No romance in a story?

[esquarecomics]

I mean, romance may just be part of the culture of webtoons. Like a lot of mediums and platforms have similar things like that. For example, comic books are oversaturated with superheroes, YouTube was oversaturated with prank videos at one point, etc. I personally don't have romance in my upcoming story for the same reason you don't, I just don't think its necessary to the plot/story.

[AutumnAdmiral]

I think romance is a pretty effective and reliable way to get people to care about a story, generally speaking. Personally, I find stories where it's the only focus, or the focus is on inane relationship drama, to be kind of harder to get into because there's less stakes or other things going on to make me care about it. Two people just living in some apartment and being domestic is boring for me as a reader, but two people, say, trying to be in love while there's horrible events like war or spooky stuff going on around them? That makes me care.

In my own work, romance isn't a focus right now but I have one huge ship planned (and potentially a couple other less important ones) and it does end up becoming critically important to the plot and the themes of the story. I just hope that by the time I get there, I have readers that enjoy that sort of slow burn, lol.

[TroyVSTheWorld]

Certain people like comics that have a lot of love put into them.
Romance is kind of an easy way to emphasize that aspect and push it to the front. Y'know, done right, of course. If it's specifically a novel/comic/show/movie in the Romance genre it makes sense, but a little too often I feel romantic subplots are forced onto the viewer.

I suppose too much of romance is about figuring it out, and I'd prefer to see more romance between people who HAVE figured it out, y'know? But that's boring to write/read I guess, so. Eh.

[Lensing]

That´s an interesting topic.

When I was a teenager in the 1980s I didn´t know one person who would have read a romance comic.
For us boys it would have been girl stuff we are not interested in and I also didn´t know of any romance comics.

I was pretty active in the biggest how to draw comics group on facebook and there was never anyone who uploaded
anything romantic, it was mostly action, violence, horror, scifi, fantasy and superheroes.

I think that´s different in webcomics and I think that´s great because it brings more variety to the comic culture.
Romance has all the potential to make great and exciting stories.
Stories which are only based on romance are a love or hate thing in my opinion, I read from a lot of writers & artists
that they would work in all genres except romance. There was just one today who wrote "everything except romance
or porn"

[wispysing]

Interesting topic! I find it a little funny though, because "to romance or not to romance" was the hardest thing to decide on when I was writing my draft.

Personally, I do enjoy romance and I think it can also be used as a medium to explore deeper layers of a character. But it really depends if it fits naturally with the rest of the narrative or it'll end up feeling shoehorned in.

As for my own comic, I did intend for it to feature only platonic relationships, but a little romance ended up blooming anyway. It's minuscule and far from the main focus of my comic though, and I intend to keep it that way.

[NickRowler]

I am not really a fan of romance when it's the main focus, I prefer when it's a subplot. I know some people are 100% anti-romance, but I don't mind it. I think I prefer when it is set up like them being super close friends instead of the MC obsessing over the perfect guy/girl.

With stories with no romance, sometimes readers will add romance subtext even if that was never established. I have seen some creators get very annoyed or upset but this but other who don't care. For me, I really don't care if people want to ship my characters, as long as they are not family members or adult/child.

I have several short comics with no romance. I know back when Smackjeeves was a things, they used to recommend similar comics. I had one comic about two brothers and I did get annoyed that it got clumped in the BL group. That was the only series where I had to put a "no romance" disclaimer on.

[JaveCraze]

My work has a little romance. However, the main characters are never involved in it, and it's just between two side characters. Also, even when they're together most of the time it isn't the focus. Why is this? ...I... don't watch a lot of romance, and I don't think it would be in tone with my main character(s).

[MickC]

I'm mostly interested of works that makes sense through the lore/story that does/doesn't have romance. There was like a show on Disney (Star vs. the Forces of Evil) that mostly focus on romance than the lore and I was like more invested to the lore itself than the romance stuff (ahem Star x Marco). I really prefer works that invest more on the story like The Owl House or Gravity Falls (TOH has romance and not sure about GF).

Overall, not all characters (if not main) have to be end up in a romantic relationship. One of the examples is Finn from Adventure Time.

