Deadpool & Siryn (Marvel Comics)
Having romance in a fantasy story seems to be a kiss of death for some people. At least today since I remember most fantasy books I read in my youth had some type of romantic subplot. Is there anything you can do to ease the inclusion?
- Accept that some people will be upset as soon as the subplot is hinted at. There’s nothing you can do about this. Just remember that it’s your story and you know what you’re doing.
- Don’t worry about the sex. You can show it if you want, but people will jump to that conclusion on their own. Whether it be assuming two characters slept together or requesting that they do, many readers seem to gravitate toward this taboo topic. As the author, you decide how far things go in this arena. Keep your audience in mind, but you have to be careful. It’s very easy to underestimate or overestimate the reaction you’ll get.
- Try not to force relationships between characters. At least you need to sense a real spark between them. There are several reasons you may try to push a specific romance. Favorite characters, pressure from readers, living vicariously through characters, etc. Something to keep in mind is that not every spark is romantic. For example, there’s a connection between Luke Callindor and Nyx in my series. It’s a sibling one instead of a romantic one, so pushing for the latter would be a disaster even though it gets requested.
- Don’t over use love spells. These seem to show up in romantic storylines a lot. Either used to break up a couple or give them a boost. Having it turn up once or twice isn’t bad, but if you repeatedly have a love spell involved then it hinders the overall story and characters.
- Not every fantasy story needs a romantic plot line that includes incest or an arranged marriage.
- A fun thing about doing a romance between two adventurers is that you can use it beyond the mushy stuff. This is a connection that can be demonstrated by the two being in synch when facing enemies. It brings in the hope that there will be happy ending after the adventure is done. Of course, it’s up to the author to make this come true or dash it to the ground. Either way, this gives the characters more than the world to explore. It can also show their strength since they’re maintaining a relationship in the face of looming death.
- Villains can be in love too. We tend to think this emotion is exclusively good and those of evil nature are incapable of loving another human being. Yet many villains can find love with another villain, which evolves them. Readers may be ready for a betrayal to happen, but nothing says you have to go that route.
- Try not to have the romance overshadow the main story. If it does happen then find a way to shift back within a chapter at most. There’s nothing wrong with slipping in a scene or two that focuses on character relationships. Yet taking too much time away from the main plot can make a reader think you lost your concentration.
- One of the biggest ‘romance traditions’ in fantasy is the damsel in distress. The helpless woman who needs rescuing is rather out of date, but that doesn’t mean the character type doesn’t exist. I know people of both genders that could fall into this category. One thing that you can do is have such a character evolve to stand on his/her own feet. Another way to avoid this is to simply have the man and woman save each other from time to time. Remember that adventurers/heroes/whatever are in a partnership and that can include coming to the others rescue.
- Stick to your guns. As stated before, you will always have vocal readers that think romance shouldn’t be included in other genres. If you feel it’s the right way to go with your story then do it. After all, you know the endgame long before anybody else does.
Legends of Windemere 
Charles, I’m just starting to read Sci-fi and enjoy your informative blog posts. It’s all new, character’s names, settings, futuristic places & times in the world. This post makes sense. Sci-fi movies have “graphic” love scenes, so why not in books? Christine
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Interesting. I wonder if one medium gets away with ‘graphic’ stuff more often than the other. With fantasy, I would think the books can do more only because I think the genre is still rather fringe.
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Charles, more than likely. The books that make it to the big screen have already made it. So anything goes. People like high drama & romance! If not graphic scenes in books, at least a growing hint of attraction with some conflict, and maybe the first kiss! Christine
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They save the rest for the sequel. 😉
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I’ve really enjoyed these posts. I need to reiterate my invitation to the romance authors to give us a lesson on my own blog. I may have to reach out directly to some.
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Good idea. We really do need an insider’s opinion.
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Reblogged this on Jo Robinson.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Romance and fantasy…what could go wrong? Well read Charles Yallowitz’s advice and you won’t!
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Thanks for the reblog. 🙂
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I found this to be excellent advice for not only Fantasy but other genres as well. (maybe not Romance)
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Glad to be of help. You mean people don’t wedge romance into Romantic books? 😛
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Awesome post with great points. I like the flexibility as well as the caution. My fantasies tend to have a romantic element. My husband hates it (big red x’s across the page) but readers seem to tolerate it as long as it doesn’t bog down the action.
