Jul 16 2009
How to Make Your Love Interest a Real Character
“Love interest” is a degrading term. It brings to mind the shiny-eyed chick, with nothing better to do than swoon over the hero and get kidnapped. But they don’t have to be like that! It only takes five steps to save the mandatory trophy girlfriend.
1. Make her her own character. Ask yourself what she’s like. Was your answer “she loves the hero very much”, or worse, something about her looks? Hard as it is to believe, she probably has a life beyond loving the hero. Find out what she’s like apart from him. Don’t think of her as a love interest. Think of her as a girl, who loves the hero. Develop her the same way you developed the heroes. Why does she act how she does? What makes her stand out?
2. Know why they fall in love. This is vital if they haven’t met in the beginning. Now, pick a movie with a romantic subplot. Any movie. Watch the scene where they meet. Chances are, there’s no meaningful interaction. They talk about nothing important…but he keeps eyeing her like he’s never seen a girl before. It doesn’t work that way.
I’ll admit it’s doable in movies, but it stands out like a sore thumb in written form. Look at it realistically. Ask yourself this: what originally drew them to each other? Was it a personality trait that attracted her to the hero? Why does he love her?
3. Know what makes the relationship tick. You may know why they got together. Why’d they stay together? What is the relationship like? Are they lovesick and in over their heads, or are they deeply romantic? Or maybe they just feel happy when the other room.
Do you really feel like they complete each other? Think about it. Look at them from an emotional standpoint and ask yourself who or what they need. If you don’t think they fulfill each other’s needs, think of how you can change them to fix that.
4. Make her add something. What does she contribute to the hero’s quest? If you could have the sidekick perform her actions, that’s bad. If you could easily replace her with a loaf of bread, that’s worse. If MJ just waits for Spider-Man while robbers loot her house, she may as well be out of town. But if she fights them off with the things in her bedroom, she makes an impact on the story by buying Spidey time.
5. Be sure you have room for romance! Too much is likely to grate on male readers, but a hot trophy girlfriend annoys everybody. Romance can make for a genuinely warm development arc. It can also be a meaningless distraction from the plot. If the romance adds nothing, but you want to keep the character, just make her a friend. If the character is that vital, she’s probably more important than the romance.
Thanks, I really needed this article.
There’s only one character in my series that I’ve added just for the sake of having a love interest, but she does get development. This article will be useful, thanks!
Thanx that was a great article and it help alot. but I have one question (sigh…I know, i always do sorry) i have a girl whos a superhero and is just basically motherly to the whole team shes in but one of her friends/team mate is rugged in aperrance (everyone screams when he enters a room) but is funny and mostly annoying but has a disire to help in anyway he can. She helpes him with school scince he cant go in a human one. Are they just too compatable?
Is the “love interest is a supervillain” angle plausible, or has it been too many times to use effectively?
I don’t want to step on Banana Slug’s toes here (she wrote this article), but personally I feel the supervillain-as-love-interest is workable. I suspect it’d be hard to write a story where the love interest (or the love interest’s alternate identity) is the main antagonist, though. So you’d probably want some other character as the obstacle between the two getting together–perhaps an overzealous/obnoxious superhero or another supervillain or a police leader?
PS: Great article, Banana Slug.
First off, I would like to say I’m finding all these articles EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you.
And also, I am impressed you know that special feature of the Bannana Slugs, which is why I think you featured it here.
You don’t want to know. I know you’re probably an adult, gotten sex ed, etc, but I’m telling you: you don’t want to know.
Also, I couldn’t describe it without being excessively vulgar, which I’m sure would not be appreciated.
I am searching for a unique twist on the love triangle cliche. As of now: the hero and his buddy encounter the love interest at the same time. (Her unique skills make her necessary to the plot) At first the hero denies any feelings of attraction but as soon as the buddy character forms a relationship with her the hero realizes he had deeper feelings and becomes jealous of them, straining the relationship and throwing the quest into jeopardy. Is that cliche?
It’s not cliche, but it’s not really a twist on the love triangle trope. Which of them gets the girl in the end?
One possible twist for a love triangle is that the love interest is both an initiator and a recipient. For example, maybe the sidekick falls in love with the love interest and the love interest falls in love with the main hero, but the hero is a Sherlock Holmes-type too cold to care. I think there’d be enough there to keep readers guessing. (Will she be able to change Sherlock enough that he falls for her? If she gives up, will Sherlock realize on his own what he was missing and try to win her back? Will she somehow choose Watson instead? Over the course of the book, does it become increasingly clear that she’d be much happier with Watson?)
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I think the standard love triangle has a conflict between two initiators fighting over the same recipient.
@ Salazaris
If you’re looking for twists on the love-triangle formula, the Triang Relations trope is your friend. There are no less than 13 different types you could use.
Whoaaaa! Now that is a helpful trope. I almost failed geometry, though. xP
@ Myna
Glad I could be of service.
@ Myna: The hero
@ Contra: That IS awesome, thanks! I’m still taking geometry…
@B. Mac: I like that idea a lot. I think I am going to review the mechanics of this love thing…
by the way I absolutely LOVE this website! So many great insights! Thanks!
@ Salazaris
I’m glad it helped you out.