How do I stop my characters falling in love?
So I'm writing a short story based in a WW2 American military base camp stationed in Germany. It's about A Jewish Soviet soldier that, with the help of an American soldier and a series of coincidences, switches his identity and slips into the American base and 'becomes one of them'.
When I started writing this it was meant to be a character study of the Russian soldier and his inner struggles of changing his entire life and his feelings on his past and thoughts about the war through his seasoned eyes coming to this camp filled with hot shots who really don't know what they're in for.
No matter how I try and write this I keep running into the same problem. The Nurse...
So the Nurse in the camp is supposed to just be there to help nurse the Russian soldier back to health after he injures himself in order to fake his identity to switch sides. The nurse and a small handful of Americans are the only ones who know his identity.
No matter what I do I can't help but make them fall in love. That wasn't my intention with the story. I even gave the Nurse a fiancé and that didn't seem to stop me. I think the reason it keeps happening is because I use her nurturing character as a building block for the Russians character.
He shares with her that he's Jewish and that his home town is currently posted by the Germans and how he worries for his family but deep down knows the worse has happened. He shares his traumas of war and since his character is vulnerable I can't stop writing him seeing her as a love interest.
This isn't a novel it's just a short story idea and I really can't seem to work it out. I guess I'm wondering how to work out these kinks and try and avoid any romance. Any help would be appreciated.
Why don't you make a large age difference between the soldier and the nurse? Like, a big age difference. Otherwise, wha …
5y ago
You could give the nurse a face that is well within the feminine range of faces, but reminds the soldier of a man that h …
5y ago
Give him another love. Does he have a girlfriend back in Russia? A fiancée? A wife? In any case, this is one of the as …
5y ago
You are letting the characters develop naturally, according to what feels right for them, rather than forcing them to co …
5y ago
Imagine the Nurse is a lesbian. In WW2 and in the military she wouldn't be "out", but it isn't like lesbians did not exi …
5y ago
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You could give the nurse a face that is well within the feminine range of faces, but reminds the soldier of a man that he knows very well.
At one of my assignments in the military there was a female officer who bore a striking resemblance to Robin Williams. This completely killed any unprofessional interest I may have had in her.
Another tack is to give her a physical quality that she has in common with his mother and sisters and with no other person he knows, so that he strongly associates this trait with women he cannot pursue to the point that he doesn't even look at her in this light.
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Give him another love.
Does he have a girlfriend back in Russia? A fiancée? A wife?
In any case, this is one of the aspects of his life that he struggles with (will he ever see her again? Does she think him dead?) and talks about with the nurse. Some of the nurse's personality traits might be ones that the soldier find attractive, but they keep bringing to mind bittersweet memories of the lady he has left behind, tinged with reminiscence and longing.
The nurse gave a small smile and a quiet laugh - a gentle tinkle in the hubbub of the ward. Timur paused, his face twisting simultaneously in pain and fond recollection; Inna used to laugh the same way, when she was truly amused. The memories were pleasant, yes, but after so long away... Her absence twisted in his chest like a knife in a wound.
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Why don't you make a large age difference between the soldier and the nurse? Like, a big age difference.
Otherwise, what if the nurse just isn't into your soldier? What if he chews too loudly and she finds him to be a slob? What if she has a hard time following his accented English? What if she's a staunch Catholic and she really isn't into anyone who isn't? What if he's an extrovert and she's an introvert? Or maybe she's not thinking about love during wartime at all.
Perhaps your nurse is dedicated to her job and not to the individuals she tends to as a nurse. She's built up a wall around her just to endure the pain of tending to people who are dying. The war has made her numb to love and all she wants is to go home and dedicate herself to her job. She becomes a top nursing professor when she gets back to the United States and becomes active in pacifist causes.
Who knows? You'll find out.
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You are letting the characters develop naturally, according to what feels right for them, rather than forcing them to conform to an abstract plot point. This is good, of course. Now, if you really need to stop your characters going in a particular direction, I don't think you should abandon your good method and switch to the bad one (forcing the plot onto the characters). I think you might find it suprisingly effective to let the characters themselves guide you in the right direction.
For example, consider the following exploratory writing process (not necessariy to produce the final draft, but to find solutions that you will then re-write): step (1), force the plot point onto the characters--even though they are developing such a strong and intimate relationship, romance is NOT developing; step (2), hang a lantern on it--e.g. have some other character urge the protagonist to start a relationship with the nurse ("Man, you two are made for each other, you should make a move" "I get that it might seem that way, and you know, I do love her as a friend, but I just can't see her that way"), step (3), have the two main characters themselves work through the issue, within the action of the story--they talk about it, admit to each other that their life would be so much impoverished without their friendship, and yet they agree that they feel no romantic interest, perhaps discovering this about each other to their mutual relief... And now they can actually have a conversation about it, talking about friendship and love and their feelings about her fiance and his lost family etc. And, quite likely, even though you, in the abstract, aren't sure what would stop the characters from becoming romantically involved, now, through the eyes of the characters, you can explain why this is the case most conclusively.
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Imagine the Nurse is a lesbian. In WW2 and in the military she wouldn't be "out", but it isn't like lesbians did not exist back then. Her fiancé is a ruse; I know single lesbians that still wear a wedding ring, an easy way to shut down male inquiries.
I will also note, not all lesbians are butch, there are many degrees of femininity in lesbians; gay terms for this are "high femme" (extremely feminine; frilly, dresses, heels, makeup), "lipstick lesbian" (presents as feminine as the average heterosexual woman), and even "soft butch", aka "tomboy lesbian" or "chapstick lesbian", dresses comfortably but halfway between female and male styles. (The scale is finished out with "butch" and "stone butch", presents as extremely male in appearance, haircut, no makeup, etc).
If the nurse is a closeted lesbian in WW2 presenting as a lipstick lesbian (as many lesbians did at the time), she would have zero sexual interest or attraction to your soldier, and would rely heavily on her fictitious fiancé to shut down any advances he made, quickly. she would not be flattered by his interest, she would see it as a threat. No smiles, no shy glances, just a shut down, every time.
"I am engaged, and in love with Roger. I can trade you to another nurse if you can't get that straight."
"Aw, I was just having some fun!"
"At my expense, and you wouldn't do it if Roger were standing here. At least, not twice. I'm just your nurse, not your girlfriend."
You don't have to ever say she's a lipstick lesbian, just think of her that way when writing her lines. Zero sexual interest or romantic attraction to the man, and she can't develop any.
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