My characters fell in love with each other...WHAT DO I DO?!

[Sapphi]

(Sorry for the silly title. I'm in a really good mood right now.)

So for the past few months, I've been working on a short (29k words atm) kinetic novel which wasn't really supposed to be a "romance" story. It's more of a "personal journey" style story involving a guy and a girl he meets who ends up teaching him a few things in the span of time that they know each other. (It's a "master and servant" story.) I didn't start writing with the intention for them to "fall in love", although I did know that by the end, the MC would be pretty attached to her in at least a platonic sense.

But it is extremely tempting to let it go further than that. Note my word choice of "let" instead of "make". The problem I have with this is that it seems slightly off-topic. The story isn't about romance and I don't want anything to feel tacked on, or like I let the story run away with itself. I'm a rather gushy person when it comes to pairings I like, and will often get really giddy about pairings that in canon are never implied to be more than platonic, so I'm having difficulty trusting my own judgment on this.

On the flipside, I don't want to leave readers banging their heads on their computer desks in frustration if two characters who, for lack of better wording, are "cute together", never get together. It is really terribly unfulfilling to watch this happen, and I want my story to be satisfying to read. As far as character motivations, it would make sense for the MC to refuse to manifest his love for the girl, but he could also very easily say "Screw it, I love you!" and derail the plot for a scene or two It wouldn't affect the way the story ends, so it's sort of open for me.

My dilemma right now is really "Will it make the story more powerful or will it cheapen it by giving the reader too much of a good thing?" Stories with sexual tension are fun to read, but if they get really tense and there's never a breaking point, that seems a little disappointing.

So, if any of that made sense, does anyone have any input? Do you think it's more powerful to leave things like that unresolved (and relegated to the genre of "doujinshi story")? It's what I'm currently leaning towards, but I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts.

[EternalDream]

For me:

- if they got together, I'd be happier at that moment but I probably won't remember the ending that much after
- If it was unresolved, I'd probably be depressed/disappointed/pissed, but after a few years, it'll probably be the only ending I remember out of a bunch of happy ones

Between the 2, I guess I'd want it unresolved if it was written well. But then again a happy ending's good too... Tsk, I'm indecisive about this I guess. IMO, they're both good ways to end it as long as it's written well enough and give the readers some kind of emotional feeling. -v-b

[Samu-kun]

I say let the characters do whatever they want to. They want to do it for a reason, so if you force things to happen as you want them, then you run the risk of having your story come off as being unnatural. At least just write to see what your character do first and then go back and edit it if you don't like it.

[LVUER]

Then just make two path. One where they fell in love with each other and the other one they're not. Isn't that what VN all about?

[clannadman]

Why don't you finish the story without the romance but at the same time release a special edition version where they end up together?

[number473]

This may not be useful, but I think that since you're the writer you should decide what happens. You know what the story is really about and what you are trying to accomplish with it, so only you can really know whether the romance aligns with your story or not. Since you're the one with the script in front of you, it's up to you to figure out which works best. Good luck!

[Greeny]

A well written story follows the natural flow of events in a setting.
You could have seen this coming. The characters would have fallen in love eventually if in this setting.
If you try to force a platonic relationship, the ending will feel unnatural.

[Alera]

Wow, I so know what you mean when your characters like...start acting on their own and things you didn't expect-just naturally happen.

But you sometimes have to scold them! Just a bit. Depending on your story. If your concept and the message in your story is different from what they do- then make them concentrate on what is more important. Romance still could be included, but maybe just as something suggestive? Without any deep meanings behind it, more like to leave it to the imagination of the reader?

[Taleweaver]

I think there is a REALLY good example for a story like this done extremely well: Kareshi Kanojo no Jijō, or His and Her Circumstances. It's a classis high-school romance manga in which the two protagonists fall in love and mutually accept each other's love after around 1/5th of the story. That's when the real trials and tribulations begin...

[Blue Lemma]

There are only two real options here.

1) Kill one

2) Start knocking some boots

.
..
...
....no? :p

All right, seriously, if the characters fell in love despite your original plans, that's probably how they should be (and it's probably what you wanted to write, on some level at least!) So roll with it and see what else they do I don't suggest branching off into two paths (platonic/romantic) because that will bloat the amount of work you have to do and make it more likely you lose interest and energy before finishing.

[Aleema]

I think this is a time when you should just not make any concrete decisions. People will hook them up on their own, and often, what's in people's head is greater than anything you could ever write for them. Leave it ambiguous, but room for the player to assume they're in love or will be, but not actually say it. Open endings are the ones that stay with you. Have him turn around about to say something to her, and then cut out (pure evvvil) or have them hug, but never say anything like "love".

[Sapphi]

@ LVUER and clannadman: I don't really want to do either of those things, since it is working very nicely as a KN and I want it to have a definite story... But thanks for the suggestions!

@ number473: This is true.. and when it comes to the stage where I recruit editors/testers I guess I can ask them what they think after reading it, too.

@ Alera: It's kind of fun, isn't it? Almost like you get to see the story from a readers perspective when it writes itself. :b

@ Blue Lemma: ... Thanks for the advice. (You're right... it is what I personally want to write )

@ Aleema: Noted. I am a fan of this technique for the reasons you supplied. ^0^

Thanks everyone for responding with your thoughts. Hopefully I can do this story justice with everyone's help! :b