202 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
202 lines
13 KiB
Markdown
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# Lecture --- Romantic beats
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* Craft book - [*Romancing the Beat* by Gwen Hayes](http://gwenhayes.com/free-stuff/)
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* Diagram to go through the beats
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* Can be used for friendships/ace/aro, but example is not
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* Theme comes ready made - love conquers all, just need the two+ examples
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* In romance, there are at least 2 heros
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* Character is king
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* full arc, all the beats
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* Thinking of each character as protagonist helps with other genres
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* All beats are mirrored
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* Industry standard terms (meet cute) plus some changes.
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* Tool that plays well with other tools
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* space with it by design, gives room for other elements, combine with 3-act structure, etc
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* Some are scenes, some are just sentences
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* Path:
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* Each character's intro:
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* need a clear idea of them, no vagueness
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* Hint at the hole in their heart, their wound (snake fangs biting)
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* Goal/Agenda
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* bonus if that goal/agenda is in conflict with each other's
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* Cross paths, they need friction for sparks.
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* Should still have something to do with wounds
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* Intro is when characters are as far apart as they will be in terms of distance (emotional/reality)
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* Meet cute:
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* Sparks will fly
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* Memorable
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* Slice of life with a hitch - not just like every other day, even if still slice of life
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* Involve the senses - setting readers' anticipations for the rest of the book
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* Rooted in the bodies, even if not planning on having explicit sex
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* The two heros are in a room together for the first time we know of, so the reader wants to be there with them
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* No Way!! #1:
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* Walking away thinking "hmm, hmm...but no"
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* Usually (almost always) a line "I don't believe in love/will never love again/don't deserve love because..." and then backstory
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* False relief
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* That was interesting, but want to get back on track
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* This will be the farthest away from each other they'll ever get again; there's been a change
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* Trouble come, trouble go - they think they've dealt with it. Hitch is over with (false relief)
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* If you make it explicit, enables you to use refrain, repetition with a bit of change - doesn't work if you only hint
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* Internal plot (revelations about emotions) more important than surprise
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* Back on track with my life...
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* Stuck together (adhesion):
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* Neither can walk away from each other
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* Literal (snowed in, locked in) or figurative (have to rebuild, volunteering in an event, presentation at work)
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* Where you get to bring in all of your tropes (they can come in before in lesser way e.g: sunshine vs grumpy)
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* Not just metaphors that become cliche, but a storytelling device/shortcut/convention, manage the reader's comfort and surprise in order to build anticipation
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* (That was first 25%)
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* External goal:
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* First trouble came and went, now complicate things
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* Emphasis was internal prior to this
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* Time for all the endearing shit, both for audience and characters
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* Shows that them interacting could (maybe already is) make them better
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* This is the two-step, gotta be fun to watch
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* If beta readers say they don't buy the I-love-yous, this is probably the part to revisit. Tweaking these will help. But fuck that, leave that for editing
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* No Way!! #2:
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* Revisit/stop and think about #1
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* Maybe consider, but then!! "Eh, no way"
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* Really satisfying when it comes up
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* Should be mirrored, ideally for both people, or first No Way is for character A and this is character B (this loses the repetition, but this tool is made for a longer narrative, maybe not a short story where space is at a premium)
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* Smol but important: Inkling:
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* Both heroes witness something that happens which makes them wonder what being in love with this other person might be like
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* "I'm against the concept, but now that I've pictured it, oh shit"
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* They've said No Way!!, but it's too late, they've pictured it
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* Good place for callbacks
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* For real:
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* Slow slide towards bone town
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* Desire becoming specific
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* Offering glimpses of who the other is
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* Dripping out backstory (not everything)
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* Not necessarily wrong about you, but now I'm getting to know you
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* Starts to soften up the No Way!!s
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* Can't deny the other person is more than their internal arguments - not just arguing against yourself, arguing against evidence
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* Room for desire
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* Here is where the external can distract/interrupt them - bit cheap to do it before here, may distract too soon from backstory
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* But not too much because:
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* (first 50%)
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* Bone town:
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* Sex at 60 pages
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* Either first time they have sex or, if they've had sex before (sure, let them hook up!) this time is whoa different
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* Bonfire of intimacy
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* High high, such a high high that it is the false high of the story
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* The *intimacy* is not false, but this feels like the solution yay I'm fixed
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* The issue is that the gates of their hearts are open but the walls have to come down
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* Still defensive of their tender wounds
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* But because we are cruel gods...
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* Seed of doubt:
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* Just a small bit of real estate
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* A sucker punch and reminder of their wound (still there and painful) even though they're getting closer
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* Don't linger, it's quick
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* Hell, it can happen right there on the pillow
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* Dark vines of doubt (bummer vine):
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* Stretch out these No Way!!s, basically a big ol #3
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* They're trying to make it seem like they're farther apart even though they've gotten close
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* The internal is intruding now, interrupting the narrative they think they're living:
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* Wallow #1:
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* Explicitly say it (to themselves or someone else)
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* Name the hole/fear/wound that's in their heart
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* Name it fully, explicitly, they can't ignore it anymore
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* "I knew better than to believe in love/love again/deserve love, because when I let my guard down, this happens"
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* Immediate retreat:
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* Stings really bad
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* Make the reader feel it
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* There's no more subtext because now we know the text of their backstory
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* They're not healed yet. They're stucked together or haven't expressed their doubts to each other
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* Love conquers all, but it's on the hero to heal themselves
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* The other person isn't going to fix the hole, love is
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* Choose fear:
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* I could choose love or fear, ding, gonna choose fear
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* This is the breakup, or if they've already broken up, this is when we feel it
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* Wallow #2:
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* (colors go from sexy sunset to dark skies)
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* Long dark night of the soul
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* Rock bottom
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* They made the choice, they each have to feel it
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* Now they have to understand what they did
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* Have to say out loud "I hecked up, that was a mistake"
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* Good place to say it to others because this is when they're willing to listen to advice
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* Won't solve everything, they have to heal themselves
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* You've already created all of these footholds to get out of the wallow-pit: all of the endearing shit from earlier
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* Callbacks are key, offer opportunities to drag themselves out
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* Take an ax to the vines, and...
