80 + Barriers to Love: A List of Ideas to Keep Romantic Tension High
June 27, 2014
Keeping Romantic Tension Alive
One thing that every romance writer faces especially when writing a series, is how to keep a couple apart. It’s a difficult thing to accomplish and readers hate it, but it’s a necessary thing. Otherwise the tension is gone and your readers walk away disappointed.
I am a huge fan of a television show called Moonlighting with Bruce Willis and Cybill Sheperd. I loved, loved, loved watching every week to see if they were finally going to be together. For years they dangled the relationship and tantalized viewers until we finally got what we wanted and the couple got married. Then, guess what happened? The ratings fell and the show was cancelled.
This is something nobody wants. I love Happily Ever After endings as much as the next person but to get there too early is to kill the romance. For me, this happened in Twilight. When Edward and Bella got married in the beginning of Breaking Dawn, I felt like Edward disappeared and mainly became a tortured man wringing his hands on the couch.
Thankfully Jacob was still around.
You see where I’m going with this right?
So, without further ado, here is the list I’ve compiled from various internet searches and from my own experience, not personal experience. At least not all of them. I meant my experience as a writer. I’ve basically divided the list into two categories-Physical Barriers and Emotional Barriers.
EMOTIONAL BARRIERS
- Dishonesty
- Problem with Touch
- Instability
- Distrust
- Grief
- Social or Business Rivalry
- Fear of Intimacy
- Sacrifice Love for Something Else
- Not Self Actualized
- The Friend Zone
- Feelings of Unworthiness
- History of Abuse
- Unforgiving
- Disappointment
- Inability to Communicate
- Forbidden Relationship
- Competition
- Value Conflict
- Control
- Comparison
- Misunderstanding
- Unpopularity
- Secrets
- Fear of Being in Public
- Evil Ex
- Inability to Forgive
- Disapproving Parents
- Age Difference
- Fear of Abandonment
- Cultural Conflict
- Religious Conflict
- Arranged Relationship
- Mistaken Identity
- Class Differences
- Pretend Relationship
- Hubris
- Fear of Commitment
- Fear of Rejection
- Taming of the Shrew Syndrome
- Poor vs Rich
- Inflexibility
- Overdependency
- Guilt
- Prejudice
- Grudge
- Anxiety
- Jealousy
- Denial
- Stubbornness
- Mistrust
- Influence of Friends or Family
- Biological Clock is Ticking
- Romance Not a Priority
- Work Conflict
- Inability to Choose
- Feelings for Another Person
- Fighting or Arguing
- Depression
- Disloyalty
- Race Differences
- Stonewalling
- Unfaithfulness
- Self-Sabotage
PHYSICAL BARRIERS
- Disfigurement
- Physical Separation
- Death
- Injury
- Transformation
- Illness
- Coma
- Mental Lapse
- Kidnapping
- Doppelganger
- Inability to Cross Boundaries
- One or Both People Doesn’t Have a Physical Body
- Different Species (Alien, Shifter, Vampire, Mermaid, etc.)
- Cannot Survive/Thrive Where Their Love Interest Lives
- Contagion/Disease
- Pain/Discomfort
- Chemical Dependency
- Issues with Intimacy
- Cognitive Disorders
I hope this lists helps. I know I often wrack my brain trying to come up with yet another way to torture my star-crossed lovers. This list is a work in progress so if you have thought of something I’ve missed, please leave a comment and let me know what it is.
I think it’s time to head back to my book now to throw another problem at my heroine and see how she deals. =)
This entry was posted in Writing Advice, Writing Tools.
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