Writing Romance

It's Valentine's Day, which means almost everyone on Avatar Wiki is completely free and has time to read this article! If that offends you, I direct you to.

Now, since it is the holiday celebrating love, it seemed fitting that the wiki's one and only fanon newsletter should at least make an attempt to analyze a very important genre of stories: romance.

Who could forget classics like, , or ? Aye, these stories made us laugh, cry, and learn how to love again. These were the nominees for "Outstanding Romance Fanon" in the Third Fanon Awards. These were the only awards in which the category was featured, as they did not return for the fourth cycle. Why is that? Do we simply not have enough romance fanons to hold a competitive vote, or are not enough worthy of being nominated? Sadly, the latter may be true. We've lost our way as a portal on writing in the romantic genre. We've forgotten how to make readers fee the same emotions our characters do. On this Valentine's Day, I challenge you to improve upon your skills, because whether your fanon is strictly Romance or not, it is an integral part of every good tale.

One thing that can sink your fanon love boat is an awkward dialogue. It's no different than in real life. An awkward conversation does not bode well for a relationship. Please, for all that is good, make your fanons a little less uncomfortable than sober, sixth-grade dances with the lights on and Mr. Finkelstein breathing down your neck.

It is important that a character employs a tone in his/her language that fits the correct gender. If the fair maiden your hero is pursuing speaks as if she were a man, your fanon goes from lovely Cinderella story to creepy and awkward, assuming your goal is not to create the first ever transvestite Disney Princess (it's 2014, Disney, when will we see real progress?)

To get the genders right in dialogue, stereotyping is required. Men are stubborn, they don't pay close attention to details, avoid sharing feelings unless very stressed or forced, and when they ask questions it's for specific information. Women will ask vague questions, pay very close attention to detail, be more sympathetic, and they will bubble over emotions. These are good checklists when making sure your gender-specific dialogue is accurate, especially if you're writing for the opposite gender. If a character breaks the mold, you should have another character note it. That variance in stereotypes can add a new element to your character and make him/her more unique, and, before you know it, you have differentiating qualities that can draw one character to another.

What makes two people fall in love? True love, I mean. If you want your readers to feel connected to your lovers, the storyline needs to be realistic. There is no such thing as true love at first sight. A love that makes a great story is based on so much more than looks, charm, and circumstance. Two people grow closer together through good times, trials, and travesties. , the author of, who I was lucky enough to interview, has mastered bringing two characters together through extreme conflict. Her characters have goals, something is at risk to achieve those goals, they take scary, sometimes unpredictable, steps towards those goals, and they don't succeed on the first try.

When a man and woman go from laughing until it hurts with each other to sharing a devastating pain so deep it almost destroys their relationships, lives, or dreams, and they end up surviving together and reuniting, an inseparable bond is formed. Your. Characters. Need. That.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder. If your characters are forced to be apart, and they tear themselves up thinking about each other, that's excellent. If one character is in peril and the other loses control of their emotions that's even better.

What is possibly the most important quality in the relationships of two fanonical lovers is connect-ability to the audience. I was able to ask Minnichi what she thought it was about her characters Yuhan and Riya that made them so connectable, and her response was on point:

"To be honest, I think characters we connect to are the ones that feel most like ourselves. Not in terms of personality, but the familiarity of their emotions. When I write about Yuhan and Riya, I try to make their feelings as close to our own as possible. So, even if you aren't experiencing the story directly like they are, the emotions are still the same real ones as your own. In a nutshell, I think a reader connection is simply depends on how real you can make it."

This spurred the question in my mind that it could help if the author was utilizing a personal relationship to inspire their storyline, to which she responded:

""The funny thing is, I have never experienced anything in my life that I could use as good inspiration for a romantic relationship, especially not one as strong as Yuhan's and Riya's. But that's another good trick I like using: you don't have to necessarily experience things yourself to understand them. Whether it's love or the trauma of losing a loved one, whatever I myself don't have personal memories about, I look to other people who have them instead. In preparation for some of the darkest chapters, I had actually read personal accounts of how people felt the moment they experienced the kind of traumas that I would have to write about. So, the things I do have experience for, I'll draw inspiration from - but I'll go seek out other peoples' experiences if anything's missing."

Minnichi also gave me insight on the biggest challenges she faces while writing romance.

"My greatest challenge is writing about two lovers that aren't anywhere near each other, both physically and mentally - and yet you have to prove that they're in love. Subconscious feelings! It's hardest because the couple can't rely on each other directly during these moments to strengthen their feelings. So the challenge is basically figuring out to express those feelings to readers through strictly subtle signs and only being able to work with the "relationship memories" of the previous chapters."

Of course, everything I've told you to do is much easier said than done. The only other thing I can advise you to do is keep at it, and follow your arrow wherever it points.