Questions tagged [relationships]
Emotional bonds and interactions between 2 or more people: platonic, rivals, love-triangles, sex partners, families, or groups. Relationships can be a positive or negative, with undefined rules and expectations that influence character motives and actions.
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How do I tell if a relationship is becoming too toxic and how do I counteract this?
A key relationship I'm developing is a father-daughter like bond between my 17 year old protagonist (Nefeli) and my early-forties side protagonist (Cadoc). A common theme I expand on is that Nefeli ...
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How do you correctly write a Father-Daughter Relationship?
The two main protagonists aren't actually related and the initial relationship they have is filled with mistrust and irritation, but eventually it turns into an unspoken father-daughter kind of bond.
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How do you write a character who can only communicate with one person?
In my sci fi story, the main character, whose perspective the entire story is told from, underwent a failed brain surgery. As a result of the failure, he can't speak. He can communicate with his ...
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Keeping your audience after you've guilted them - what's the secret sauce?
Consider that your story has a moral that points to the simple fact that we all have committed and contributed to your protagonist's crisis. The protagonist walks through life desperately needing help,...
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Building a relationship off of a previous one
In this story, I kind of want to hint to a blossoming relationship, without being too explicit. So I'm kind of planning on having the main character remember parts of a previous, first wholesome ...
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Would it be too controversial to have the antagonist "get the (protagonist's) girl"?
I'm considering the idea of the antagonist of getting the protagonist's girl (either temporarily or permanently). Various ideas I'm playing with:
the antagonist uses non-consensual manipulation to ...
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How can I establish a bond between a teacher and a student?
How can I establish a bond between a teacher and a student? My main character is being forced to betray another character, who is their combat instructor. I need to form a bond, so when the instructor ...
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How long would it take for someone to move on?
In my epic fantasy, the secondary protagonist goes through tragedy. Near the middle, the group is captured by the enemy, and she is forced to watch her girlfriend get slowly executed in an extremely ...
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What are some ways to show a woman loving a man she's in a relationship with, despite him going into depression?
One of my male characters is going through severe depression that will last about six months. Despite this, he clearly tries to make sure that his depression does not impede his life or relationship.
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Are filler chapters/episodes unnecessary?
I was considering the use of filler chapters in my story, to flesh out the character's problems and daily life. These don't necessary progress the plot, but they do help the characters' relationships ...
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How to decide how far my antagonist is willing to go?
in my short story the antagonist is someone confident and street-smart who is hiding their gambling addiction from a friend staying with them, as they are looking to take advantage of their friend (...
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As a non-writer, how can I help my writer-spouse find life balance when all he wants to do is write and talk to me about his book idea? [closed]
My husband is a writer. We've been married for several years and I've seen him go through various phases of book-obsession over various aspects of his new book ideas and the worlds that he's creating.
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How do you write about the human condition when you don't understand humanity?
I was talking with some writers, and they were mentioning how writing is fundamentally about "the human condition, our take on it, what we see in our world and experience. All stories, no matter ...
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How do I handle an unequal romantic pairing in a world with superpowers?
I am writing a story that revolves around a number of characters that have superhuman abilities living amongst normal people, akin to they myriad superhero comics or many urban fantasies out there (e....
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How to reveal a secret romantic relationship?
So I'm writing an "enemies to lovers" book. My two many characters have hated each other for 7 years, they make a dare to see who can hook up with the most people by New Years. Slowly they ...
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How to research and create an authentic setting for a story set in a foreign country? [duplicate]
As a writer, for authenticity and to avoid distracting errors, I need to portray my story setting correctly. For example, I live in the UK and need to know whether guests can tay overnight at ...
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Under-the-radar Feelings
So I have this idea for two girls that ultimately are going to get into a relationship. One of them is proudly gay and open about her feelings from the start, cracking jokes and sly compliments about ...
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Can I have scenes that aren't directly related to the main plot but strengthen the relationship between two characters (which is a subplot)?
I have some scenes in my novel that have nothing to do with the main plot, it's just to show the character development and the development of the relationship between two characters. Is this okay ...
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I want to make two of my characters fall in love [duplicate]
My story is about two gang leaders. The female is the leader of the largest gang in the country. The guy is the leader of the 2nd-largest.
They meet at a café where the guy instantly falls in love ...
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Alternatives to develop relationships without dialogue [closed]
I have to come up with an idea (this is an assignment) for a story between 1 or 2 characters without dialogue and with a length of 90 seconds, so I know it's totally possible, however, when it comes ...
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Writing a love interest for my hero
If I'm going to face down a dragon, Mob boss, evil corporation, or a demon from the 7 circles of hell or dystopian dictator, etc, it's not going to be to rescue my buddy Herbert, or cousin Jimmy. The ...
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Anthropomorphic animals in romantic relationships with other species
Basically I’m wondering whether it’s totally weird or if people wouldn’t give much thought to it. I’ll use Zootopia as an example. If the main characters (a fox and a rabbit) were in a relationship, ...
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How do I stop my characters falling in love?
So I'm writing a short story based in a WW2 American military base camp stationed in Germany. It's about A Jewish Soviet soldier that, with the help of an American soldier and a series of coincidences,...
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In a script how can I signal who's winning the argument?
Arguments, discussions, disagreements
In my script I have a lot of "arguments" – loose definition: long discussions where characters disagree about what to do.
