Top 4 Romance Plots to Avoid
Guest Post: This post was written by romantic at heart, Ella Davidson. Davidson is a regular contributor for coupons and deals site, Coupons.org. Coupons was recently featured on the financial network, CNBC.
Romantic stories are a fantastic way to break the norm and to teleport you to a world that could have been, would be wonderful or some days just downright ridiculous. We all put ourselves in the shoes of the heroine (or hero, depending on the reader), idealizing the romance and longing for someone to go such lengths for us, or to be in love as deeply and passionately as the characters appear. However, romance stories aren’t all good, and reading or watching a bad one can be torturous, especially as there is still a part of you that wants to know how it all ends. Here is a selection of the four absolute worst romance plots that should be avoided at all costs.
- Woman from the city, man from the country
This works the other way around also, with the man from the city and the woman from a rural area. This plot line is unfortunately all too common and is rarely done well. Both rural and city environments (normally characters end up in both at one time or another) are broadly presented, abounding in clichés, and facts that are nothing like their real life counterparts. Often the character from the city will end up in the country, where they misunderstand a lot, do many things wrong, often wear the wrong shoes, bring the wrong clothes… is any of this sounding familiar yet?
- A big misunderstanding
All too often, the entire premise of a romance is based on the idea of a misunderstanding. This may be the reason that the characters are thrown together originally, or the male or female spends most, if not all, of the plot trying to hide something from their romantic partner. Eventually, of course, the whole thing comes crumbling down, someone leaves and either they return later or the other person chases them, and there is a big reuniting scene (often at the airport). These plots are irritating mostly because they are so unrealistic. If the characters sat down for five minutes, they could sort the whole thing out. Watching people go round in circles is not romantic and a fair indication that they would have troubles later in their relationship.
- ‘The one who really loved me was here all along’
Played time and time again, the idea of a best friend or similar character being the ultimate partner for the protagonist is all too common. Most of the plot tends to focus on the (doomed to failure) romance between the lead and another character, which the friend helps to set up. The audience is generally led to see fairly early on that the main character should be with the friend, but the character will generally not see this till right at the end. Characters in these plot lines seem to be perpetually stupid and reading or watching one is more an experience of grimacing than of any real enjoyment.
- The jerk that isn’t really a jerk
Alternatively, the character really is as mean as they appear, but the romantic interaction with the protagonist somehow changes them. Both variations are equally unbelievable, and more than a little hard to swallow. The jerk character (male or female) is presented as an enemy, often someone who the main character is afraid of, or intensely dislikes. Eventually, it all turns out to be a misunderstanding (see point two for the downside of those plot lines), or something changes. Regardless, everything is resolved in a nice, pretty way, and the character at end of the plot acts nothing at all like they did at the start.
Bad plot lines are the bane of us all. These are four examples of extremely painful plots, but of course there are many, many more. However, do be aware that a very talented author can take one of these (or any other) bad plot lines and change it in a way that it becomes interesting and well written. Generally speaking though, avoid these plot lines no matter what; you’ll be glad you didn’t waste your time.
References
- http://www.writing-world.com/romance/cliches.shtml
- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LoveTriangle
{ 1 comment }
Sorry, but I can’t agree. I have read many many of these kinds of stories. Some of these plots are exactly what make some of my favorite stories great. They make an excellent background for humor or drama and it really does depend on the author who is writing the story.
ANY plot can be turned into a bad story.