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I do the same in a way. Many of stories are adventures and quests with a focus on how the heroes evolve throughout the story. So I find that a romantic subplot really helps bring an added dimension to some of them. It makes them more human to me because they want more than the central goal. They want to live a normal life in some fashion.
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Romance is in the air. What can an author do? 😮
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I’d say hide in a cabin, but birds and bees are involved. They might be in the woods.
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😀 You’re a riot, Charles. 😀 😀 And, in good humor. Thanks.
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You are a wealth of informative and useful information. This came just as I am struggling with if and how much sex I should introduce into my next book. This helped so much!
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Glad to lend a hand. That’s a really tough question too. It always seems to come down to personal preference and the audience.
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This is an informative post. I don’t read fantasy all that much (but that genre is on my TBR list), but I have tried writing in that genre a bit. I never got very far because I had other novels to work on, but this is definitely a good post to look back to whenever that times comes.
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It’s a fun genre to visit. A good variety of stories and worlds. 🙂
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The most fantasy I’ve read is (I think) Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
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That seems to be the common ones. What about Narnia?
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I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in elementary school. I have the whole series, just have yet to read through it. Sad, I know.
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It’s funny how we seem to start with that one. I did the same thing. Bought the full series a while back and read it because I was tired of a friend pestering me. I have to admit that not every book was memorable, but definitely well-written.
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I read it because I had to for school and then way later in life I discovered it was a series.
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It’s a shock to find it isn’t even the first of the series, right?
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It is; especially since that was also the first one to be made into a movie.
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I know. Very confusing.
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Great post, Charles!! Love the tips!
It’s interesting that a romantic subplot can be so polarizing. But when I think about my reaction to some of the new 52 romantic pairings, I can see how people take sides. I totally agree that chemistry is a must. Perhaps that’s why some people balk at relationships–because they seem to come out of nowhere. I also agree that villains also can fall in love. My antagonist has a couple of women he’s dealing with. But this is such a small part of the story.
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I think they also want them to be clean. Messy ones seem to give a green light for some people to take sides or even declare the entire thing immature. As if real people don’t get into those kinds of situations.
I do agree that a relationship coming out of nowhere is terrible. It reeks of being forced. Yet, I’ve adopted the idea that I should probably look back a bit to see if it came out of nowhere or I merely wasn’t paying attention. Sometimes we fail to notice the signs of something that we aren’t interested in.
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If a relationship feels organic, that’s one thing. The pairings in your book seem organic. There is a relationship in my book that I didn’t see coming at first, that I wound up exploring.
When I saw he direct to DVD movie, Justice League: War, the Superman/Wonder Woman flirting seemed to come out of nowhere (in my opinion of course).
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That’s an odd pairing, but I think it stems from the change in the comics. I know there were a lot of people wanting to see the hookup happen even when I was collecting comics in the 90’s. The problem was always that Superman was a good guy and he had Lois Lane. Part of the desire was because people (boys, of course) thought Wonder Woman was the only one who could ‘keep up and survive’ Superman in the sack. At least that was the most common reasoning I heard. I was more into Spider-Man though.
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Reblogged this on The Way of the Storyteller:.
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Thanks for the reblog.
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“4.Don’t over use love spells. These seem to show up in romantic storylines a lot. Either used to break up a couple or give them a boost. Having it turn up once or twice isn’t bad, but if you repeatedly have a love spell involved then it hinders the overall story and characters.”
I’d argue pretty forcefully that writers not EVER use love spells. Because what do we call it when a person drugs another person and has sex with them against their will? We call it rape. If someone is hypnotized or otherwise mind-controlled, and then has sex while they can’t say no? We call that rape. So what should we call it when someone casts a spell to make someone else “love” them? We still call it rape.
I can’t tell you how angry I get when “love spells” are cast upon characters (usually women) to make them compliant. Then it’s treated later as a mere embarrassment, or as a running joke. But there’s nothing loving about this. It’s taking control from someone. Changing who they are. Forcing them into the mold imagined by another. It’s for the power and domination of the rapist, who sees nothing wrong with using someone’s body for their personal pleasure.
I repeat: don’t EVER use love spells.
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Great post, Charles! Will be reblogging this next week! Valuable information! 🙂
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Glad you liked it. It was fun to write too. 🙂
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