Hi all,
In my current fantasy WIP project there is a romantic relationship that occurred four years before the story takes place. It's a romantic relationship that came to an end - one of those summer romances that is always set to end when the weather changes - that the main character (let's call her Molly) no longer dwells on, since the last 4 years have been super hectic and she's had more important things to think about than a summer love. Of course the old love interest (let's call him Terry) returns in this novel providing conflict for Molly - Terry is still rather invested in the idea of them as a couple whereas Molly struggles to believe in their romance due to the fact that their break-up was very shortly proceeded by the death of a close family member, therefore the 'happy times' of the relationship are overshadowed by the grief that followed it.
In my head I completely understand how their relationship functioned before and what role I want it to play in the story this time around (spoiler alert: they don't end up together. Not even close) and I enjoy the conflict it provides for Molly in more ways than one as the story progresses. The relationship between the two isn't currently an integral part of the main antagonist-related conflict of the story but it does provide an arc for Molly's social conflict and personal growth, so I'm eager to keep the storyline in. I'm also quite fond of stories that doesn't allow the first male that the main character interacts with to be her one true love who she ends up with inevitably in the end, so it's fun for me to poke at the idea of a romance that I as a writer know isn't going to work out. As I've already stated, Molly lost someone important to her shortly after their break-up, and the loss of that family member is the main inner conflict Molly's character learns to deal with, so having Terry around reminding her of that confusing time in her life is something I quite enjoy.
But I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts or advice on how to write a romantic relationship between two people that already has so much history to it when the novel starts. I don't want to info-dump a thousand fond-and-not-so-fond memories of their time together four years ago, though at the same time there is a lot of significance to the 'before' element of it all and I'm not sure how best to weave it in. How do you demonstrate and justify emotions that haven't mattered for four years? Do you hate being given a relationship to invest in when you aren't given it from start to finish? Do you like not having to put up with the lovey-dovey stuff and get straight to the conflict and messiness of it all? Any advice?
Many thanks,
HaHs.
P.S - Molly is 21 and Terry is 23 - the initial relationship occurred when Molly was 17 and Terry was 19, so they've had some good time pass since.
Also I think I posted this in the correct forum but if I didn't then I apologise!
In my current fantasy WIP project there is a romantic relationship that occurred four years before the story takes place. It's a romantic relationship that came to an end - one of those summer romances that is always set to end when the weather changes - that the main character (let's call her Molly) no longer dwells on, since the last 4 years have been super hectic and she's had more important things to think about than a summer love. Of course the old love interest (let's call him Terry) returns in this novel providing conflict for Molly - Terry is still rather invested in the idea of them as a couple whereas Molly struggles to believe in their romance due to the fact that their break-up was very shortly proceeded by the death of a close family member, therefore the 'happy times' of the relationship are overshadowed by the grief that followed it.
In my head I completely understand how their relationship functioned before and what role I want it to play in the story this time around (spoiler alert: they don't end up together. Not even close) and I enjoy the conflict it provides for Molly in more ways than one as the story progresses. The relationship between the two isn't currently an integral part of the main antagonist-related conflict of the story but it does provide an arc for Molly's social conflict and personal growth, so I'm eager to keep the storyline in. I'm also quite fond of stories that doesn't allow the first male that the main character interacts with to be her one true love who she ends up with inevitably in the end, so it's fun for me to poke at the idea of a romance that I as a writer know isn't going to work out. As I've already stated, Molly lost someone important to her shortly after their break-up, and the loss of that family member is the main inner conflict Molly's character learns to deal with, so having Terry around reminding her of that confusing time in her life is something I quite enjoy.
But I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts or advice on how to write a romantic relationship between two people that already has so much history to it when the novel starts. I don't want to info-dump a thousand fond-and-not-so-fond memories of their time together four years ago, though at the same time there is a lot of significance to the 'before' element of it all and I'm not sure how best to weave it in. How do you demonstrate and justify emotions that haven't mattered for four years? Do you hate being given a relationship to invest in when you aren't given it from start to finish? Do you like not having to put up with the lovey-dovey stuff and get straight to the conflict and messiness of it all? Any advice?
Many thanks,
HaHs.
P.S - Molly is 21 and Terry is 23 - the initial relationship occurred when Molly was 17 and Terry was 19, so they've had some good time pass since.
Also I think I posted this in the correct forum but if I didn't then I apologise!
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