Are All Romances Cliché?

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Originally Posted by Death's Spook

The trick is to get past the infatuation stage.

Now, that's waaaaay easier said than done. Infatuation is the "romantic" part of a romantic relationship. It's the part most stories are written about: it's literally an addiction to the other person's presence. So why do I say get past it?

Because for a romantic relationship to REALLY work, there has to be some idea of balance. One partner tends to daydream, the other tends to pull them back to reality, and in turn, the first partner encourages the second to dream. One partner has really powerful emotions while the second is more logical, but that first partner also gives the second encouragement to experience emotions more deeply. One is an optimist who hopes, the other a pessimist preparing for the worst. Etc. Balance lets both partners grow together into a stronger whole, and that is what lets a relationship persist, and also keeps it interesting.

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That's actually a great point. xD Most books/movies focus on the "getting together" part and once that happens it's like "happily ever after". But really that's the EASIEST part of real relationships. xD

That's true. You don't see many Romance stories focus on struggles AFTER getting together. The few I've seen sort of came on me by surprise and all of them were quite good an mature. Though if you're not looking for a mature audience, well...

Yeah, that's another big problem with stories about romance: once the wedding bells ring the whole thing is treated as a grand finale instead of the beginning of a new adventure (which is what it actually is in real life).

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Originally Posted by Noblejanobii

Yeah it's more of one of those things where the guy is just patiently admiring the girl from a distance because he doesn't want to force her to make a decision. It's not really a major theme for the story as a whole but rather just a detail for their character interactions. I can't go into huge detail without going on a long winded explanation but to make it short the girl has a variety of reasons as to why: a) she hasn't noticed the guy likes her and b) the guy hasn't approached her about his feelings. The stories they are in more or less focuses on something else (like this one is about them being abducted by a theater ghost and being forced to perform a play) but I don't want their interactions to be too predictable because of their relationship.

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What about this? Does it sound cliche?

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Originally Posted by Noblejanobii

What about this? Does it sound cliche?

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I think it depends how you portray it in the actual story. You could easily turn it into a more cliche scene of one person liking an oblivious person, but at the same time you could turn it into a much more realistic and mature story, which while it isn't really new it's certainly a lot less cliche than the first due to its realistic and mature qualities.

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Originally Posted by Morzone

I think it depends how you portray it in the actual story. You could easily turn it into a more cliche scene of one person liking an oblivious person, but at the same time you could turn it into a much more realistic and mature story, which while it isn't really new it's certainly a lot less cliche than the first due to its realistic and mature qualities.

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Yeah I can see it. It's certainly not the first case because the girl is not that dumb. She's just got a lot on her mind that she doesn't really stop to consider things like romance for herself. You know those people that put work and family and friends before their own wellbeing. That's her.