tarantinofan asked: How would you got about writing a healthy, fluffy, passionate (both emotionally and physically), romantic couple???
Ohh, big question- and as ever I’m not sure how to answer nor do I feel particularly well qualified to do so, but I think the thing I focus on (and find most attractive in ships) is humour and respect. Allow them to be silly! Being in love makes you silly- don’t think it all has to be serious monologues and big gestures. Love can be unexpected, and the unexpected can make you laugh! It’s a reflex, to cope with the shock of it. How often have we seen the scene where one character does something silly, but basic, human, just a little slip, and we see the other character watching them laugh to themselves and then do the “…Oh.” reaction, because that’s when they realise they’re in love? It’s a trope, sure, but it moves us because it contains truth.
Respect simply means checking in; allowing each other to have enough space and say in decisions, to stop when asked to stop, and to ask before you start. All this really comes from the standpoint that I can’t really enjoy a couple unless I see them as being friends- I write ships as friends! There, I said it! That’s all it is! It might be a reluctant friendship sometimes, but if there is tension, sadness, or angst caught up in the mix, it doesn’t stem from negative emotions- it’s from a desire to create happiness in some way, or a desire for a happiness that ‘simply can’t happen’. Two people love each other, but don’t want to ruin a friendship by admitting it, so never tell one another = Sad, but from a positive place. I love him but going out with me would cause a rift between him and his family? Sad, but from a positive place. I love them but know they are going to have to leave, and causing that pain from separation would be cruel = SAD, but from a positive place!
Whether your couple has a happily ever after or not, having the emotions and motions of the characters originating from the desire to care for, understand, and make each other happy, will help create a healthy and interesting dynamic. That’s basically what I do, I think? But it’s hard to write about writing, I’m not very good at thinking about how I do it, I just sort of… do it.
EDIT: Touching! Someone reminded me I didn’t cover the physical deal- and while this varies depending on the personalities a little bit, honestly? Just. Let people touch each other. Don’t make a big deal about it- have them lean on each other from time to time, fall asleep on each other, brush something out of the other’s hair, or just heckin clamber over the other person to get the remote instead of asking them for it. Casual, funny, affectionate, not-related-to-sexual-intimacy-at-all touching is lovely and shows a high level of comfort and trust around each other. Also, if you have two characters who have been or are ordinarily very touch starved? It makes it very personal and emotionally profound to have them accepting and enjoying little gestures and ‘meaningless’ pieces of physical interaction- sure, show a progression if you need to, going from slight surprise or even flinching at being touched to becoming entirely fine with it (or not- some things might never be okay, and in that case you show the love by having the other character learn this and respecting that boundary), but really having that little bit of friendly, playful, or so-comfortable-around-them-they-don’t-even-think-about-it contact is very nice to see and I feel is something that needs to be represented much more in media.