(P.S.: Might apologize if I miss the point for the whole thing)

[sushy00]

I never make comics with romance actually, it has been something I have been considering. Many people seem to like it.

[UrMom]

Pfff I'm in a similar boat. My comic explores relationships, but not of the romantic variety. While it's not horror (Although some would probably argue it has horror elements.), psychological drama is a pretty out there niche. There's a portion of readers who will be very disappointed when the story ends with no make-out scenes or love confessions, that's just not what I want, and incorporating it would be extremely unhealthy. Personally romance just isn't my thing as a creator, I like hard stuff, and surrealism, and psychology, and the macabre, and metaphoric concepts that explore the human condition.

When it comes to consuming romance I'm fine with it, I'll read it as a good "turn your brain off" thing since it's such a linear genre. Though I crave a good platonic, preferably horrific, character study... or, just, anything that doesn't have romance. Despite consuming it I'm very burnt out on the genre invading pretty much everything.

[Teira]

Stories with no romance...I honestly prefer those more. A romantic subplot is ok, but a story with full on romance? No thanks, give me some horror or scifi anyway. My current comic happens to be just that, horror and scifi.

[Lady_T_Musings]

I just love LOVE and it don't gotta be the romantic kind for me to love the story bc love comes in many forms and I'm here for the exploration of character dynamics in stories. I also enjoy stories where folks just tell the story they want and do it well. If romance is in it so be it, but if it doesn't come up, then that's totally legit too. Looking at you oh so many shonen-type stories that toss romance in just because and forget about doing anything with the romantic interest as a character so they are just there being limp :V

[Nabel-Mabel]

Me not being a fan of romance stories, i feel like i sometimes don't belong in here, but there is no other place to post our works freely like this, this platform is very helpful. So i understand the sentiment.

We're kinda on the same boat, even though there is a little bit of romance in my manga, it's reeeeaally not the main focus at all, and it's more about the action and goofiness of it all.

Read THE GLADIATORS | Tapas Web Comics

[powerplantanimations]

I have no idea how the hell romance got in my story. I was eventually going to throw it out but I guess I fell in love with how characters interacted a little too much. Whoops....

Nancy and D were never going to be a thing but it kicked off when I needed a logical explanation for why D's been following Naota around. "That Nancy girl told me"

And theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen:

I'm 101% sure this was a throwaway panel, but it turned into D's motivation for being anime at the dodgeball arc.

Best decision ever. c:

As for Naota, I was shocked that I ended up giving him a relationship. Stay tuned for that one.

Read That Stick Figure Isekai | Tapas Web Comics

[LunarScyphozoa]

I really wish romance wasn’t absolutely everywhere. Like in stories about that or stories where a romantic subplot is a very important part of it then yeah of course it’s fine it’s the plot, but it seems to be seen as almost mandatory in everything, particularly webcomics.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Do you have a work with no romance and why?

That's such a weird question to me...it's like asking "do you have a work with no murders and why?" Like...it just so happens that the story did not need any. ^^;;; What other answer can I give...?

Maybe I just don't understand other people's thought processes when it comes to writing romance (I think on this forum the general sentiment is largely against it, so I haven't had much luck) but to me romance is a story element like any other.
Sometimes I want intrigue or horror or violence or humor, or romance. And sometimes I don't. It depends on what I'm writing. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I guess it's a pertinent question because of how popular romance is and has always been, but I...don't care? ^^; I don't write to become popular OR to specifically avoid what is popular. I write what I like. No matter what goal I start out with, I always end up writing what appeals to me.

Any thoughts on stories with no romance?

...It's very hard to find a good one. ^^;

There are only a few series I've seen where romance is not a factor at all...and sadly, that usually means that the important relationships that ARE in the story end up bland, lifeless, and unexplored. =/
I said once that certain writers "think platonic relationships write themselves", and as much as I hate it it's very true.

Apparently you can just have characters stand next to each other and say "friends" a lot and that's it...don't bother to write in moments where they think about each other's wants and needs or learn about each other or grow together or anything...wouldn't want to imply that non-romantic relationships can have depth or impact or anything...

