Romantic Subplot: Why ARE they still here?

[matt0044]

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I think there’s something to be said, one that the video didn't touch upon, about how these subplots are widely unpopular with readers and yet so many writers seem to keep writing them. You’d think this go the way of the Dinosaur but somehow it endures.

I feel like this paradox is a result of what the writer wants clashing with what the story needs, especially in regards to the main A-plot. The writer wants to see these two characters grow but the stories got other fish to fry and they don’t exactly have time to really make the growth seem as natural as it needs to be.

Basically, the writer has the endgame ship on the brain... but not the actual game itself where the two gotta grow on each other. It almost seems like if you want a romance, you have to... not want a romance if that makes a lick of sense.

There's also the more... corporate side of this fallacy. Movies see romance as quintessential in order to make it a big seller because... the audience just eats it up or whatever.

This can overlap with the creative side where an insecure writer thinks that XYZ trope (like romance) is needed for the story they're weaving together. Rather than write from the heart, they write what they think will get the story sold. That or they're a sucker for these tried and true tropes no matter what. We all have one or two...

Note: please keep shipping discourse to yourself. I do NOT want to create one of THOSE threads.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Honestly, I don't think it's true that audiences hate romantic subplots. Sure, you and many others may groan at bland, forced, cliche romances, but why is that a romance problem? I'd call it a bad writing problem. Bland, forced, cliche - any component of a story can be these things. Good and interesting romances are enormously popular and will be forever.

I think the main failing of bad romantic subplots is not that they're rushed or anything, but that they're parasitic to the story. i.e. it's not part of the story, just kinda tacked on. The same is true of other stuff, too. If it's parasitic, it's superfluous. Are the goals and behaviour of the participants informed by the pairing? If not, why is it even there? The worst romantic subplots are the one in which the protagonist does whatever they were gonna do anyway, and gets a romantic partner as a reward. The best ones are when the two people both have each other as a priority, and it makes a meaningful difference.

 

[matt0044]

it's not part of the story, just kinda tacked on.

Yeah, there's often the feeling of "this aspect of the plot is only here because it's what the publisher thinks will sell" or "the author bit off more than they could chew in trying to tackle romance."