Characters in Love
So previously this week I’ve discussed real characters with real flaws and convincing antagonists. I thought I’d tackle the subject of romance and characters falling in love. Now, romance is a little tricky because what floats my boat might sink your ship, but I think we could all agree that a really well-executed romance between two (or more or whatever) really well-developed characters is pretty satisfying.
I love you so much. Once again, photo credit to Color Me Katie.
I am, at heart, a total romantic (or as Wicked Cool Riley says, I have a strong inner Marianne Dashwood). I love love stories! I love closing a book and feeling the little fluttery butterflies in my stomach that signal a really great romance. I’m such a girl, aren’t I?
They Get Each Other
I often write about topic of romance and I’ve laid out my issues/concerns before. But what makes a really good romance compelling is what makes any good relationship compelling. I’m just as invested in seeing a friendship work out, or for family members to come to a better understanding of one another, etc.
Falling in love is a process that is mysterious and seemingly arbitrary. I mean, when my Teddy Bear and I first met, we didn’t have anything in common. Not really. And yet. And yet, and yet, and yet. He told me he fell in love with me for my “free spirit”. (Um, thanks?) I fell in love with him because he could see past my frivolity to who I really was. We get each other. He might be a stoic, detached evil genius on the outside but he’s a total softie inside. I might be shallow and silly, but I’m more serious and philosophical than I might appear.
I want characters who fall love to get each other on a fundamental level, who can see past the masks, past the posturing, past the bullshit to who the other really is. (On a tangential note, this is why I’m TEAM PEETA. I believe he gets Katniss in a way that I don’t think Gale does.)
The Idealized Romantic Other
So. Right. The idealized romantic other is often the reason many love stories leave me feeling cold. What exactly constitutes an idealized romantic other? What do people mean by the terms “fantasy guy” or “fantasy girl”? Apparently they mean the Tortured Brooding Hero or the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. (Depending on the POV of the person falling in love.) I’m generalizing, of course, but really, the TBH and the MPDG appear with astonishing regularity in the fiction I read.
Look, I get the appeal, I really do. Fantasy tropes exist for reasons, yet I want characters to be whole people outside of their trope. Heavens, if you look at me and Bear, we could easily be categorized into “types” ourselves. Bear is clearly a Stoic with the Secret Heart of Gold and I’m a recovering Manic Pixie Dream Girl. These types have endured throughout the ages, so I would carefully think about how you subvert them. Just because it’s “popular” doesn’t mean it’s “bad”.
What makes an Idealized Romantic Other “bad” is when s/he seems like a cardboard cutout instead of a living, breathing person. There are a million Edward Cullen clones in the fiction world. But you know what? Edward Cullen is memorable (even if he’s, uh, not my idea of romantic and more my idea of get-a-restraining-order). I even know a few people like Edward myself. (Except for the vampire thing. Also, ladies, real life Edwards are not sexy; they are scary.)
Anyway, some thoughts about characters in love. Who are some of your favourite romantic couples and why?
This was a great post, and I agree whole-heatedly. Sometimes I think the weakest points in some of the books I’ve read is that the male is JUST a cardboard cutout. They don’t feel real or personable. And we as readers need that, so that we can feel like we know the person, and why they love the protagonist. Great post!
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Good point about Peeta!
No really great couples come to mind for me, unfortunately, except for Luke and Roxanne from Nora Roberts’s HONEST ILLUSIONS. But I don’t know if they are truly the only enduring characters-in-love for me, or if I’m just too distracted by my boyfriend and his buddy watching the Cavaliers v. Celtics game… :P
I think you’re right, though: it’s all (or at least a lot) about whether or not the couple “gets” each other. In real life and in fiction. I think that’s why Catherine and Heathcliff work in WUTHERING HEIGHTS, for example, even with all their (many) flaws.
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I’m a little late getting to this post, but I have to say that I love it. I agree that a good love story has got to be more than “s/he is the most idealized version of fe/male that I have ever met please marry me”. I like it when they love each other despite the faults and quirks and things that make other people go “huh? her/him? really?”
I think my favorite book couple (and this could be because I just finished reading it…again) is Auriane and Marcus from The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie. They are so completely mis-matched in their world, and everyone (including them) think they are crazy for loving each other, but they can’t help it. They love the quirks and faults and weird things about each other. And it makes their relationship feel so much more real, and I love to read about it :) (and their sex scenes aren’t bad either!)
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