Love Interests

SampleGuy said:

Have you ever gave your main character a love interest? If so, why? Romantic novels don't count. I'm talking about action, science fiction, and fantasy or horror. Are your love interests just damsel in distress, or support characters written to make readers care about your main character. I don't know if love interests are nessccnary or just recommended by editors. Maybe most heroes don't need love interests to make readers care about them, but some writers probably add love scenes for the hell of it, including in young adult novels. What do you think?

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I hate 'for the hell of it' love interests. Now if the love interest character is important to the plot, and is a friend/supporter (or even antagonist ) of the MC first and foremost? Hell yeah.

It depends more on the tastes of the writer than the genre whether a love interest is included or not. Love is so commonplace in literature that it has surpassed the level of clique, and as long as you write it well enough, you can get away with including a love interest in any genre at all. I will openly admit that I enjoy reading stories with romance than those without.

Some readers will swear by all that is sacred to them that they can do without love interests and petty romance conflicts in their literature. I write love interests into my work because I enjoy the added complexity. Sure, it can be annoying when the love interest proves to be a handicap to the MC or the strong feeling of amor changes a strong, likable character into a starry-eyed idiot. I don't mind complicating the MC's situation with a LI, and—this may seem strange, but—my favorite approach is to start the MC and the LI off as enemies. Maybe they don't get along well at first or maybe they're operating on different teams, but eventually sparks will fly between them.

My LIs are usually the MC's partner-in-plot-affairs. They are invaluable to the story to the point to where they function almost as a second MC (or, really, not even "almost" except for the fact that I tend to write in close/limited third; sometimes I DO choose alternating viewpoints but I digress). I like the "two people are drawn together by this catastrophic situation and become good friends and bond via trying to save [the world/humanity/whatever] together and happen to fall in love" type of love.

My current project doesn't include a love interest (Well, one of the characters is engaged, and another has a significant other, but they were involved long before this story, and my main MC doesn't have anybody). I'm not going to add that in just to include it. Now, if the project goes to series, something might develop.

My currently-envisioned next project stars a married character, but that's overall plot-relevant.

The incubating project after that includes no love interest, and that's unlikely to change.

These are different people in different situations, so they don't all fit into the same template.

SampleGuy said:

Are your love interests just damsel in distress, or support characters written to make readers care about your main character.

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Why is a love interest necessarily a damsel? You're limiting MCs quite a lot by assuming LIs are always women.

Almost everything I write has a "love interest" of some sort as a foil to the MC. Not so much because an editor told me that romance was popular, but because most folks I know are in a relationship or have been/will be at some point. Seems like a natural part of life and therefore has an obvious place in my fictional worlds as well.

As SLHuang pointed out, not every love interest is a woman. Since most of my MCs are women, their love interest tends to be male. (But not always.) But supporting characters - whether there is a romantic subplot between them and the MC or not - are there to complement the strengths/weaknesses of the protagonist. They are never there simply to be ogled.

Aggy, all sorts of girl cooties in her SF/F/H

I don't see why not. Most people I know are either dating someone, married to someone or wishing they had someone to at least have a sex with.

SampleGuy said:

It can be any type of main character. Dudes in distress can be included too.

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I don't know why, but I often enjoy stories with a dude in distress in them.

SampleGuy said:

Have you ever gave your main character a love interest?

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Yes.

If so, why?

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Love is a powerful motivator. It can also fuck things up quite drastically. You know, story reasons. Plus I'm interested in it, as a phenomenon, as an outside observer who hasn't experienced it.

Plus, for one of them, I wanted to mess around with mythology, and the love interest-ing is sort of built into it

Are your love interests just damsel in distress, or support characters written to make readers care about your main character.

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Well...there's been a damsel (er, god) in distress (because he was murdered), and there's been a damsel (monster) in distress who was also a distressing damsel and then sort of turned around to alleviate other distresses, but honestly pretty much EVERYONE in that novel was in distress. However, I did start out that novel with the notion of doing a bunch of tropey things on purpose (star-crossed lovers, love triangle, damsel etc) and then kind of messing it all up so...yuh.

I don't know if love interests are nessccnary or just recommended by editors. Maybe most heroes don't need love interests to make readers care about them, but some writers probably add love scenes for the hell of it, including in young adult novels. What do you think?

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IMO if you're thinking about using a love interest to "make readers care about" an entirely different character, you're probably approaching the idea wrong? I mean, I dunno. I've never had a love scene "for the hell of it" that I can recall. There have always been story reasons. When I put love in a story, it is a driving force. Maybe in cliched ways But it is essential. It is not a dangling nubbin you can just cut off.

If that is not the case--if it is not relevant to the story in some way, whether it's a "driving force" or not, if it doesn't affect anything--then I don't see why you'd need a love interest.

I always make the love interest interesting in some manner, even if they're more of a 'B' personality to foil the MC's 'A'. Or vice versa.

Or I won't even bother with one.

buzhidao said:

Love is a powerful motivator. .

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One of the big three -- love/sex, money/power, fear of death.

