<li>Usually (almost always) a line “I don’t believe in love/will never love again/don’t deserve love because…” and then backstory</li>
<li>False relief</li>
<li>That was interesting, but want to get back on track</li>
<li>This will be the farthest away from each other they’ll ever get again; there’s been a change</li>
<li>Trouble come, trouble go - they think they’ve dealt with it. Hitch is over with (false relief)</li>
<li>If you make it explicit, enables you to use refrain, repetition with a bit of change - doesn’t work if you only hint</li>
<li>Internal plot (revelations about emotions) more important than surprise</li>
<li>Back on track with my life…</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Stuck together (adhesion):<ul>
<li>Neither can walk away from each other</li>
<li>Literal (snowed in, locked in) or figurative (have to rebuild, volunteering in an event, presentation at work)</li>
<li>Where you get to bring in all of your tropes (they can come in before in lesser way e.g: sunshine vs grumpy)</li>
<li>Not just metaphors that become cliche, but a storytelling device/shortcut/convention, manage the reader’s comfort and surprise in order to build anticipation</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>(That was first 25%)</li>
<li>External goal:<ul>
<li>First trouble came and went, now complicate things</li>
<li>Emphasis was internal prior to this</li>
<li>Time for all the endearing shit, both for audience and characters</li>
<li>Shows that them interacting could (maybe already is) make them better</li>
<li>This is the two-step, gotta be fun to watch</li>
<li>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</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>No Way!! #2:<ul>
<li>Revisit/stop and think about #1</li>
<li>Maybe consider, but then!! “Eh, no way”</li>
<li>Really satisfying when it comes up</li>
<li>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)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Smol but important: Inkling:<ul>
<li>Both heroes witness something that happens which makes them wonder what being in love with this other person might be like</li>
<li>“I’m against the concept, but now that I’ve pictured it, oh shit”</li>
<li>They’ve said No Way!!, but it’s too late, they’ve pictured it</li>
<li>Good place for callbacks</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>For real:<ul>
<li>Slow slide towards bone town</li>
<li>Desire becoming specific</li>
<li>Offering glimpses of who the other is</li>
<li>Dripping out backstory (not everything)</li>
<li>Not necessarily wrong about you, but now I’m getting to know you</li>
<li>Starts to soften up the No Way!!s</li>
<li>Can’t deny the other person is more than their internal arguments - not just arguing against yourself, arguing against evidence</li>
<li>Room for desire</li>
<li>Here is where the external can distract/interrupt them - bit cheap to do it before here, may distract too soon from backstory</li>
<li>But not too much because:</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>(first 50%)</li>
<li>Bone town:<ul>
<li>Sex at 60 pages</li>
<li>Either first time they have sex or, if they’ve had sex before (sure, let them hook up!) this time is whoa different</li>
<li>Bonfire of intimacy</li>
<li>High high, such a high high that it is the false high of the story</li>
<li>The <em>intimacy</em> is not false, but this feels like the solution yay I’m fixed</li>
<li>The issue is that the gates of their hearts are open but the walls have to come down</li>
<li>Still defensive of their tender wounds</li>
<li>But because we are cruel gods…</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Seed of doubt:<ul>
<li>Just a small bit of real estate</li>
<li>A sucker punch and reminder of their wound (still there and painful) even though they’re getting closer</li>
<li>Don’t linger, it’s quick</li>
<li>Hell, it can happen right there on the pillow</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Dark vines of doubt (bummer vine):<ul>
<li>Stretch out these No Way!!s, basically a big ol #3</li>
<li>They’re trying to make it seem like they’re farther apart even though they’ve gotten close</li>
<li>The internal is intruding now, interrupting the narrative they think they’re living:<ul>
<li>Wallow #1:<ul>
<li>Explicitly say it (to themselves or someone else)</li>
<li>Name the hole/fear/wound that’s in their heart</li>
<li>Name it fully, explicitly, they can’t ignore it anymore</li>
<li>“I knew better than to believe in love/love again/deserve love, because when I let my guard down, this happens”</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Immediate retreat:<ul>
<li>Stings really bad</li>
<li>Make the reader feel it</li>
<li>There’s no more subtext because now we know the text of their backstory</li>
<li>They’re not healed yet. They’re stucked together or haven’t expressed their doubts to each other</li>
<li>Love conquers all, but it’s on the hero to heal themselves</li>
<li>The other person isn’t going to fix the hole, love is</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Choose fear:<ul>
<li>I could choose love or fear, ding, gonna choose fear</li>
<li>This is the breakup, or if they’ve already broken up, this is when we feel it</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Wallow #2:<ul>
<li>(colors go from sexy sunset to dark skies)</li>
<li>Long dark night of the soul</li>
<li>Rock bottom</li>
<li>They made the choice, they each have to feel it</li>
<li>Now they have to understand what they did</li>
<li>Have to say out loud “I hecked up, that was a mistake”</li>
<li>Good place to say it to others because this is when they’re willing to listen to advice</li>
<li>Won’t solve everything, they have to heal themselves</li>
<li>You’ve already created all of these footholds to get out of the wallow-pit: all of the endearing shit from earlier</li>
