The starting point of feelings

[Sinuka]

Hello everyone.

I am currently contemplating different options how the love interest in my story sees the MC in the beginning before falling in love. I would like to share my thoughts, and hear your opinions/ideas.
For context: MC is a detective and her love interest is the sister of MCs late colleague & friend. MC and the love interest already knew each other for a while, and MC already has had a crush on the love interest before the story even begins.
Within the plot they find themselves working together, spending time, bonding, and eventually becoming a thing.

Here are my versions, or routes, how the love interest could feel towards MC at the beginning of the story:

Route 1: Love interest has a crush on MC too, but never persuaded due to professional connection to her brother ("I shouldn't, she is my brothers colleague ...")
Thoughts: The 'easiest' route, imo. The mutual crush feels kinda lazy and too convenient, though, no real challenge for the development of the relationship.

Route 2: Love interest is romantically neutral towards MC in the beginning
Thoughts: This route feels the most 'neutral' to me. But there is also no real challenge, it starts off at point zero.

Route 3: Love interest resented MC after death of the brother (MC somewhat responsible) for a while , and at the beginning of the story has mixed feelings spending time with MC
Thoughts: The most intriguing route, but also complicated and hence, challenging.

Mixed route: Love interest has had a crush too -> brother dies -> confused feelings, including resentment in her grief -> seeking distance out of confusion -> working together reignites infatuation
Thoughts: I feel like I am going somewhere with this one, but I am afraid it might become too complicated/messy.

Of course, every route here can work great if the execution is right. I'd love to hear different thoughts and opinions on them, maybe sparking another idea or making me see other aspects I haven't considered yet.
What routes do you like? Which ones do you not like? What could be mistakes waiting for me? What are your pieces of advice here in general?

Thank you for your attention. (^w^)

 

[ElaineB]

Before getting to your options, I thought of Route 3 (if you're into tropes, which I am not, this is enemies to lovers) because depending on how brother dies, love interest could very well blame MC. But Mixed Route also appeals, mostly in being more complicated. It reminds me of the Emma Thompson series, Down Cemetery Road, where she plays a private eye and her partner is murdered. It's not a romance, though, so the woman she ends up working with is a sort-of client of the guy murdered. I had really hoped the two women would get together, but, alas, it's not that kind of story (Emma's pretty butch in it, though).

I'll confess I don't read romances, at least not the simple ones: A has this background, B has this background, can they make it work? Yes, of course, and it all depends on the journey, but I look for more complex stories. That it's a detective story as well helps (I'm a big fan of JM Redmann's Micky Knight series).

As you say, any option can work. All depends on what kind of story you want to write. You'd have to throw a lot of possibly phony obstacles in their path in Route 1 to make this more than a short story. Depending on how the brother dies and the level of grief, maybe even jealousy that MC spent more time with brother than love interest did, how much she blames MC or the job for brother's death, whether this is a coming out for love interest or not (I personally would prefer not), etc....yeah lots of possibilities!

Sounds like a fun challenge!

 

[pebbleg]

Hello everyone.

I am currently contemplating different options how the love interest in my story sees the MC in the beginning before falling in love. I would like to share my thoughts, and hear your opinions/ideas.
For context: MC is a detective and her love interest is the sister of MCs late colleague & friend. MC and the love interest already knew each other for a while, and MC already has had a crush on the love interest before the story even begins.
Within the plot they find themselves working together, spending time, bonding, and eventually becoming a thing.

Here are my versions, or routes, how the love interest could feel towards MC at the beginning of the story:

Route 1: Love interest has a crush on MC too, but never persuaded due to professional connection to her brother ("I shouldn't, she is my brothers colleague ...")
Thoughts: The 'easiest' route, imo. The mutual crush feels kinda lazy and too convenient, though, no real challenge for the development of the relationship.

Route 2: Love interest is romantically neutral towards MC in the beginning
Thoughts: This route feels the most 'neutral' to me. But there is also no real challenge, it starts off at point zero.

Route 3: Love interest resented MC after death of the brother (MC somewhat responsible) for a while , and at the beginning of the story has mixed feelings spending time with MC
Thoughts: The most intriguing route, but also complicated and hence, challenging.

Mixed route: Love interest has had a crush too -> brother dies -> confused feelings, including resentment in her grief -> seeking distance out of confusion -> working together reignites infatuation
Thoughts: I feel like I am going somewhere with this one, but I am afraid it might become too complicated/messy.

Of course, every route here can work great if the execution is right. I'd love to hear different thoughts and opinions on them, maybe sparking another idea or making me see other aspects I haven't considered yet.
What routes do you like? Which ones do you not like? What could be mistakes waiting for me? What are your pieces of advice here in general?

Thank you for your attention. (^w^)

As a reader, I'd be more interested in Route 3 or Mixed route, just because Route 1 and 2 sound, as you said, easy and straight forward, so unless there're lots of ups and downs in the relationship or if romance is not the core of the story (say it's a mystery or crime fiction with a romance subplot), I'm worried I may not find it interesting enough.

Yes it's tropey, but almost romance readers expect tropes anyway. Yulin Kuang's How to End a Love Story is very similar to your Route 3 here and is IMO quite well executed.

 

[JohnM2]

I'd be interested in the mixed route most of all! The complication and messiness adds to the appeal to me.

 

[Sinuka]

@pebbleg @ElaineB @JohnM2 Thank you so much for the feedback!

I will go with the mixed route, however with the change that MC has no responsibility whatsover for the death. I realized earlier today that the love interest can still blame MC in her grief previous to the plot, since grieving can be very irrational especially during the first four stages. So, at the beginning of the told story she would be in the last phase of acceptance, but feels guilty for having blamed MC. ("I shouldn't have held her responsible, she was not to blame. That was unfair..") As a result, she would join the investigation to make amends. The mixed feelings would be sorted out during their cooperation and eventually result in emotional growth and connection for both of them, since MC still struggles a lot with survivors guilt. Both help each other heal and eventually find comfort in each other.

The romance part is a big part of the plot because emotional growth is an important theme in it. Plus, in that world infatuation can actually hold a real, life-threatening danger. The crime aspect is primarily the setting and for tension with the addition of a nice climax. Also ... I always wanted to write a story about a serial killer, tbh.

 

[lexxi]

Yes, the mixed route gives you the most to work with.

Will the love interest's changing attitudes toward the MC be shown in detail throughout the book? Or will you be staying strictly in the MC's point of view and readers will only know how the love interest feels based on her behavior and what she says out loud about her feelings, same as the MC does?

I do think it could be useful, early on, for love interest to evolve from "It's MC's fault" to "It's not her fault" rather than starting with her already at the later point.

 

[clover]

I'd be interested in the mixed route most of all! The complication and messiness adds to the appeal to me.

I agree! The mixed route is the most interesting to me too. It'll make those dynamics so compelling to explore