Romances · 9:18pm Jun 4th, 2012
Check out Wanderer D's blog post for all tags. This is just my contribution and the whole thing is presented there.
Permalink: http://pastebin.com/d6N7H3Eh
When writing a romance, the main points to keep in mind are pacing, empathy, conflict, and payoff.
Conflict is important for nearly every story and romances are no exception. There is a term I started using to describe shipfics that contain little to no conflict: February Fiction. A typical FebFic starts with one character reflecting on their love for another. Then they meet that character in an unexpected place to time. Something happens--usually it's a random event; seldom is it character driven--and that character admits their love, which is always returned immediately. These tend to be very short, usually a single scene. While these stories can be fun, they are ultimately forgettable. The level of conflict is so low that the payoff, the sense of relief and/or satisfaction the reader experiences, is nearly non-existent. The only dramatic tension in the story is typically the PoV's worry about whether or not the object of their attraction returns their feelings. Once those feelings are out in the open, they are returned without issue. This creates a very low sense of "worth" to those feelings. Value isn't given to them, because they came so easily. On the other hoof, a fic where the character has to battle demons, inner or literal, and push themselves right to the very limit of their endurance, and then beyond, for the sake of their love, has a lot more conflict. They went through more to win their love and so it has a far higher value.
Another thing that is very important to a number of readers is the personal payoff they get from completing the story. If the end of the romance doesn't make people want to smile like idiots or hug random objects, you're probably doing something wrong. A personal sense of fulfillment is very important to any work, but in something where the main story is all emotional development, the lack of a daw-inducing ending can kill a story regardless of how well written the rest was. While different people feel differently about how long an epilogue should be, you need something after the affirmation of love to help prod reader from "I am ok with this" to "Oh my gosh, I want to hug this so much." Typically this part of a fic is dedicated to showing what the characters have achieved. It's time to be cute and sappy. Depending on how low-key the ship was, it can be as simple as a kiss or other sign of trust, all the way up to and including marriage and/or sex.
Of course, the amount of struggle the characters go through is moot if the reader can't empathize with them. Your reader need to connect with your character before they care whether Rainbow Dash ends up snogging Fluttershy. This is usually done by playing up and showing emotions. Without getting into "show, don't tell", all I can really say is that having realistic emotions that seem genuine, in character, and justified is extremely important. If you rewrite Rainbow Dash to be a super sensitive, emotionally fragile, introspective parody of herself, people are not going to care. If she goes from "not interested" to spouting poetic nonsense about true love without some sort of reasons, people will not care. If she says "I love you" but ignores the other character and/or treats them like "just a friend", the "love" seems fake, and people will not care. If your reader stops caring about the characters, the fic is over.
Pacing is a thing a lot of shipfics fail to get right. Canonically, none of our main characters are romantically interested in each other. As a shipper, you have two options: One, develop that interest (or an alternative reason for shippy-shenanigans); Or two, start past that and attempt to show why the character is already interested in the other. If you can make it seem real and integrated into their life, people will accept it. But developing that sense of realism requires time. If you're going down the fall-in-love route, you must show us their love. Just saying they love each other, or showing us one scene of them being lovey-dovey, isn't enough. We need to see them doing normal-ish things and being in love. The same goes for starting from already-in-love. There needs to be events that allow you to showcase their feelings. It can be during a date, it can be during a formal dance, or a racing across Equestria. The main thing is, they have to act like they're in love, not just say it.
By forcing characters to overcome barriers to realize their love, you can give emotional weight and a sense of value to it. The reader will feel elated as the characters "win" love instead of being handed it. If the reader is able to feel what the characters feel, then when they win, the reader does too. Finally, if events and key emotional points are spread out of a realistic timeline, the reader is more easily able to buy that two ponies want to do more than hug. There are millions of tiny little points, but these are the three big ones I think apply to almost every shipfic/romance.
Written by the one and only kits.
You really need a seal-of-approval or something.
And of course your fic is the exemplary romance
For some reason, reading things like this always seem to increase the barrier-to-entry into writing for me
I'm not a great writer, probably not even good, but I wish I could be.... and then someone I respect as a writer comes along and explains how it should be done...
