You're the type of person we love the most ! 🥰
yeah hahaha.
I have six stories that make up the series arch. and every book has a character/romance arch
this is a great thread! ive definitely been through it with ships, but the main pairing of Stains is by faaaaarr my favourite, and came through super organically (i was writing a different au as writing practice and the MCs were roommates and well, they turned out to be perfect for each other). Casper's original romance is one that, since getting more realistic with my relationships, turned from being a 'guy forgets his troubles for his bf' ship, to realising that it'd actually just be an ... awful, awful relationship no matter that it sort of sticks, and so Jack's become almost an antagonist in the current novel.
Casper and Cain might still be 'good for each other and no one else', but they hit off each other SO WELL and they end up communicating too well when i write them to even write the 'miscommunication causes relationship issues' angle to stuff. I just can't even make it believable that they wouldn't sort stuff out before storming off and almost ruining things (hence the somewhat 'external' conflict to the romance in stains)
Drama is definitely really important when it comes to ships and i can seriously feel that from the way you describe your characters. it honestly makes the pair look even more authentic if or when they get back together 
The only times it can also break hearts is when things end even worse than you could think initially 
So I ship together my two characters Hali and Conan. They maybe have a large age difference and have very different backgrounds, but they both are very creative types. He is a baker and loves music. And she is an artist and also has a great love of music. Together they have a strong connection based on their ability to fully trust the other and their willingness to protect the other from danger and make sacrifices. They encourage each other to grow and find strengths within their weaknesses. They never put down the other or discourage each other and communication their thoughts and needs.
I think as a content creator you kind of have to be prepared for someone to eventually ship characters together that isn't necessarily canon. It scares me slightly though, as there is a canon shipping in my story, only not present as of yet 
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I made a small chibi drawing of them a while ago while I was at my last workplace 
!
Hmmm, I don't want to reveal 
, but there is an OTP; tbh, it is more interesting for fans to do the shipping and see how it goes. That, and my series has some ways to go ;>_>)
My comic team definitely has ships for our characters! We do have the classic canon ship between two of our main characters, Kit and Tamal. They have a fun dynamic of Kit being a reckless criminal who is trying to keep everything secret from Tamal, meanwhile he tries everything in his power to snoop and figure out why she's so stand offish all the time. We like to refer to their ship as Olive Garden, since Tamal has plant powers and Kit is Italian.
But we do also ship Kit with her friend Birb. The two of them are both pretty reckless and have a rivalry together. They like to spar together. Their ship name is Time Flies, since Kit can control time and Birb has wings. I got some art commissioned of them a couple years ago.
vainglory is a multishipper's paradise. the primary conceit is that vainglory is pansexual and nonmonogamous, and the vast majority of characters featured are either in a relationship with her or one another. but it's not just all for fun. the extended canon was really developed as a way to explore the more interesting, less-discussed aspects of romance - no slow burn, will-they-won't-they here. only the weird stuff
One of my unfinished stories has an eventual pairing, but as I was figuring out some of the other characters, I realized that I shipped my main with a secondary 
except it also works really well for the story to have them get together and then realize that’s not the kind of relationship they need or want from each other, thus showing my main that the initial love interest is actually more who she’s looking for 
I don’t usually do love triangles, but this one legit wrote itself in
I always have a central romance in the story, so, naturally, I ship that relationship. In terms of characters who do not end up together, yes, it happens as well.
Miccola in She Kills Elephants and Men drove me insane, because I shipped her with everyone, with the MC, with two of the MC’s husbands, with the 4th husband that eventually gotten written out of the book altogether, but in the end, she just gave me the finger and remained the whoring and drinking bachelorette who left marriages to the MC.
In another extreme case, a side character refused to die—and I wrote out his death too—became the main love interest, and changed the story arc for the previous love interest, eventually changing the ending of the book.
In my current book, I was thinking about building a love triangle, but it didn’t work out because Bryn and Matteo felt like they are too stuck on one another. So, I feel that I can use the alternative love interest as a leading man in a sequel.
I have a side paring for the next book that I am interested in exploring, and I will be curious to see which relationship for the main character will intrigue people who would read it, the Childhood Friend or the Dashing Celebrity.
One thing that I want to write at some point in time is a GL book. I finally found a setting that I am happy with for this couple, but all in good time...
I don't tend to write that many relationships that actually set sail, weirdly. Mostly it's unrequited crushes for some reason. (Maybe because I have limited relationship experience IRL?)
That said, I would be thrilled to see people 'ship my characters, haha. I've spent an embarrassing amount of time imagining which characters people would hypothetically pair up, and how such a relationship would work out. 
Oof is it bad that I don't ship any of my main characters together?? 
Sandra and Thomas would have been good together but maybe in a different life. In the current setting, Sandra's not emotionally available to Thomas and he places her on a pedestal - which isn't good for a relationship. (Although I still love seeing art of them together!)
Will and Elise are married, and they go really well together though! They have the calm, sweet dynamics of a mature couple. 
I would probably ship Valerie and Shawn actually! They're both outgoing and Valerie is the rock that grounds Shawn and sets him right, whereas Shawn is the better one with words and helps to rephrase Valerie's bitchiness.
Me too! It was done by @Rin_sugarawa ! 
I love seeing what ships my readers come up with even if I'm planning to totally sink them.
In Aoihito I made the main ship pretty obvious. In The Middle of Nowhere I pretty much made MC shippable with most of the cast just for fun. I have a canon ship planned for him, tho.
I mainly ship the two leads although it's a slow burn. I wish I had introduced her love interest a lot sooner though, he doesn't become relevant until ch 6. The lead is uptight and hard working while her love interest is chill and procrastinates often. The two end up learning from each other.
One thing I'm worried about is if I end up doing a terrible job writing their relationship to the point that readers feel that it'd made more sense for her to end up with someone else.
My Characters have changed alot over the years so their original romantic partners (and sometimes even sexualities) changed aswell
For example: Samo and Yaoya used to be straight up married and madly in love but Samo became more of a soft boi while Yaoya became a hard boiled egg with deep darkness uwu, now I ship Samo more with Maako and Junior meanwhile on Yaoya's side I ship her with Lula and Mikoto (sometimes even Gelatina 
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Maako and Mooka were meant to be a slow burn but then I realized "oh hey I hate this couple dynamic they got going" so I reworked them into a one sided hopeless crush (kinda like with Irwin and Mandy from The grim adventures of Billy & Mandy)
as for other ships- aaaaah I could talk forever but i'd be spoiling stuff and reveal too many biases