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* I choose love:
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* A second choice: this time choose love
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* Realization and exhilaration: oh my god, I love Josh, 100% butt crazy in love
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* Sets up all the nervous risk
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* Internal, but explicit, no prevarications
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* Gotta do something about it, has to be a sentence
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* Helpful to connect an internal decision to something external/concreate (e.g: they were fighting over the last book in a store, "I'll give you the book because it's more important that you have it", signifies their internal choice)
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* Very last far point, planning and risking:
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* They're all in!
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* They've chosen love
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* May not be together on the page
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* There has to be risk - they don't know if it will work, the cost will be big
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* Both of them are doing this (maybe not at the same time)
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* Grand gesture:
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* Never been kissed, asks #1 to kiss #2, risk of rejection
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* Trying to tell the person they're in love with "I value you, I love you, most importantly I see you and am putting myself on the line for you"
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* Could be one for each:
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* One could be qualified yes could lead to a second gesture - "Yes but I'm not ready" "yes but there's still a problem"
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* happens at the same time
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* One big moment that ends in...
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* YES:
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* YES
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* Payoff:
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* Shows what the relationship would be like
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* A snapshot of life of them together
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* A freeze-frame of them being together
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* I'm proving that I'm going to work on my wound so that you can work on yours
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* Epilogue/hope:
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* *always* in romance as a genre
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* Payoff was what happens after the YES
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* Happily ever after or at least happily for now
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* Hope for the future. The spark lives on
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* Not perfect, but they can grow together - sparks still require friction
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* Reward for all the angst you've put the reader through
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* Big parts are the nodes where they come together, but don't forget the space apart
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* Need to have really good wounds for both protagonists because that's how they land
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* Courtesy of treating each character as a protagonist - character is king
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* A model like this frees you up to focus on the character, adds richness
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* Repetitions add emphasis/discovery/depth make it feel less clunky
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* Indulge in the rigidity of the tool to play with it - two characters bound to each other through all stages of growth
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* Works for friends, anyone bound together
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* Use it to start from scratch, or maybe you already have a draft and need some help shoring it up
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* Consider with multiple partners, all of the different shapes! Could have a braid shape or a spiral shape or argyle
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* Start in any direction, hop on at any node and work backwards or forwards
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## Additional notes
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* Gives you ideas for shorter narratives: show a chunk of the caduceus in a short story:
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* some sections more satisfying (if you end on the wallow, that's mean or not a romance)
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* from meet cute to first trouble come/go
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* stuck together to bone town
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* stuck together to I choose love so long as you imply what it might be)
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* For crush:
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* The author knows, but maybe the character doesn't
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* Audience might pick up some of the mirroring, wonder if it's as unrequited as it seems
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* Rejection? Maybe, or could just end earlier like Choose Love
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* Reader may not see other character, but author knows to generate angst
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* Stretch out timing for the spaces (stuck together, but takes foreeeever to get to bone town)
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* Character that feels their love is unrequited, but ends in intimacy and truth
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* Oh...we know each other, uh...okaaaay let's go from here
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* Allowed to keep secrets from the reader for hero #2, but when they're shown, they have to be there, #1 can miss them
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* The grand gesture for poly romance:
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* Fiction and real life not exactly the same thing
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* Some sort of public action (maybe not hyperpublic, but witnessed) because there's no going back
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* You're saying "I'm willing to risk myself for you because I'm seeing you fully and I love it"
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* Maybe coming out and saying these are my boyfriends is maybe not the best because that's kind of a coming out story
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* Each character gets a snake
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* Don't have to dive super into every character's path, but author has to know
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* Has have to tailor to a basic structure (e.g: plan is everyone huge dinner at big restaurant with something everyone loves; all going to LARP and they all have feelings)
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* Some members of the relationship team up for the final grand gesture to get the last person in
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* Celebrate the complexity
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* What if the snakes are couples (e.g: one person trying to come in and the couple trying to bring them in)
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* Caduceus connecting to another snake part way through, or two caduceuses connecting, intersecting at the seed of doubt leading to stuck together
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* Maybe there's another wound there if you go into a second book? Past or new trauma - maybe we only got to bone town and are just realizing that
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* romantic tragedy, caduceus joining with another going in the opposite direction, break-up and new relationship at the same time
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* Specialized form of a very generalized character arc - this one is just fitted to romance, the beats in that order:
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* "Limerent Object" - that's a breakup story, so plotting a caduceus in reverse might help restructure the story
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* Same could be done for a character and a job or character and city, and the job/city are essentially personified
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* If you break the tool, it's still super useful, you just may not be writing a romance. Just using it to make the characters the most important part of the story by giving them stages to grow through
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