Are budding romances a distraction?

I definitely vote for the backstory! Mind you I like romance in my YA in general, but especially UST!! Lots and lots of it.

A growing romance is always delish, especially if I really don't know whether they're gonna realize they're made for each other.

Yeah, the budding romance is very appealing. It may be just me, but I wish there were more stories about making established relationships survive. Anyone can fall head over heels in love and act like an imbecile, but it takes true strength to make that shit last.

I also strongly dislike a book where the protagonist is being chased by zombies/angry werepigeons/demons and she's the only one in the world who can avert apocalypse/save the president/rescue that flaming bus full of orphans, so for some reason the most logical course of action is to take a couple hours off to fool around with a guy. Oh, she's just so taken with all the romance that she can't help herself! Sigh! Even the most lovelorn moron could probably put things on hold for the six hours necessary to prevent disaster. Back in the real world, heroes having booty calls instead of rescuing people are looked down upon. It's not cute. (Also applies equally to dudes, but they seem to do this less often than the ladies.)

I love to see the romance grow. Seeing two people slowly fall inlove Is always amazing.

I think in this particular story, it would be nicer if they just met and we watched them fall into their relationship. It would be a nice distraction from dead babies, that's for sure!

I think for other books, if the couple are already dating before the book begins, it can work better. For example, in The Hunger Games, had Katniss and Gale already been dating and had sex and had made plans for the future, I think it would have added so much more tension between her and the Peeta situation. It all depends on the circumstances.

I think it'd be fine if the relationship was already established. That's done a lot less in novels than having the characters fall in love as time goes on.

It also opens up a whole new dimension to the relationship, as others have mentioned.

They don't have to be deep in it. They could have gotten together fairly recently, or maybe have been long distance for some reason or another and are kind of rebuilding what they had.

Either way, there's a lot of potential for back story being worked in as they reflect on how and when they met, as well as drama for two people who thought they worked well together, but as the story unfolds, the relationship is tested because of the extreme circumstances. It's a bit of a flip on the traditional "fall in love during crises" and could be potentially more powerful. I think as a reader I would prefer that method over what I've already seen a lot

Will they/won't they could be a distraction - it's easy for people to fixate on things like that if they have a preference for romance and it would (for lack of a better word) suck if the romance storyline became more important than anything else that happens.

I actually quite like established romances in stories because you can get across the depth of the relationship through their actions i.e. they don't think twice about taking risks for each other or second-guess the actions of the other even if it seems like madness to outside eyes (the opposite could also be true if their relationship is new and they're just learning to trust each other).

At the same time, couples can also inadvertently mislead other characters in stories - if they're happy they might always have glowing reviews for their partner and it could catch friends/strangers/enemies by surprise if it turns out to not quite be true, or if they're in an unhappy/strained relationship they might divulge information about their partner they wouldn't ordinarily tell to anyone else.

Kitty Pryde said:

Yeah, the budding romance is very appealing. It may be just me, but I wish there were more stories about making established relationships survive. Anyone can fall head over heels in love and act like an imbecile, but it takes true strength to make that shit last.

I also strongly dislike a book where the protagonist is being chased by zombies/angry werepigeons/demons and she's the only one in the world who can avert apocalypse/save the president/rescue that flaming bus full of orphans, so for some reason the most logical course of action is to take a couple hours off to fool around with a guy. Oh, she's just so taken with all the romance that she can't help herself! Sigh! Even the most lovelorn moron could probably put things on hold for the six hours necessary to prevent disaster. Back in the real world, heroes having booty calls instead of rescuing people are looked down upon. It's not cute. (Also applies equally to dudes, but they seem to do this less often than the ladies.)

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Kitty already said everything for me. Both ways are good, but I'd like to see established relationships get a little more love. It could add a fresh dynamic through the story that wouldn't be there otherwise. And sometimes watching an old relationship get tested is far and away more interesting than strain on a new one.

I can see the point of view that there aren't enough established relationships in YA but in all honesty what grips me in a romance is the chase.
A perfect YA romance for me has the MC and the LI end up together on the last page. I don't particularly care about relationships- as in, I don't mind them being there but they aren't what will grip me to the story (the same way an MCs best friend won't grip me to the story alone, but a potential LI might.)

It seems though, if they're in a situation where there's demons and murdered kids and all that going on, won't that naturally bring them closer together? I feel like if they were already in a relationship then all that extra stuff going on might do the opposite and split them apart.

Yeah, I think personally I'm all for having them get together as the story goes on.

I guess it depends on what you're going for.

The budding romance and tension of will they/won't they is a good driving force, and, like others have pointed out, can be a good distraction from the other drama. I like reading that tension and seeing it grow organically. As long as it stays a subplot though. It also gets readers invested in the characters and relationship so they're more likely to connect and want to keep reading.

On the other hand, it would be refreshing to see a couple that's already together and knows how each other ticks. That could give you interesting ways to get out of sticky situations too because they could play off each other. That would also avoid Kitty's peeve about the MC fooling around with the LI instead of saving kittens or whatever. Characters in an established relationship are less likely to let their hormones go crazy and stop and fool around in the middle of the action than characters in a budding romance.

