I, personally, am not a big fan of what most people call “Romantic”. It usually feels cheesy and unrealistic to me. There are lots of ways to love someone and Hollywood BS just isn’t what I go in for.
Hence I rarely, if ever, will watch/read/play something where the main plot element is romance. I’m not saying they’re bad (Even if their library of tropes seems very stale, cliché and unvaried), I’m just saying that ain’t for me, dawg.
That’s not to say I dislike all romance in fiction, however. Very rarely, I’ll come across a romantic sub-plot in a work I like that’s just perfect – I’ll take the example of Edward Elric and Winry Rockbelle. Throughout the story it’s made obvious that there is a romantic attraction there, but it isn’t dwelt upon, it isn’t over-dramatised and it certainly isn’t cheesy. (Seriously Ed, what sort of a proposal was that? You wallaby.) Another I liked was Yasuri Shichika and Togame in Katanagatari – it was a central element of the show, sure, but the romantic moments felt natural. Once you get past the whole “I am your sword” thing.
So what spurred this little talk? Well, the latest MLP comic has Celestia crying and saying “Tell them they have to save him . . . I love him . . . “
Excuse me?
This is exactly, precisely the kind of cheese that irritates me. Aside from the fact that this is pretty out of character for the thousand-year-old, benevolent, extremely emotionally stable, independent, has-other-more-important-shit-to-worry-about Princess Celestia, just . . . WHY? I could get a cheesy line like that by picking up any trashy paperback novel! You know what I can’t get? A story about colourful equines travelling to a dark parallel version of their world where everything’s screwed up! Can we not just focus on that? Does this really NEED to happen?
I usually engage in fictional works as a form of escapism. The closer to real life it is, the less likely I am to enjoy it. Here’s the thing: Romance works the same in every setting. Except maybe Mirai Nikki, that was fucked up (And I LOVE it.) But a cool fantasy setting has so much other stuff to talk about. You could be exploring characters in so many different ways, building a magical impression of this weird and wonderful world, but no, you’re handing out lines like “Tell them they have to save him . . . I love him . . . “.
This kinda links to why I don’t want to talk about romance, sexuality or gender in any of my work. I want to tread territories uncharted and I want to have characters define themselves by their personalities. I want to show my characters as independent people without people worrying about their “ships” for them. I also don’t like the idea that people would go down a checklist of my characters going “Yep, got that, got that, got that . . . not got that, ugh, how awful to not represent that group . . . got that . . . too much of that . . .” And you know they would. You see it happen constantly on bloody tumblr. I want my worlds and characters to explored for what and who they are, not what happens in them, or their attributes. But this is straying into another day and another cup of earl grey territory, so I digress.
I guess what I’m saying is this: I can’t tell you how to write your stories. But I’d advise two things: One, please don’t waste your incredible imagination. If you must have a romance, work extra hard to make sure you get the best out of the world it takes place in. Two, please don’t be cheesy.
This Hollywood idea of romance has polluted culture in a strange way. People internalise and idealise these unrealistic relationships and the drama that surrounds them and act surprised when it doesn’t work out how they thought it would. I hate seeing good works of fiction suddenly begin perpetuating that idea of what love is. It isn’t all tiddles and winks. It’s commitment. It’s mutual sacrifice. Sure it can be mushy and lovey-dovey if you want it to be; but if you don’t have that firm basis, it’s gonna fall apart like my trainers after that one really wet week where I had to walk a lot.
See you later; and don’t drive fast on the wrong side of the road. It’s dangerous.
Magic and Guesswork 
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