Topic of the Day: Did your OCs' relationship start with friendship or butterflies? : The romance/relationship writing thread (all romance, all the time) (but sfw tho.)

[Leyelle]

Any married couples in your stories?

In many of my series I have established couples (who aren't parents) as part of the main cast of characters, but surprisingly I didn't write these into either "Damsel in the Red Dress."

I mean, despite parents being very central to "Damsel in the Red Dress" both the main characters are children of divorces, so there aren't many couples written into the story at all for quite some time.

On the other hand, the primary antagonists are a couple and the male lead's parents are extremely central to the story. I think it's because of the way I grew up, but I always love writing families into my stories. Especially siblings, but even if the family is disfunctional, elements of family are in every story I've ever released. Even in my short story, literally the only characters in the story are one family, and the whole dynamic between the mother and father are expressed in only about 1500 words.

[Leyelle]

Your character's exes?

interestingly neither of my male leads in either of my series have ever dated anyone before, but both my female leads have. My female lead in "Damsel in the Red Dress," Alicia, had a pretty horrible ex, while my female lead Kimberly's ex was a fairly reasonable person.

I didn't go with the trope of my male lead being the reason why Alicia broke up with her boyfriend, but he did have an effect on the relationship, as Alicia being close with another guy was something her boyfriend was NOT okay with. Fortunately Alicia wasn't the type of girl to cut her friends off when she started dating someone.

I wonder how other people write their characters exes into the story?

[Leyelle]

This is so hard because beauty is subjective, and I find my character's pretty, but if i'm just talking about the world beauty standard:

Alicia is probably and 8, because she has a lot of scars, and those aren't considered attractive in most peoples' books.

Kattar: 10 out of 10. Except that he isn't that tall, so it would probably deduct him some points, depending on who you're talking to.

Jinwoo: 9. He's very attractive, and tall as well, but his odd mannerisms and way of talking would detract him charisma points in most people's books. As would walking around with a children's backpack like he always does.

Kimberly: sadly in the world's standard she probably wouldn't rank very high. a seven most likely, though imao, she's very pretty.

[Leyelle]

Hallie is an absolute ten by all beauty standards. she has blonde hair, blue eyes and is six feet tall.

Mad is very cute and pretty, but it's doubtful she'd rank higher than a six or seven because she's short, she has freckles, and red hair, she's also pretty skinny.

[Leyelle]

My character's first kiss scene is planned but not released yet. It's going to be very emotional lol

[ArtGremlin]

Same here ️ It’s like 72 (comic) pages away

[Leyelle]

oh, yours is going to be emotional too, or it's not released yet too?

[KevinReijnders]

I have the first kiss scene all written out! It's part of a big story beat crescendo, before things start taking a turn for the worst.

Problem being, it's part of Chapter 04, so y'all are going to have to wait 4 years or so before it's put to the drawn page 🥲

[Leyelle]

XD, alright, take your time, illustrating a series is no joke. I'm making my readers wait until May and I'm just writing novel chapters XD

[KevinReijnders]

Haha yeah, making a comic is the ultimate exercise in patience. Outmatched only by animation.

[Leyelle]

I believe you. But I'm not daunted yet. I intend to make comics myself when I can buy myself a tablet

[ArtGremlin]

Not released yet. Although, it is very emotional. Probably more for me than the characters lol. I’m just so happy for them.

[Leyelle]

lol, mine is going to be emotional for the characters, but probably for me too. I just got through writing the scene where they officially become a couple, and it had me emotional writing it

[ArtGremlin]

Writing/drawing the part where the guy proposes made my hands unreasonably sweaty I was probably feeling 2% of his anxiety.

[Leyelle]

xd, I've had to write so much mild panic on the part of my male lead, and he hasn't even proposed. he's also not even a nervous type generally, but this has been a rollercoaster for him

[Leyelle]

I've finally written it! now just to edit it, not kill my editor with cringe and schedule it! if all goes as planned it'll take place in July! (a long time to wait for the first kiss Ik. please hang on my readers lol)

[Leyelle]

Anne Shirley said its "so much more romantic to end with a funeral than a wedding."

And while I do have some series that end with tragic endings, it's generally not my go to for romance. maybe i'm just soft and want my characters to get to have a happy ending, but even after all the awful stuff I put them through, I usually want them to get to be happy together in the end, (especially my "Damsel in the Red Dress" leads, I have readers worried about that lol.)

What do you think?

[Leyelle]

Does anybody else have trouble picking the best place to put the first kiss? I feel like I have a lot of good places that it could go in "Damsel in the Red Dress" so deciding which one was a bit tricky. I think I worked it out well XD, but I can't help thinking of alternate versions where it could have happened in different scenes

[Vassia]

I've got the opposite promblem, I can't find a good place for the first kiss. I'm hoping it'll just happen at somepoint while I'm writing and the character will just decide themselves since I can't.

[sophialyncoleman]

SAME- my story isn’t romance centered but I have a slow burn in there and I cant decide for the life of me where in the series to put their first kiss. I made these characters too awkward.