Romance in Urban Fantasy

[Silver-Midnight]

I didn't really see a thread on this.

But can you already have your characters either married or dating their "love interest" when the book starts. Like that phase from "love interest" to "boyfriend/husband" is kind of skipped, and the characters are already together. I see plenty of books where the characters are dating/married to their love interest; I even see this in Mystery/Romantic Suspense/etc. However, usually in the first book or the first few books, they aren't together. They usually transition to that somehow. So, would it be bad to have them already together? Maybe even have them as a "team" to some degree or another?

Thanks.

 

[astrodragon]

I see no reason why not - in fact I find it far more 'beliveable' than many of the love/romances you see.

Obviously the interactions are different, and you can also use the idea of a husband and wife either as partners in what they do, or having different jobs (which may or may not overlap), or even are opposed (he's a vampire hunter, she runs shelters for vampires trying to kick the blood habit...) which they may or may not keep secret from each other.

 

[Silver-Midnight]

Thanks.

 

[WritingDemons]

K.A. Stewart's Jesse James Dawson books feature an MC and his wife. And they have a kid, so yes, it's possible.

I think the main reason most people don't start out that way is for reasons of conflict. There's more conflict in two characters getting together, working through their flaws as people and as a couple, arguing, breaking up, getting back together and maybe finding some version of happily ever after.

It's all a matter of taste and the story you're trying to tell, I think.

 

[Yāoguài]

I'd actually love to see a UF series that was less Philip Marlowe and more Nick & Nora Charles.

 

[Rhoda Nightingale]

K.A. Stewart's Jesse James Dawson books feature an MC and his wife. And they have a kid, so yes, it's possible.

That's the first example I thought of too. I was also quite relieved to have found an urban fantasy series without a romance subplot for a change.

So yes, it can be done. And please, give Rhoda more of that, because she's so very tired of romance sneaking its slippery way into every other genre ever.

 

[CAMueller]

I immediately thought of Jesse Petersen's Married with Zombies. Couple is already married when the book starts, though on brink of divorce, then the zombie apocalypse begins.

 

[Phaeal]

I'm all for early-stage-romance-free urban fantasy. In fact, I'm good with romance-free urban fantasy, or epic fantasy, or mystery, or western, or whatever. Too many stories have been ruined by shoehorning in the romance, especially the romantic triangle featuring good-boy/bad-boy at the base angles -- once these elements are introduced, the fantasy and adventure aspects of the book often suffer.

 

[Silver-Midnight]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I know that I can kind do what I with it but I still would've felt a little bit better asking before I put any more thought into the idea of using a married couple/dating couple as far as romantic parts goes.

 

[reiver33]

I have a MC who is a police officer investigating crimes with occult overtones. He's saddled with an 'infernal liasion officer' - a succubus who has taken the form of his dead wife. Their relationship is a bit fraught.

 

[JRVogt]

I've actually had fun with this sort of approach to a romance in my latest story, except I took it a bit further than just having the couple already together. Basically, human guy and inhuman female who became very close. Except quite a few decades have gone by since then and, in the story's present, he's now practically in a nursing home while she's as youthful as ever--but there's still that old love and affection between them. Has made for some interesting dynamics, vs. them just being a regular couple.

There's plenty of ways to play with romance that takes it beyond the usual forms, especially when you bring magic into the mix.

 

[Silver-Midnight]

I kind of wanted to do something that similar in a lot of UF books, well, the later books, as far as relationships go. I mean I really don't know how to explain it other than that. However, I kind of just wanted to start with their relationship in the first story/book/however you want to say it.