How do you avoid an instant romance?

How do you avoid instant romances in roleplays?

Instant romances in roleplays are, most of the time, quite boring - but sometimes hard to avoid. In movies and TV shows, I prefer slow burners over ‘love at first sight’, so how would you avoid instant romances in roleplays? For me, I think instant romances can be avoided by having a plan on what is going to happen between two characters, and then go from there - but I would love to hear other peoples methods/ideas!! (or even just your opinion on instant romances!)

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For me, some of the best romances that I’ve read or been involved with have been slow burners. I don’t think that you need to actually plan them out though. To me, a character relationship works best when they’re not planned and everything is organic, just like in real life. You can build off the other RPer’s responses without having to talk about it first.

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Make the happy-ever-after happen with the second love interest, not the first. Let a relationship develop between the MC and LI and then break them up, wait a few episodes/chapters and then introduce the real LI

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I agree with @CrazyCaliope. Just go with the flow, see which characters have a good chemistry.

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Uh… you know this is for RPs, right?

Yup, yup. Ooooh… I want to do an RP with you, maybe a 1x1. (smirk)

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I’m always up for both of those things ~

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Slowburns kill me slowly is also the reason for my existence haha. I think just not preplanning romantic relationships and if you find two characters that click you kinda draw it out, start with friends or kinda distantce on purpose. I purposefully make it so most of my characters are slow to come around to a romance with another character.

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Oof sorry :laughing:

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Oooh… Oooh… Really? Ya want to? I’m excited. PM me if you want to discuss one.

I love this! (wink)

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Sure ! I’ve never done 1x1 before though, fair warning. But I’d be very happy to try :rose:

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Yeah, haha :laughing: I love it because at one point I’m kinda trolling the creator of the opposite character and it’s funny to me. But especially if a romance starts too quick I kinda make the character like skittish around romance.

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Well I don’t do roleplays but for writing in general - I’d say to treat them like they’re just friends and then slowly build up their relationship. Also add plenty of conflict. A lot of the romance I liked was slow burners and there were some slow burners I hated because they didn’t have any conflict and everything just went smoothly along…

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I feel like I remember someone writing an awesome guide to slow-burners on Episode but I don’t remember who

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Think I might have found it?

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Also, if you want to do a slowburn but feel as if your partner is a bit too eager you could always PM them or just put on the chat in general that you’re more into slowburns and letting things occur naturally. In addition, often you want, when you’re avoiding an instant romance with a character, you also want to think of a hanging kind of like thing over their head. Often, most people aren’t going to jump into a relationships for various reasons. Focus on school, too shy, nervous, religon, values and much more. Really find out about what your character would avoid a relationship due to and play to and with it.

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The biggest key really is to just stay true to your characters. You can want your character to be in a romance with a specific character all day long, but you need to let it develop naturally.

Sometimes, it does happen fast for the characters, fast where many people would consider it an instant romance. However, it is fine if you aren’t forcing it and you have your character act as they normally would.

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just adding a couple tags

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Yeah, instant romances are usually something you should avoid because of how forced they might seem. Of course, that’s not to say that there can’t be whirlwind romances that happen very quickly, I’d just say they’re hard to do well.

Slowburns in general are, well, slow and can take a while, but reaching the peak of their relationship can be such a gratifying feeling. They’re realistic in a way too, as most people take the time to get to know people before diving into a relationship. Slowburns don’t have to be planned or thought beforehand either, sometimes they can be sort of spontaneous in a way as well. I find it best to just go with what feels natural with your character, instead of analyzing every detail of a potential relationship.

I do have to say, there’s nothing like a good lesbian slowburn :ok_hand:t5:

So, in your opinion, what would you classify an instant romance as?

  • A and B meet for the first time, and their chemistry is through the roof; it’s only a few posts later that they’re sharing their first kiss.
  • A and B have a couple of interactions with each other before they start feeling attracted to each other.
  • A and B first meet each other when they have a one night stand. Unable to forget their night together, they meet again a few days later, and the relationship builds from there.
  • The first person A meets in the roleplay is B, and they hit it off so well that they’re crushing on each other by the end of the interaction.
  • A and B start out as passionate enemies who secretly admire each other. Eventually, this expands into a romantic relationship.
  • A and B are forced into an arranged marriage neither of them wanted, but they soon begin developing feelings for one another.
  • A saves B from a near-death experience, and the adrenaline, fear and relief spark a romantic attraction between the two.
  • A and B first meet online. On a chance coinciding trip, they meet and fall in love, unaware that the other is the person they’ve been talking with online.
  • A and B’s relationship as best friends had been planned before the roleplay started. When they first interact, it seems like there might be something there that wasn’t there before.
  • A falls for B when B kills a bully that had been bothering A.

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I really like the concept of A and B seeming like the ‘main’ couple at the beginning, but then break up and remain that way for a long time, finding new lovers. Then suddenly they start coming back together.

e.g. BETTY AND ARCHIE

So it is kind of instant romance, but is stopped and then starts later again.

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Oooh yes that’s an interesting concept, I’d love to see something like that play out

Oop well that’s a pretty big spoiler for riverdale :full_moon_with_face: lmaoo

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