Romance Part V

Okay, so now you need to end the romance part of this, or at least the beginning part so that you can get serious about the real love affair. So, let’s work this out.

The good news is that there are only four basic ways to do this. Some lead to further complications, and others finalize things.

The right person gets the right person: This is the assumed finale. However, it does not always end up for the best, especially if it was a con job, a shapeshifter of some sort acting as the object of affectations, or even there are a lot of complications that come with the significant other, such as a princess with a ticked off king for a father.  In short, just winning the hand of the lover may have been the easiest part.

The right person gets the wrong person: This is a likely event in two general situations: The fans like the friend better or there are extenuating circumstances. The former is referred to as the “Ducky Situation”, after the sidekick in “Pretty in Pink”, where the girl falls in love with a boy on the right side of the tracks rather than the boy who is in love with her. Happiness may not result, but at least the person is happy. The latter is when the person has to marry someone in order to solve a greater crisis; this can cause greater complications, especially if the person who he has to marry doesn’t allow for lovers.

The surprise development: In this case, you decide to go with something random, such as one of the people turns out to be gay in an otherwise straight pairing. Unless the romance is really not working, don’t do this; there will be backlash as your fans cry for your blood. However, if done well then the ex-lover becomes an obstacle, unless she is really understanding. Another is when the shapeshifting replacement falls in love with the person; annoying, but it can work out. Try to avoid this unless there is a really good reason for it, as there are usually problems to be dealt with in the real world, such as fan backlash, so really debate using this one.

The plot trump: Something that happens to derail the romance. This is different than an obstacle; something happens that makes the romance impossible. One of the couple can be killed, or one of them is forced to marry someone for the sake of diplomacy, and the relationship is simply not possible for any number of reasons. This can be used to put the romance on hold for a bit, at which time something happens to the new problem, or you decide that you simply didn’t like the romance and you need some way to stop in its tracks.

There are a few other issues to consider, but this should end this series. For now….