Writing Romance: Will They, Won't They?
A trick to build dramatic tension leading up to a relationship is the “Will They, Won’t They” approach. This is the part in every Hallmark romance movie ever where the writers try to convince us that maybe the main characters won’t get together (spoiler: they do). There are good ways to do this, but if it’s done poorly, it can lose members of your audience to cynicism. As with the previous post on writing romance, I’m going to focus on the approaches I used in Girl in Red.
The wrong way is for the main character to constantly tell us (or his/her friends) reasons not to be with the obvious love interest. “I’m focused on work”, “It’s not good for so-and-so”, or “Maybe it’ll fail” are all common excuses. If we see in the beginning that they’re pulling all-nighters at work, only ever talk to the security guards or janitors, or see them mess up yet another relationship, that could work. But if they say “I’m focused on work” while out at a bar with friends, it’s a lot harder to believe them.
I did this unintentionally with Sally-Anne Perks and Ron Weasley in Crimson Caster (year seven). Ron was convinced that he wasn’t good enough for Sally-Anne, while Sally-Anne was still getting over the death of Draco in Villain in Vermilion and wondering if people simply shouldn’t be around her. This wasn’t the only problem with that relationship, but I overdid the “Will They, Won’t They” despite it being obvious that it was heading that way.
Of course, there are valid reasons for them not to be together. The important part is to not only have the character point it out, but to show that it’s a big problem. Romeo and Juliet is a good example of this. The first few scenes establish the family feud between the Capulet and Montague families, making it that much harder for Romeo and Juliet to be together.
In Girl in Red, after almost two books of build up, Sally-Anne and Draco got together in Villain in Vermilion. The “Will They, Won’t They” came from Draco’s family. Draco knew if his family ever found out about his feelings for Sally-Anne, the consequences would be dire for both of them. Sally-Anne was willing to help him get through that, until she learned he’d joined the Death Eaters, building on the feelings of betrayal she’d had the previous year with Umbridge.
As with most approaches in writing, it boils down to “show, don’t tell”. That comes up a lot in writing, and it’s one of the most valuable rules there is. Take the example earlier of the main character in a bar. The character is telling me that he/she is focused on work, but the writers are showing me that the character isn’t. That’s only scratching the surface, but it’s the biggest takeaway here.
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