I know it's supposed to help, and I hope it does help people... for me though I just get the "Oh great, I'm never going to be good enough for this" feel
154683
The key is not to go "I must do this." The key is to strive to do it—to keep it in mind. There is nothing wrong with February Fiction and it's a great way to practice writing the climactic emotional scene of a ship. Just don't be surprised if only people who are deep into that pairing buy it.
154679
Thanks.
154670
My seal of approval is probably nsfw
154699
Amen.
154699
The problem isn't so much that I have no idea on the emotional conflict, in fact if it works out the way I'd like it to it probably has a little too much.
The problem is that it always feels wrong.... I don't even know how to put that in a sentence which will explain what I'm trying to convey
154683 Same here. Now I just lost confidence in my story and writing abilities.
Practice, practice, practice. I need better ideas for stories.
154716
If you want ideas I've got plenty... just not the writing skills to go with 'em
154716
154710
Ask Cloudy how confident I was about List. I didn't lie in my epilogue, I really thought people would "meh" on it because it wasn't like other TwiDash fics.
154719 Well, thanks for that offer but no thanks. To me that just seems like I'd be stealing someone else's work.
154722 And how were other Twidash fics? I'm currently working on one now.
154730
Very few TwiDash fics start from canonical Twi or Dash and attempt to have them do the whole "falling in love" bit. It can make for a fun romp, but it's less meaningful if I have to just accept it. This isn't unique to TwiDash, it's a common issue in ships.
154762 I see. That's sounds pretty much exactly like what I'm writing; a one-shot. Now I feel bad. :(
154771
Again, it can be a fun romp. But most one shots are forgotten within a week or two. Sunny Skies is an exception.
154780 So, I'd have to stretch out a shipping story for more emotional effect on the part of the readers? Like your "Twilight's List?"
154789
Don't "stretch" out a story. That gets... bad. It feels forced.
EMotional impact is always hard to judge. Again, overcoming conflict is what gives people (me at least) a sense of satisfaction. If you're planing on writing a single scene of Twilight confessing to Dash, or vice versa, you can't make a lot of conflict. I guess you could go all Party Hasn't Ended on it and have the love NOT returned and then go on an adventure to explain the issue and then overcome it.
154803 Yea, pretty much the only conflict is the cliche "Will she love me back" story. The only thing that modifies it in my story is a very brief description of Twilight's background and of Equestrian society (which has also already been used a ton if I'm not mistaken).
Wow. This blog just made me realize how un-original my fic is. I really gotta get more practice at just thinking.
My only question is where's the fav button?
Also, February Fiction sounds like what I would just typically call a Fluff Fic. That is, it's all romantic filler and no real substance.
154820
Cliche doesn't mean bad, fyi.
154825
Yeah, but we see a LOT of them around valentines day.
kits has spoken.
Where is the +1 button for this?
You really hit an important nail on the head here. Thinking back to the ship stories that I really remembered most, "life and limb in danger" seemed to be a common theme among those.
mfw wanderer didn't pick me to write [random] oh wait haha I'm not narcissistic
Anyway, it was very interesting seeing your thoughts about writing shipping. I think you were more than qualified to write a blogette on the subject. Conzakulations~
154699 Me after seeing your "seal": a.deviantart.net/avatars/p/e/pedobearfapplz.gif
154974 dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Derpy_Hooves.png
154974
Arg, you'd break the fandom.
154967
It's not all life and limb either. Conflict can be as simple as a desire to not be embarrassed in front of your friends/idols. In the case of List, Twilight is the conflict. Her own personality and actions are what nearly bring everything to ruin.
Flying High, Falling Hard by soundslikeponies=BEST TWIDASH EVER READ
(only because i havent read twilights list yet)
I'm gonna write a twidash fic eventually, after I'm done with my FireFlash trilogy.
155332 I'll be watching for that.
I hope you keep making these. I find them rather stimulating.
I'm burnt out tonight. I have nothing better to say than that.
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I'll try. I'll have to be inspired for topics.
154974
We can't let you write Journals, Arg. There's no way to put them in the Featured Box.