Yesterday I went over the first element of a believable romantic relationship: characteristics; qualities in each character that would understandably draw them to one another.? Today, I?ll go over the second one: obstacles ? are these realistic obstacles that could prevent them from falling in love?
The obstacle in a romantic relationship should meet three requirements:
- Realistic ? it could actually happen to these two people
- High stakes ? it has to put the relationship in jeopardy
- Surmountable ? it has to be resolved by the end so that they reunite stronger
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Realistic
Realistic doesn?t necessarily mean it could happen in every day life, but rather that it could happen in the world you created for your characters.
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. The obstacle is kind of ridiculous: while she pretends to date him only to lose him, he pretends to date her to try to get her to fall in love with him.? As a result, these two lies prevent them from being together even though they ARE in fact together.? Would this scenario happen in real life?? Most likely not.? Is it believable?? Perhaps, considering the wacky world these characters inhabit isn?t particularly realistic.? If their world were more grounded, it would be a bit far-fetched.
When Harry Met Sally.? Like any other man and woman, their obstacle is sex.? Neither one of them finds the other remotely attractive so they remain friends.? In their world, as these characters established, friends do not become lovers.? Men and women cannot be friends and yet here they are, friends for years.? But what happens when they have sex?? It puts their relationship at risk.? Realistic?? Absolutely.? The world in which these characters inhabit is extremely grounded.? Everyone can relate to a situation like this.
High Stakes
The obstacle between them must put the relationship in jeopardy.? There?s a very strong possibility that once the truth comes out, this relationship as it stands is doomed.
Lose A Guy.? When the truth about their mutual game-playing comes out, it splits them apart, which realistically would happen if you discovered you had been manipulated, lied to and publicly humiliated.? Their relationship ends.? It has to because it was built mostly on a lie on both sides.? The only way for their relationship to survive is for the farce to end so they can start anew based on what was real ? their love.? Aw.
Harry & Sally.? Their friendship, which they created over the past several years is what?s at stake.? Not only that, but ego is on the line.? Harry said up front that men and women can?t be friends and Sally disagreed.? They spent their entire friendship denying the possibility that they would be a suitable match. ?The obstacle between them is sex and once they have it, their relationship too dies.? Friends (well, friends in the 80s) don?t have sex.? What are they now?? Their friendship has died but they?re not dating, they?re not together, so where does it go from here?? It can only either become a full-fledged relationship or nothing at all.
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Surmountable
Your characters cannot live happily ever after if their issues can?t be resolved. ?So the thing that stands between them has to be strong enough to divide them, yet not so dreadful to keep them from reconciling.
Lose A Guy.? It?s pretty awful to be publicly humiliated, lied to and manipulated however, because they both did the exact same thing to each other, how could they not forgive one another?? But the only reason they would even consider reconciling is because there were genuine moments between them, which made them fall in love.? Without the strength of their genuine relationship, there?s no way either one of them would go back to the other.
Harry & Sally.? They had sex.? They agreed it was a mistake, but to Sally, it wasn?t.? Harry figured they could go back to the way things were, but their friendship was over; they couldn?t go back.? Harry knew she had already been rejected by one man who didn?t see her as marriage material and Harry was her best friend.? That?s a pretty profound rejection.? The only thing that could make her forgive him is if he genuinely loved her and told her in a way that made her believe it, which is what he did.
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Misunderstandings
Obstacles in romantic comedies are often mistaken for ?misunderstandings?.? Misunderstandings are fine, but are typically flimsy and circumstantial.? They?re usually way too easy to resolve, the stakes aren?t that high because the misunderstanding is so weak it would never seriously threaten the relationship.? If your obstacle is a misunderstanding, tie it to character so that it makes sense for that character to think that way.
Pride & Prejudice is a prime example of a great misunderstanding.? Elizabeth took Mr. Darcy to be proud and arrogant which was why she took an instant dislike to him, she was misinformed of an event pertaining to her sister and Mr. Wickham, which cemented her opinion against him.? Once she discovered the truth of who he was and that he was indeed of fine character, she couldn?t help but realize her genuine love for him.
Since Bridget Jones is based on Pride & Prejudice, it has a similar foundation of misunderstanding where Bridget believes Mr. Darcy cheated with Daniel?s wife on his wedding night and left him broken-hearted, when in fact it was the other way around.
Tomorrow?part 3
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