I think both could work. Who are the characters? I think that's the question you really need to answer. Is your MC the type to use romantic tension as a release of sorts during the other story drama? Or is your MC the sort that would benefit more from someone stable and known to help get through the drama?

missesdash said:

The version with the established romance is a lot cleaner but a tad bit boring.

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I think you have your answer right here.

I really liked the way the romance in Kelley Armstrong's DARKEST POWERS trilogy played out. The book was very much focused around these kids it tense situations and often running for their lives, and the romantic tension was very understated for the first two books and blossomed in the third (obviously you'd have to translate that to a single book rather than a series, though).

When the characters were on the run, their survival was very much at the forefront. There was some tension, like seeing each other half-naked during shapeshifting or clothing changes and feeling pitter-pattery, but never enough to feel like they were getting distracted from the task at hand. In the last book, they finally got a little bit of breathing room, and that's when kissy-face time happened.

I absolutely think romantic tension can be fit into high-stakes situations without taking over or distracting the characters from the more important plot elements. I mean, yes, it drives me NUTS when there's a constant overhanging threat but they decide it's a great time to stop and make out for several hours. But I think if you stay away from frustrating or unrealistic romance and just give little hints -- being conscious of body heat, blood pulsing, a brief, passionate kiss at a heightened emotional moment -- it works.

This isn't YA per se, but the Nephew who has been living with me for a while (sixteen years old) has been going on about something called "The Legend of Korra", and so I thought I'd check it out to see what the heck it was. That lead me to "Avatar: The last airbender", which is the precursor series to Legend. You could call Legend of Korra a sequel, if that term apply to season-spanning television series.

I really liked how the romantic stuff was done in the Airbender-series. It was never a focus, and it was sprinkled in, and therefore it became more important, somehow. I think it showed that the 12-16 year old characters in the show grew over the passage of the several seasons.

Or as Sokka, one of the MCs lament one day: "I turned my first girlfriend into the moon. Sigh."

Love Last Airbender and Legend of Korra foreverrrrrr. The writers for those shows really know what they're doing.

I find it much fresher to have two people who are in a relationship when the novel starts than to have them fall in love during the book, simply because it doesn't seem to be done anywhere near as much. Sam Hawksmoor's The Repossession stood out for me partly because of this. (And partly because it's an awesome read, of course.)

maybegenius said:

Love Last Airbender and Legend of Korra foreverrrrrr. The writers for those shows really know what they're doing.

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[derail]
Zuko is really a model villain. Smart, dedicated, driven, complex, and [minor spoiler] he can switch between being an opponent and an ally depending on his goal [/minor spoiler]

For some reason, when I think of "established relationship," I think of adult stories. I guess that's because when I was a teen, most of my dating relationships were very fleeting and fickle. Couples in high school who were together more than three months were the equivalent of old married people, and then they broke up. Sure, there are people who met in kindergarten, dated all through high school, and are still married thirty years later, but I'm not under the impression it's the norm. I think (unless I'm totally off base, which is usually the safer bet) teen readers relate more to budding romance because a lot of them are in a near constant state of budding or wanting to bud.

That said... I wouldn't mind an established romance so long as the romance changed. If they start strong and remained strong and ended strong, I wouldn't really be affected by that dynamic as much as a strong relationship that falters halfway through and then becomes unbreakable by the end.

Maxinquaye said:

[derail]
Zuko is really a model villain. Smart, dedicated, driven, complex, and [minor spoiler] he can switch between being an opponent and an ally depending on his goal [/minor spoiler]

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100% agreed. The characterization on that show was nearly flawless. When people ask me about complex characters in kid/YA entertainment, I direct them to ATLA.

Allow me to derail once again just to say OMG AVATAR WAS THE BEST CARTOON EVERRRRRR I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT KORRA! SAW THE FIRST TWO EPS ALREADY AND I LOVE IT!!!! EVERY YA AUTHOR SHOULD WATCH THESE SHOWS AT LEAST FOR TIPS AND TRICKS!!! SHRIEEEEEEK!!!!!EXCLAMATIONPOINTS!!!!ALLCAPS!!!

Hookay, I'm done now. Just needed to get that out of my system.

Continuing the derail: but isn't ATLA and ATLK more MG considering they're aimed at 6-12 year olds?

Maxinquaye said:

Continuing the derail: but isn't ATLA and ATLK more MG considering they're aimed at 6-12 year olds?

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ATLA most certainly is, but funnily enough, there's been emerging speculation the ATLK is going to be more YA in scope. The characters have been aged up to 16-18 and it looks like it's going to branch into some more mature themes while still maintaining appeal to its younger audience.

Kitty Pryde said:

I also strongly dislike a book where the protagonist is being chased by zombies/angry werepigeons/demons and she's the only one in the world who can avert apocalypse/save the president/rescue that flaming bus full of orphans, so for some reason the most logical course of action is to take a couple hours off to fool around with a guy. Oh, she's just so taken with all the romance that she can't help herself! Sigh! Even the most lovelorn moron could probably put things on hold for the six hours necessary to prevent disaster.

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"cough"Mara Dyer"cough"