Writing Romance: Bad boys or Prince Charmings? Which do you prefer and/or write (but keep it sfw)

[Leyelle]

Gotta be frank, I usually prefer prince charming, at least to a certain extent. I want people who WANT to do the right thing, even if they don't always succeed, and am not really a fan of the bad boy trope, where the dudes are just too impulsive or disrespectful.

That being said, I never make my characters perfect, because I find that annoying. They usually (okay basically always) have a lot of flaws and insecurities, but in general, they lean more toward kind rather than kuudere (or actually mean) because I honestly don't really get why someone would WANT to date someone like that.

Maybe some people like writing the redemption arch thing tho, where they start bad but come around, I could get that so long as the girl has enough self-respect not to like him while he's being a jerk. (I do actually have one (currently only plotted) novel like this.)

But for my finished novel, I made Kattar a 'good guy,' the sort who is fun to be around and will try his best to cheer you up. But he has a complex: it's called a prince charming complex.

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[Zhengo]

Not a big romance buff, and the two choices given aren't really to my interest, but if I had to choose, I would probably go with Prince Charming, because I feel like these days I react so negatively to "bad boy" love interests because of how badly done they are xD it's usually some variation of "I can fix him" and kinda abusive?

[lignorice]

Is this more likely good boy vs bad boy? I don't really have prince charming in my stories, but if the context is good vs bad, it'd be good boys. I do get the charm of bad boys, but I don't really like them irl.

Edit: just remembered I have one lol. But other than appearance, he is not that charming and he is not a prince as well.

[Leyelle]

yes, who wants the bully/jerk thing, it's kinda toxic

[Leyelle]

prince charming means "good boy" yes, so it's good boy vs. bad boy

[kyupol]

Non-chads. Bad boy or prince charming either way

[joannekwan]

ooh I do like taking a critical lens to "nice guy v bad boy" set-ups!

I was always irked by how reductive some of these characterizations can be.
A lot of the time the "nice guy" is so nice and milquetoast that he becomes boring and the audience is swayed toward the "bad boy" because he offers just a bit of flavor.
But then the "bad boy" often becomes toxic by being overly controlling, manipulative, or just mean and disrespectful.

With my novel, I had fun writing 3 shades of "bad boys" as the love interests for my protagonist. The one that's closest to being the "nice guy" still has a bit of an edge to him with a history of womanizing and commitment issues.
Also I combat the problem of falling into a pit of toxicity with them all by adjusting the levels of "bad behavior" and giving my protagonist lots of say in the matter with how she deals with each guy.
Additionally, the guys learn and grow from their experience to be less problematic.

[Leyelle]

It sounds like you and I have a similar view on the tropes then. My male lead definitely leans more toward 'nice guy.' So rather than a bad guy who I gave nice traits and moderated the 'bad' levels of, is was a nice guy, who I gave bad habits and personality traits: being a bit of a brat because he's used to having his own way, and a little manipulative is some ways. A also gave him what I call a "Prince Charming" complex: the desire to help and save others while being unwilling to be honest with your own emotions to the point where you'll even hurt your 'damsel/princes' just to avoid her finding out.

What is the name of your novel btw?

[Stargazer31]

I like nice guys- as in guys who are nice because they care, not because they want to hook up- more than some bad boy arsehole. Yeah, you could say nice boys are boring, but they're stable and consistent.

[Leyelle]

I agree for real life and for stories. That's actually a relevant plot point to the story, as the male lead she has a crush on has been her best friend for 15 years, and they've never dated. He chauffeured her places until she learned to drive, came looking for her when she was dangerously depressed xyz...but the guy she ended up dating was a pretty jerk who made her miserable. And there's another "nice guy" she meets at her new job.

This actually one of those instances where I write my ideals into stories, because Kattar is and has bee loyal and consistent, even though you might consider it boring because he it isn't a whirlwind romance, and he's not even slightly impulsive.

[joannekwan]

My novel is Secunda~

[Leyelle]

Is that the same one with the "almost beauty and actual beast" theme?

[joannekwan]

It is!

[Leyelle]

So are the other male leads fantasy/fairy tale themed as well?