These arguments don't escalate to a ...
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How do I write a romance that doesn't look obvious
I'm writing a story, it's not focused on romance, but that's an important part as well. The point is that I have two characters and I ended up ("accidentally") seeing chemistry between them, they have ...
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How can one write good dialogue in a story without sounding wooden?
I began an assignment to write a short story for a Creative Writing submission to a publication and although it was accepted, I found that I struggled with the addition of dialogue to this first-...
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How can I portray a resentful character without making them overtly angry?
I am writing a fiction story about a elite unit, SFD (Strike Force Delta), during the Third World War. The war is basically extremely variable, it lasts from 2025 to 2030. I like to call it the '...
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Should I explain the reasons for gaslighting?
I have an ambiguous script situation, 2 co-protagonists begin gaslighting the MC. They each have ulterior motives which they don't say. The reader is intended to infer the lies through contradictory ...
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How to represent jealousy in a cute way?
The main character (which is a girl) of the first romance I'm writing would feel jealous sometimes of her love interest, but I want it to be a cute trait or even a setup for funny scenes, not a very ...
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Writing the dialogue of two travelers who dislike each other
I'm currently writing a journey-focused plot arc, and I'm struggling a bit with the character interactions. To give you some background, the protagonist is a lone wolf of sorts whose job is akin to a ...
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How can I represent independent individuals as part of a hive mind?
The demigods of this world are avatars of the one true God known as Dea and built in the image of humanity. They are independent and have their own opinions from each other, but are connected by a ...
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How to write a vulnerable moment without it seeming cliche or mushy?
So, I have a kinda loudmouthed character who's always the first to fight and first to go on the offensive (This is a fantasy, so she fights a lot.) But, later in the story, she comes across someone ...
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Lovesick Character Distracting Readers
How do you show that a character is suffering from lovesickness in a story plot, but not distract the reader from the actual main plot of the story?
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How to make a villain fall in love?
How do you show the softer side of a rough person without loosing the gruffness? I have a character that was the antagonist in one story and will be the protagonist in another where he will fall in ...
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How to subtly portray a secret relationship
I currently have a set of characters in which two of them have had (and still do have) history together, however I do not intend to drop the ball on the reader and write down their backstory because ...
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Showing friendship between people of different ranks - maintain formality, or drop it?
There is a prince. (Or some other person of high rank.) And there is that prince's good friend, who, naturally, holds a somewhat lower rank.
There are two ways I could show the close relationship ...
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Third wheel character
I have three characters, who are supposed to be good friends. Athos, Aramis, and Porthos, if you wish. Instead, I have two characters who share a strong Frodo-Sam relationship, and the third guy, who ...
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How to keep romance out of my novel?
(Kem uses they/them pronouns.)
I'm outlining a story about a witch named Kem who has to protect the world from evil. Kem befriends demons and other witches, but I don't want them to find a crush or ...
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If two characters are blood relations will it seem coincidental?
I have a character who is a seasoned CIA agent and is part of the task force that is bringing in my MC. I have another character, a semi retired assassin who was one of my MC’s instructors.
I want ...
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How can I indicate that a particular relationship between two male characters is purely brotherly (Philia) rather than romantic (Eros)?
One of the four forms of love Greek philosophy recognised, Philia is usually translated as "brotherly love". It is the love between true friends. It was considered a "higher form" of love than Eros - ...
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How do you make two characters fall in love?
I'm writing a high school romance story. My story centers around two characters falling in love, but I can't find a way to make their romance seem real and believable.
Here is the backstory: The main ...
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How do relationships build the main character or plot
I read that it’s approved of to have the protagonist to have deep relationships which I mean as friend-related bonds between people - because it makes the character stand out
I’m asking this based on ...
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How to address family members solely by relationship in dialogue?
Most English speakers probably just care about You, Mom, Dad, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, Great-Grandparents and Ancestors, Children, Grandchildren, etc. That's great... as long as you are ...
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How do you write a story about a team?
There just isn't information about this on the internet (at least that I could find), so I'm here.
A few specific questions: how many team members should there be? Should they all be main characters, ...
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How do I convey that a relationship is platonic?
I've been toying around with the idea of writing a novel. The story revolves around two characters, one male and one female, and the perspective will shift between them.
One of the central ideas of ...
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Searching for character relation map software
I've started working on a project and wanted to keep all my characters and their relationships well organised.
I'm already using TiddlyWiki to archive all the ideas about the world and its ...
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Character feelings?
I have 2 characters that I want to have a romantic tension with. The feelings are unrequited. Can I have it so that 1 chapter basically introduces and then ends the conflicting feelings or is this ...
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How do I write a generic romantic relationship between a male anti-hero and a female antagonist?
My anti-hero is good character; my female antagonist is the threat. How can I express a romantic relationship between them if I write a short novel? I am a new writer with almost no experience. I have ...
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Explain character dynamics without giving away too much backstory?
So. I have a project I'm currently working on in which there are a number of characters who are connected to each other by various friendships/familial relationships, although they don't all know each ...
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How to casually reveal the relationship of two recently introduced characters?
I have two characters near the beginning of my story, who are brother and sister. I want the reader to know right away, as the two are talking (they are alone), that they are brother and sister, but I'...
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