My love interest, male and female, are necessary parts of the plot/story, or the romance bit wouldn't be included. And not every book needs a love interest, so no, my stories don't always have them (but often do)

One of my MCs is in an arranged marriage. She and her husband may learn to love each other - does that count? The other MC has no love interest at all, and doesn't want one. She's interested in becoming the best magical smith in her country's history and boys just get in the way.

Aggy B. said:

Seems like a natural part of life and therefore has an obvious place in my fictional worlds as well.

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Zactly. A character who doesn't have a love interest for the entire duration of the novel would seem a little odd to me, since most of the people I know have private lives that revolve around romantic relationships in some way. Not that a character's private life necessarily has to feature in the plot, but because private lives have a habit of spilling over into things, it's very likely that it will.

In my novel, the romantic subplot is inextricable from the main plot. I *could* strip it out, but then I'd have to rewrite the main plot, and it would be a much less layered and complex story because of it, I think.

Kallithrix said:

Zactly. A character who doesn't have a love interest for the entire duration of the novel would seem a little odd to me, since most of the people I know have private lives that revolve around romantic relationships in some way.

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This, I think, can be a fine line. f you are writin a sprawling epic and not one of teh dozen people you have as MCs even looks at anyone else in that way...Some people are asexual. Cool and fine. The whole cast? Unless you have a reason for that...

On the other hand, perhaps their behind closed doors shennaigans do not figure into the plot. I can see that for one MC in a single POV novel

It depends on the scope of the story -- if you are following one person, fair enough. Maybe they are caught up in the plot. or are asexual or any number of things. If you are following five...it starts to look odd if none of them have any romantic leanings. Especially if they are of a younger age. It looks in fact like you have just excised part of their personality (again is they are asexual then that's also fine and part of them, but ALL of them? I need a reason)

Because, let's face it, listen in on a teen's convo. Almost any teen, male, female, straight, gay or trans. There is a strong possibility one of them will say "X? Oh Ma Gerd" (as my daughter would say). If the unattached people in your novel do not at least think "oh, nice" when meeting someone of the gender of their choice...


Attraction/lust/love is not universal but...

It is part of who people are. Ignore it at your peril


And I could also point out the fact that when men write about love it is meaningful, but when women do it is fluff...

Mr Flibble said:

And I could also point out the fact that when men write about love it is meaningful, but when women do it is fluff...

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Er.... whut? You might be thinking specifically of the romance genre here, which hey, may not be your thing, but... wow. That's not only a sweeping generalisation, it's sexist and dismissive of female writers in the extreme. I'm quite shocked, unless you meant your comment ironically of course...

Kallithrix said:

Er.... whut? You might be thinking specifically of the romance genre here, which hey, may not be your thing, but... wow. That's not only a sweeping generalisation, it's sexist and dismissive of female writers in the extreme. I'm quite shocked, unless you meant your comment ironically of course...

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I mean critics look at love stories by men as deep and meaningful, but think books about love by women are fluffy frou frou (and yes I couold have worded it netter but I'm on the tail end of a 6 hour A&E visit)

PS: I miss my old sig line: I have had my tongue in my cheek so long I have eroded a new mouth. Yes, irony, cynicism, whatever you want to call it. Sucks big hairy donkey balls anyway

PS I have 6 pubbed romance novels under my belt. Try saying that at an SFF conference and see the looks you get (and not from other authors to be fair)

Always, always, ALWAYS assume irony when I post. I am British after all

I'm 99.99998% sure Mr. Flibble is pointing out the ridiculousness of the fact that this seems to be a widespread perception. I give you the fact that there is a "genre" called Women's Fiction and no equivalent for "men."

ETA: oops, too late...

Mr Flibble said:

I mean critics look at love stories by men as deep and meaningful, but think books about love by women are fluffy frou frou

PS: I miss my old sig line: I have had my tongue in my cheek so long I have eroded a new mouth. Yes, irony, cynicism, whatever you want to call it. Sucks big hairy donkey balls anyway

PS I have 6 pubbed romance novels under my belt

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ok, gotcha. It did strike me as unlike you, hence my shock, but the world has righted itself again. phew!

It is stupid o'clock in the morning, hence my poor wording

And I have had no sleep due to very likely (but not in the end, phew!) appendicitis (not mine, daughter's. Three cheers for the NHS! Huzzah! Etc)

Kallithrix said:

Zactly. A character who doesn't have a love interest for the entire duration of the novel would seem a little odd to me, since most of the people I know have private lives that revolve around romantic relationships in some way. Not that a character's private life necessarily has to feature in the plot, but because private lives have a habit of spilling over into things, it's very likely that it will.

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I don't get this. Any and all novels? What about a plot that makes little or no room for any relationship to develop? Say, a fast-paced thriller set in a war zone? i can think of lots of plot situations where it would be difficult if not unintentionally hilarious to shoehorn in a romantic subplot.

What about characters who are happily single? Last time we had one of these threads there was an assertion that if your MC is single, well they'd better not be at the end of the book or no editor will give you the time of day. I'd find that really disheartening, if I didn't think it was tosh. I like stories where the single MC completes a character arc without hooking up.

and FWIW, these threads always make me uncomfortable when they include assertions about what kinds of personalities/desires are 'odd' or have something 'excised' from them.