how these different races and characters interact to form a group with a single main goal.

[AnnaLandin]

Well, you can have the sea-based character wash up on land close to where the land-based character lives, and for some reason be unable to return to the sea - then the land-based character would be in a position to help the sea-based character. Maybe their shared goal could be to help the sea-based character go back to the sea, but to do so they have to seek out someone or something that lives on land?

Maybe the sea-based character is cursed and can no longer live in the sea, so they must lift the curse. Maybe something has been stolen from the sea-based civilisation and taken onto land, and the sea-character has to/wants to go after it, and the land-character decides to help them. Maybe something bad is happening to the sea-civilisation, and the answers lie on land.

There are any number of possibilities in getting them to meet, and making at least one of them have a personality that has them predisposed to be helpful, or likely to pay their debts, or something, will mean that once they've met, they'll stick together.

[Inspector_Spinda]

Sounds like little mermaid to me. Maybe you can take some inspiration.