Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to keep romance out of my novel?

Don't write it in. What readers do in their own fan responses is on them, not on you, and you can't prevent people from shipping anyone they like. But if you don't want canonical romance, just......

posted 5y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:47Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42387
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:56:31Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42387
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:56:31Z (over 4 years ago)
Don't write it in.

What readers do in their own fan responses is on them, not on you, and you can't prevent people from shipping anyone they like.

But if you don't want _canonical_ romance, just... don't put it in. Make sure your narrative voice doesn't talk about Kem in a way which could be interpreted as romantic or sexually attractive. Don't have romantic plots or interactions. Don't have characters attracted to Kem.

If Kem is aromantic and asexual, they could even lampshade it by discussing it with the other characters.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-20T17:10:38Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 15