<li>Callbacks are key, offer opportunities to drag themselves out</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Take an ax to the vines, and…</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>I choose love:<ul>
<li>A second choice: this time choose love</li>
<li>Realization and exhilaration: oh my god, I love Josh, 100% butt crazy in love</li>
<li>Sets up all the nervous risk</li>
<li>Internal, but explicit, no prevarications</li>
<li>Gotta do something about it, has to be a sentence</li>
<li>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)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Very last far point, planning and risking:<ul>
<li>They’re all in!</li>
<li>They’ve chosen love</li>
<li>May not be together on the page</li>
<li>There has to be risk - they don’t know if it will work, the cost will be big</li>
<li>Both of them are doing this (maybe not at the same time)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Grand gesture:<ul>
<li>Never been kissed, asks #1 to kiss #2, risk of rejection</li>
<li>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”</li>
<li>Could be one for each:<ul>
<li>One could be qualified yes could lead to a second gesture - “Yes but I’m not ready”“yes but there’s still a problem”</li>
<li>happens at the same time</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>One big moment that ends in…</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>YES:<ul>
<li>YES</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Payoff:<ul>
<li>Shows what the relationship would be like</li>
<li>A snapshot of life of them together</li>
<li>A freeze-frame of them being together</li>
<li>I’m proving that I’m going to work on my wound so that you can work on yours</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Epilogue/hope:<ul>
<li><em>always</em> in romance as a genre</li>
<li>Payoff was what happens after the YES</li>
<li>Happily ever after or at least happily for now</li>
<li>Hope for the future. The spark lives on</li>
<li>Not perfect, but they can grow together - sparks still require friction</li>
<li>Reward for all the angst you’ve put the reader through</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Big parts are the nodes where they come together, but don’t forget the space apart</li>
<li>Need to have really good wounds for both protagonists because that’s how they land</li>
<li>Courtesy of treating each character as a protagonist - character is king</li>
<li>A model like this frees you up to focus on the character, adds richness</li>
<li>Repetitions add emphasis/discovery/depth make it feel less clunky</li>
<li>Indulge in the rigidity of the tool to play with it - two characters bound to each other through all stages of growth</li>
<li>Works for friends, anyone bound together</li>
<li>Use it to start from scratch, or maybe you already have a draft and need some help shoring it up</li>
<li>Consider with multiple partners, all of the different shapes! Could have a braid shape or a spiral shape or argyle</li>
<li>Start in any direction, hop on at any node and work backwards or forwards</li>
</ul>
<h2id="additional-notes">Additional notes</h2>
<ul>
<li>Gives you ideas for shorter narratives: show a chunk of the caduceus in a short story:<ul>
<li>some sections more satisfying (if you end on the wallow, that’s mean or not a romance)</li>
<li>from meet cute to first trouble come/go</li>
<li>stuck together to bone town</li>
<li>stuck together to I choose love so long as you imply what it might be)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>For crush:<ul>
<li>The author knows, but maybe the character doesn’t</li>
<li>Audience might pick up some of the mirroring, wonder if it’s as unrequited as it seems</li>
<li>Rejection? Maybe, or could just end earlier like Choose Love</li>
<li>Reader may not see other character, but author knows to generate angst</li>
<li>Stretch out timing for the spaces (stuck together, but takes foreeeever to get to bone town)</li>
<li>Character that feels their love is unrequited, but ends in intimacy and truth</li>
<li>Oh…we know each other, uh…okaaaay let’s go from here</li>
<li>Allowed to keep secrets from the reader for hero #2, but when they’re shown, they have to be there, #1 can miss them</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The grand gesture for poly romance:<ul>
<li>Fiction and real life not exactly the same thing</li>
<li>Some sort of public action (maybe not hyperpublic, but witnessed) because there’s no going back</li>
<li>You’re saying “I’m willing to risk myself for you because I’m seeing you fully and I love it”</li>
<li>Maybe coming out and saying these are my boyfriends is maybe not the best because that’s kind of a coming out story</li>
<li>Each character gets a snake</li>
<li>Don’t have to dive super into every character’s path, but author has to know</li>
<li>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)</li>
<li>Some members of the relationship team up for the final grand gesture to get the last person in</li>
<li>Celebrate the complexity</li>
<li>What if the snakes are couples (e.g: one person trying to come in and the couple trying to bring them in)</li>
<li>Caduceus connecting to another snake part way through, or two caduceuses connecting, intersecting at the seed of doubt leading to stuck together</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>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</li>
<li>romantic tragedy, caduceus joining with another going in the opposite direction, break-up and new relationship at the same time</li>
<li>Specialized form of a very generalized character arc - this one is just fitted to romance, the beats in that order:<ul>
<li>“Limerent Object” - that’s a breakup story, so plotting a caduceus in reverse might help restructure the story</li>
<li>Same could be done for a character and a job or character and city, and the job/city are essentially personified</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>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</li>
