Do your "true loves" not end up together? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984 XVisiEX and if so, do you consider it a cliche or a rip off when a writer does this? I think it's more a romance question than plot......or maybe a 50/50 thing. Basically though, on this in particular story (series. Fantasy style) i allowed someone to contribute a love interest to one of my characters. I actually ended up really like the dynamics of the two and they eventually earned themselves the title of"true loves" however for some reason the way she's written him now.......I cannot realistically see him ever winning her back after this recent show down. He has broken her heart repeatedly Cheated on her emotionally for years/ended up involved in an illegitimate child issue Put her down to make himself feel better Because of him she ended up in a position for an arch enemy take advantage of her -- I should say her background is she has been abused in every way before and he is aware of this He also knows That's just the cherry on top if it all......... That being said, I don't really feel like going back and editing over all of the work and I decided minus some stuff to just go with it. What do you think? Even if it was say.... 16 or so years down the road. Would you ever be able to forgive an author for allowing him to get her back yet again? Granted he wouldn't mess up anymore but in terms of story...she doesn't know that for sure. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:54:20 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_974809 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_974809 Voirey-Linger If they don't end up together, it's not genre romance. Period. There are lots of non-romance love stories that end up with the 'romantic' couple not together, (The Bridges of Madison County and Prince of Tides come to mind) so I don't see a problem with this as a plot, just don't try to market it as romance. Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:31:39 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_974877 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_974877 XVisiEX How would that not qualify as romance? Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:13:13 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_975335 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_975335 Voirey-Linger Genre romance has two distinct requirements. 1) the driving force of the story and plot is the building of the relationship between the two main characters. 2) The story ends in a Happily Ever After (or in some contemporary erotics, a Happy For Now) in which the reader can assume the relationship continues well past the end of the book. If a book doesn't have both of these, it's not genre romance. These are publishing industry guidelines, so if you plan to market your book, it's important to understand what romance is and isn't. http://www.rwa.org/cs/the_romance_genre Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:46:22 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_976349 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_976349 MoonPhaseChick I think it does as long as it has some major romance throughout it. A lot of real romances never work out. Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:35:52 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_978571 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_978571 aliaswriter I think mine's a romance from your definition. :( Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:35:53 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_978741 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_978741 XVisiEX I mean my current novel is romance/ya the other one has a lot of romance in it and it's certainly a better half of the story but they don't end up together.....geez, publishing guidelines are crazy. I mean lots of great romance stories have tragic ends. Mon, 19 Dec 2011 00:46:24 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_984099 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_984099 Coastiechick So for my story I intended for them to be together but then he turns against her and she is imprisoned. She figures out a way to escape and he helps her, which gives her hope, but she goes "home" or his palace where he used to live. Basically she knows that she is going to have to fight him and there is a pretty big chance that she will die. So in my story the "true loves" end up together for about a scene and then she dies. Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:18:12 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1003947 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1003947 Ink_Stained_Midnight Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous romances of all time, and I think we all know how that one ended. No, my "true loves" don't end up together in the end. Or I don't think they do. It's a bit complicated because for most of the novel, my time traveler MC, comes off as dangerous and obsessive. You don't find out until the last chapter that he was my FMC's husand and after she died, he went back to the past to try and avert it. He didn't succeed, so I guess you can say that they don't end up together. Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:53:41 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1061727 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1061727 Vyctori I'm sorry but that is a very conceited, pretentious, and shallow way to define a genre. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:02:16 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1068969 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1068969 sweet pandamonium The whole story sets my two main characters up to be together and it chronicles their struggles and in the end too much is against them and they don't end up together, one actually moves to avoid the other. Do I feel like it is a bit of a let down? Yes, now that I think about it, it is a huge one but do I feel it is necessary? Absolutely. It is not just for a shock factor or a twist but these two people do not fit together as a couple. It just doesn't work the other way around. Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:28:57 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1072015 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1072015 Hanka You know the movie Vicky, Christina, Barcelona? Once this girl says "Only unrealised love can be romantic love" and I think that's SO true. I just wrote the first book of two in a series and I am really torn about the ending of the second book. My FMC was forced to go to another country by her parents and all she wants is to leave and go back to her friends. But then there is this boy(my MC^^) and they fall in love, you know that part ... But I really do not know what to do in the end. Because there is no right decision! She has friends in her hometown, but she loves him and the other people she got to know in the new country. She can't just leave and go back to her hometown but neither can she stay and never see her best friend again. You see I'm not sure about my true loves. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:21:46 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1114993 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1114993 vampyre_smiles [quote=Ink_Stained_Midnight] Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous romances of all time, and I think we all know how that one ended. [/quote] Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, not a romance. It had romantic elements, but I've even had several English teachers agree that it was tragedy and that Shakespeare intended it to show the folly of young love because the title characters died due to miscommunication. I find it sadly amusing that people act like it was OMG so romantic! Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:06:06 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116804 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1116804 N.L. LeBlanc I agree with you, but Voirey-Linger is 100% right. If your story does not have both of those elements, it can't be classified as genre romance. It usually falls into mainstream fiction, which is probably why there are so many love stories/romance stories in mainstream fiction these days! It's almost a second romance section, at least at the bookstore I go to! Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:53:51 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1176888 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1176888 N.L. LeBlanc Mine's not genre romance, but there's a major romantic subplot. My answer to this question is kind of a complicated long story I don't want to get into here (I don't talk about my ending), but the short answer is no. Different interpretations might be made, because like I said it's kind of complicated, but essentially no. Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:59:19 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1176894 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1176894 Obscurite_Asile My story isn't focused on romance but there is a lot of romance in it between characters :P Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:33:16 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1239114 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1239114 mirandakane In the story I just finished, no they do not wind up together. It was sad to write but it needed to be that way for now. Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:23:24 -0500 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1294207 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/romance/threads/47984?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1294207