5 Essential Things For A Shippable Romance [In My Opinion]

 Hey, everyone! If you don't mind me asking, how has your Valentine's Day been so far? Mine's been awesome. My family and I have been having a Harry Potter movie marathon with lots of snacks [including butterbeer! Which is amazing], so it's been lots of fun.

Today's post isn't necessarily tips for writing good, solid, shippable romantic relationships. Instead it's five things that need to happen for me to ship a couple. I think.

#1: It Needs Good Dialogue

Yes, that's right. To me, dialogue is really important for pretty much every aspect of a book/movie/show/musical/etc, but especially for romances. 

For example, a couple with plenty of witty/snarky banter can be lots of fun, because, hey, maybe they aren't super sappy. Maybe they express their love in a different way than the norm. And that's great.....until it starts to sound like they hate each other. There is definitely a difference between playful snark and mean snark, except it seems like some writers don't see that. Even if they're both snarky and sarcastic, they still care about each other. 

This can also go really far in the other way. There's a difference between a sweet line that has people fawning over it saying, ''Awwww'', and a sweet line that makes people gag because it's just too sappy. You need balance. Some couples are going to be more sweet and mushy, and others more sharp and snarky. There also needs to be balance in the way it's written.

#2:It Needs To Have Chemistry

Despite the fact that this is a term actors use a lot, it isn't exclusively for movies and TV. And you can't force chemistry. You have it, or you don't. Think of any non-canon couples you ship. You see something there, right? Chemistry is really hard to explain, but you know what I mean, right? 

Forcing two characters to be a couple when they don't have a lot of chemistry is a very, very bad idea. 

Here, I'll give you an example: 

Think of Buffy and Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They were a couple, but they didn't seem to have a lot of chemistry [that's just how I saw it, though. Maybe you like them as a couple], but yet they stayed a couple. However, Buffy and Spike had very good chemistry, yet they weren't made a couple. 

However, the Buffy team did a good job on this for another couple.

Not gonna lie, I could watch this GIF all day. Look at the sparkles! And the dresses. And the Tara and Willow.

Willow and Tara weren't originally intended to be a couple. They were both intended to be straight, and Tara was supposed to be a purely platonic friend for Willow. But then, the writers saw the chemistry between them, and decided to make them a couple. They worked really well together, too.

#3: It Needs To Be Healthy-[Ish]

I say ish because if a fictional relationship is perfect all the time, it gets boring. However, I am not at all interested in reading/watching a clearly abusive and toxic relationship being treated as normal. If it's being treated as toxic then I have no problem with it. But if it's being glorified then I'll probably hate it.

#4: It Needs to Be Consistent

I absolutely loathe romances where the characters are constantly changing their mind all the time.

''I love you!''

''Well, I don't.''

''Okay, now I'm in love with someone else.''

''But wait! Now I love you.''

''Well, I guess I love you.''

''Well, now I don't, so I'm gonna go cheat on you.''

Sometimes you start out thinking you don't love someone only to discover that you do, but those feelings should develop slowly. Also, if they get into a fight and break up, they should stay broken up for awhile. Not get back together in the next episode *cough* Riverdale.

Take the whole friends-to-lovers thing. It can't just be friends one day and lovers the next. It has to be done slowly. They need to realize their feelings first before they can date. 

#5: It Needs Depth

Of course a relationship can start off as shallow, and end up having a lot of depth, but what I mean is that they should develop their relationship into something better, They should be able to be emotionally open to each other [even if it takes some time]. They should care about each other a lot, because if they care then we can care. It doesn't necessarily have to get sappy and drama-filled for this to happen if that isn't your thing.

Alright, well, these are the things I need in a fictional romantic relationship. Which of these do you agree with? What do you need in fictional relationships?