Edward Elric & Winry (Fullmetal Alchemist)

This week might be rather list heavy now that I look at my topics.  Anyway, the first piece of a marriage is getting the characters together and creating a bond.  I know this is more the dating and engagement part, but it has a strong influence over the finale.  So you really need to consider how the characters start before they take that big step.  In this way, you treat them like a real couple instead of figures in your mind.  This can really help in bringing more emotion and depth to the romance.  You’ll need that because a lot of readers have issues when a romantic plot is used outside of a romance novel.

1. Childhood Friends–  This is a classic and it can take many paths.  You can make it clear from the start how this is going to go or have them stumble into it later.  A downside is that male/female friendships in fiction are always assumed to lead into a romance, so you won’t surprise everyone.  A big positive here is that the future betrothed grow and evolve alongside each other from the beginning.  There’s a history that forms a solid foundation for future adventures.
2. Vision/Destiny Soulmate–  Typically a major quest for the main character, they are seeking a specific person.  You run into the accusation of removing free will from the characters, which is both true and odd.  Technically, a fictional character doesn’t have true free will, but you should make it appear that they make and pay for decisions.  So this scenario works of the idea that the searching lover made the decision to find their other half.  This doesn’t have the solid bond of history, but it can work with a connection of souls or even a past life twist.
3. Starting Married–  You don’t see this very often and I can only think of ‘The Incredibles’ again.  These characters start the story as married and continue through the highs and lows of adventure.  Maybe they have a long back story, but the present book has them already through their trials.  You get to skip the messy parts of dating and take a more casual take on the relationship.  Unfortunately, people may find them boring and they tend to work better as supporting cast.
4. Fellow Adventurers–  Meeting during an adventure, these characters grow close through shared experiences.  This has the highest risk of ‘Dead Lover Syndrome’ because both characters are in danger at all times.  Many times marriage is used to give them a happy ending, but this could also be how a #3 scenario appears.
5. Enemies Turned Spouses–  This requires the battle to be over something other than hate or even have a third party.  The ‘dark lover’ could be manipulated by the main villain and the quest could be to free her/him.  Again, this is commonly used to create a happy endgame or force the heroic side of the coin to kill the corrupted one.  Fiction authors are really mean to their romantic plot lines.
6. The Waiting Woman/Man–  It isn’t unheard of for the main character to have a spouse who stays behind.  This may not be exciting, but it is rather realistic.  Soldiers leave loved ones behind when they go to war, so it’s the safe for adventurers who feel they have to travel.  They might not appear beyond the beginning, but they are an occasional topic of conversation.  You can bring them in as ‘specters’ when the hero is struggling to find strength, so there are ways to give the stay-at-home character some influence.
7. Appeared Between Books–  This isn’t common and it’s a big risk because you hurl a new character into the mix.  Basically, have enough time to pass between adventures and one of the established heroes returns with a spouse.  They can be a stay-at-home or a fellow adventurer.  The positive here is that you can throw a new character into the mix and shake things up.  Readers will get the joy of meeting a new friend as long as it’s done correctly.  Unfortunately, it can easily come off as stretched since the courting part wasn’t viewed in any way.