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A story I'm working on features a "slow burn" type romance with a long build-up. The arc begins with (what's mean to be) obvious attraction, and proceeds through a long period in which the female p...
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T03:38:12Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/12433 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
lea
·
2019-12-08T03:38:11Z (over 4 years ago)
A story I'm working on features a "slow burn" type romance with a long build-up. The arc begins with (what's mean to be) obvious attraction, and proceeds through a long period in which the female protagonist is strongly opposed to starting a relationship. Meanwhile the male love interest is persistently flirtatious. From experience, I know that romances that start from more-or-less antagonistic relationships can work very well, or they can work very poorly. I'm just having a hard time pinning down the tipping point between good and bad. At what point does a reader start thinking the love interest is a nuisance, or the heroine is annoyingly indecisive? Will my readers lose respect for the heroine if she "gives in" and initiates a relationship? Or will they be annoyed by how long she was holding out? What are the signs that the characters engaging in playfully antagonistic flirting aren't being very playful?
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2014-07-20T19:59:42Z (almost 10 years ago)
Original score: 3