Someone on Tumblr once wrote a post about this problem in The Bad Batch, and I was kinda mad at them at the time, but in hindsight, they had a point. ^^; In a story where the inherent humanity of clones is one of the larger themes, the glaring absence of 'camaraderie' and familiarity in the main group is hard to unsee once you notice it.
The brothers trust each other and know each other's skills...but that's pretty much it. Their bond is apparently not that much deeper than one you might have with your favorite weapon, or vehicle...even when one member is tragically ripped away from the group, all we get is brief mentions of "urgh, that traitor betrayed us" and nothing else. You don't even get the sense that there's attack formations or maneuvers they can't use anymore without him...it's like they don't really care that he's gone in any way that matters.

EXCEPT for Omega (who doesn't actually know him...), but I'm not gonna get into that. ^^; The point is, I just wish there was a better selection of non-romantic stories, especially among those geared towards adults.

[Enthriex]

I agree with you whole heartedly! And I hate when people pressure me to include that! I'm like heck no if the character in the story doesn't let me know they like the other character then that's not happening XD

And you'd ask 'who would force you to?' Well, the story I'm doing focuses on the psyche of the main protagonists, however, I made fancharacters belonging on a parallel universe... The series I'm basing my comic on has parallel selves of the main heroines, so... People were pressuring me to pair my guys with the mirror girls XD and their argument is like reds with reds, blues with blues and greens with greens.

When it occurred to me to portray one of my mirror guys as liking other guys (he has complicated feelings thus why I can't say gay, he is basically afraid of intimacy) people started to comment on me ruining my characters and stuff XD

And another girl I used to talk to wanted me to pair the "reds" although I told her they dislike each other XD and like she was also interested on knowing how many times they have intercourse when being adults, and I was like dude who cares I mean they're children right now wtf.

Soo the text above was to explain my distaste with the subject being forced in this particular scenario XD I want people to love them for who they are not for 'who they end up with', so I feel you, I like reading non romantic stories too ú_ù

My current comic has absolutely no focus on romance, I like exploring the relationships with one another (siblings) and describing their feelings, though I don't know if romance will happen later on, it wouldn't be a main focus anyway.

Also, there's bisexuals, asexuals and complicated feelings going on. I'm more interested in portraying the asexual side since very few stories do, so I really rather just describe how each of them see the world and encourage people to empathize with them BD

So yesss, I would never force it because of shipping, if anything, it's super repelling to me xD If something happens someday it'll be because it felt natural uvu

[JaveCraze]

Exactly! I want more platonic relationships to make me think! Two friends! A father and a son!
Almost everywhere, you can see a ton of these, but somehow on sites like these where 'romance' is the focus.. people seem to shy away from making in depth platonic ones.. argh..
I will do my part and try my best, though.

[ghostmaya]

It really depends on topic~ What's more important to the story is the characters that people can be empathize or relate with~
also there's a lot of definition of romance~

[bulgariansumo]

I feel kind of odd having stories with mainly LGBT+ casts, but having little to no romance. Someone on another thread mentioned feeling like they'd be wasting their audience's time by tagging their own story as LGBT+ when there's no romance, and that's something I struggle with too sometimes. Especially when it's not the main focus of my stories.

On the other hand, I can't exactly say that characters being LGBT+ isn't important in the stories. It comes up. There's ways it affects the characters beyond who they may or may not be interested in dating. It can change a lot about how someone is viewed by others. It can cause someone to have a different point of view on dynamics that are often taken for granted. I think that's something worth exploring.

I don't hate romance all the time. There's a lot more that can be explored in the realm of romantic relationships than what's been allowed in the past, and I'm here for there being more LGBT+ romances in media and in fan circles. However, it's a little tiring that conversations around character dynamics are either done through a romantic lens or largely ignored. I can't blame anyone for having fun with their ships. It's just hard not to feel alone in wanting to talk about something else. Though it could just be the kinds of media I consume.

My biggest fear in gaining an audience is them focusing more on the potential romances over all the other character dynamics I've worked so hard to write.

This comment got away from me LOLOLOL.