[KevinReijnders]

Like with your female lead topic, I don't think I do either. Though in this case I can't imagine being closer to one end of the spectrum or the other. Bad boys are not intersting to me, as others have said before, that tends to lean more towards the toxic, depending on how they are portrayed. A bad boy in my mind could work if he appears like a bad boy, but has a heart of gold towrds the person he's interested in. Prince Charming just seems utterly boring to me. The golden boy who does everything to woo a lady, ugh. To me feels like they lack personality.

So yeah, I don't think I'd do either of these types, I see myself more likely writing a more natural person instead of trying to aim for a type. I think, when writing a romantic (sub)plot I'm more concerned with having the romantic leads to have good chemistry and a functioning friendship.

[joannekwan]

Not really. The setting is a low-fantasy version of our own world. So while magic and monsters do exist, the majority of the populace and places are equivalents to real world history.

This historical fantasy is set around 1905, so circling back to the "bad boy" discussion, men in that era definitely had more power over women which makes writing the bad boys a little easier.

Aside from the monster, the other two love interests are a musician and a hunter. The hunter, characteristically of the time, has an "alpha" personality, but I curb the toxicity by making him not particularly interested in the protagonist and have him focused on his quarry instead.
The musician, the womanizer, I'd say is the easiest to translate to a modern lens. He's kind of like a rock star (even if he's not that famous) living that carefree indulgent lifestyle. He's nice, but he doesn't always make the best choices.

[Leyelle]

Same about the chemistry and functioning friendship. Though when I wrote my 'prince charming' idea, I didn't really mean doing anything to woo the leading lady, but more about being respectful and chivalrous rather than "bad and impulsive."

Definitely either one can be overkill, and my goal is to write more realistic characters in everything that feel like real people, which is what makes them hard to categorize. Kattar for instance, would do virtually anything to keep Alicia SAFE, but not to keep her happy, since he absolutely refused (for 15 whole years) to tell her that she was beautiful.

[LostKelp]

Homies why create a false dichotomy? Mayhaps we prefer love interests who don't immediately slot into neat tropes and cliches. Hot boys who are sometimes good and sometimes bad. They aren't motorbike riding cussing stalking possessive assholes but they aren't goody toe shoes who can sweep you of your feet.

The prince charming trope feels a little over idealized and generally don't make for interesting romances because the boy himself is perfect so all the problems must come from sort of contrived outside circumstances or miscommunication. Which wears you down a little.

The bad boy trope is very very overused, and it's problems have been dissected many many times. But mostly it's just dull.

Most of the conflict and intrigue of a romance is the two leads learning about each other and restructuring the rest of their lives to fit together. The problem with the bad boy/prince charming story is that we already know their shtick, bad boy has trauma, bad boy needs fixing with magical powers of being in a relationship, bad boy is needy and an asshole. Prince charming is nice, and charming and maybe Ritch, external circumstances may prevent prince charming and main character from snogging on a 24/7 basis.

It's tired, I'm sleeping. Maybe a boy can be more than he first appears? Have hobbies and jobs and family and a life outside these cliches. Those elements influence who he is and how the relationship progresses.

Anyway I'd much prefer to boink a chaotic neutral clown.

[Leyelle]

That's actually kind of the point of the thread. Those two tropes are polar opposites, and I want to know where people's characters fall in between. Definitely a perfect or an entirely bad lead would be boring, that's why I never write them. It's more about adding to these characters to have depth beyond the cliche, or to have personalities and character traits that deviate from the trope, which is almost literally the whole idea behind "Damsel in the Red Dress."

[stiatent]

Yea true, if they completely fawless in stories it can get annoying. Feels more realistic with the 'perfectly seeming prince charming' having a flaws as you get to know them more.
I like both 'prince charming' and 'redeemable badboys' in other media. However similar to you, I dont like the "badboy types" that just abusive, creepy and a total jerk expecially to the significant other who just accepts it, that just feels abuse victim-ey and a story like that may lack any narrative growth, unless maybe they were side characters and the protag was trying to convince the 'abused individual' to see further than the 'abusive lover'.

Usually when writing enjoy making characters that may have a bit of both charming and badboy, or maybe slight leaning to to one of the sides " in their 1st impression". I prefer thinking they have layers like real people eg. many people in your life would have the sweet caring side in their usual setting but may also have a rebellious 'badboy' side when needing to get a task done or a point across. I imagined Evan from Sickboy we build familiarity of him as the caring brother to his little brother Owen 1st and overtime you see a buildup of his 'mischevious', recklessness and preferance to play by his own rules (stuff attributed to badboys).