if you have an enemies-to-lovers trope fixation that is super basic in this sense and i guess also
in this sense but i don't mean that pejoratively because looking down on people because they like
something which is popular is some painfully insecure behavior and you might want to look to
that i'm Jill Bearup i pretend to fight people for fun this video is sponsored by Campfire
more on that later and enemies to lovers where two characters start out hating each other and end up
falling in love is popular for a reason. well i say a reason i mean lots of reasons many of which
are basic to good storytelling so let's get to it! Conflict one of the most basic (I swear i'll
stop now) elements to storytelling is conflict characters want something but they can't get it
they try to get it they probably fail a bunch they eventually succeed hooray set up and pay
off achieved and the greater the struggle the more satisfying the resolution. Luke Skywalker wants
to blow up the death star to defeat the empire Harry Potter wants to keep the philosopher's
stone away from Voldemort, Sarah wants to get her brother back and obviously you can't have fight
scenes without conflict so this is a particular interest of mine. So two people who may be decent
or at least decent-ish characters in conflict with each other and struggling to understand the other
person's point of view and possibly even doing bad things to the other person for reasons that
they think are good all excellent conflict-related stuff. people on opposite sides of a war coming to
understand each other and the other person's viewpoint excellent conflict satisfying
resolution. This is also true in enemies to lovers's sister trope rivals to lovers where
two people are in conflict because they're on opposite sides of an issue or they're in academic
competition or they're on opposing sports teams it's less life or death dramatic but it's still
fun, realistic in a lot more situations, and satisfying when it's resolved. tension and build
up i already said the greater the struggle the more satisfying the resolution and while it's true
that there's only so long that you can string your audience along for before they get bored
or frustrated tension does make for a compelling story. three hundred thousand word slowburn fanfic
anyone? it may be that you the reader or the viewer are in no doubt that everything will
absolutely work itself out eventually but it's not knowing when it will work itself out or how it
will work itself out that creates that tension one of my favorite relationships in any book series is
Toby and Tybalt from the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire and a lot of my favorite moments
from that relationship are the ones which balance on a knife edge the ones where there is tension
where something might happen but you genuinely don't know what it is it could go either way it
makes the resolution more satisfying if you tease it beforehand if you make it seem like there could
be resolution earlier but something gets in the way and that something could be as simple
as the characters just aren't ready for it yet those glimpses of conflict resolution encourage
your reader to keep reading or your viewer to keep viewing moments where there is almost an
understanding and then it is snatched cruelly away from you are really frustrating but if you do them
right they are very compelling they encourage you to keep going because you want to know if it will
work itself out in the end. that's one reason that flirty fights are so popular and why they can work
so well they're a release valve although usually a temporary one for the tension that is built up
between two characters in the story they give you a hint of the resolution in the hope that you will
keep going so that you will find out what happens at the end are these two characters going to get
together at the end of the movie i mean yes of course they are but how are they going to do it
that's the question that keeps us watching or at least the question that keeps us watching them.
character growth the greater the struggle the more satisfying the resolution and the greater the
change the more satisfying the resolution to up to a point stories in which characters have to change
dramatically on an emotional and practical level are very compelling and going from i hate you to
i love you and would die for you is a pretty big change. avatar the last airbender is known for
being a brilliant show it's also known for having a fandom that was absolutely wild with debate as
to whether Aang and Katara or Zuko and Katara was the superior ship i mean i'm personally very fond
of the idea that one can love one's friends as deeply as one loves one's romantic partners but
you know there is a reason for all that alternate universe zutara fanfic people do love this trope
see also all that Rey/Kylo Ren fanfic although to be fair that one is a little more
canonically backed that degree of change though is one of the reasons it can be very difficult
to write enemies to lovers convincingly or even just stories where bad people become better people
because if we're not emotionally invested if we don't like the character if we don't
like the direction the story is going in then we'll just drop it redemption arcs are really
powerful and great in concept but if you're not emotionally invested in the character already
they tend to fall flat. Equity and power one of my favorite reasons for character growth in enemies
to lovers is that the enemies challenge each other to be better which is also why rivals two lovers
is my preferred trope incidentally someone who is constantly keeping you on your toes either
verbally or physically will mean that you're on your metal you are always prepared you are at
the top of your game not that i'm competitive obviously but that only really works when you
perceive the characters as equals and now we're into the stuff that i find really interesting
novels invite you to empathize with their characters particularly their viewpoint
characters they invite you should you choose to imagine yourself as that person and while that
means you are going to experience a lot of very dramatic and bad things albeit secondhand you
also get the secondhand joy or satisfaction that comes from learning a new skill or
defeating an enemy or any of the things that the characters do if you've ever wondered why enemies
to lovers is particularly popular among young women i would say there are probably a lot of
reasons but this is the one that stands out to me as i said in the short that i made about this
you aren't enemies with a goldfish or a baby unless you're Voldemort you're enemies with
someone you consider a threat you may hate them you may fear them but you take them seriously
being a teenager means feeling awkward and out of place and like you don't fit in anywhere and like
people aren't treating you properly and are disrespecting you because you're not a child
but then again you're not quite an adult either spoiler i'm 35 and there are some people in life
who will just try and treat you like a child no matter what age you are it's just something you
have to develop mechanisms to deal with sorry. But with enemies to lovers here is a story where
the main character who is sort of a stand-in for you to varying degrees is taken very seriously is
respected as a threat is feared but also loved who doesn't want to be taken seriously and respected
who doesn't want to be seen as competent i mean yes it is straight up wish fulfilment you too can
have a partner who is impressed by you who sees you as an equal frankly who doesn't love some wish
fulfilment and also i would encourage you not to settle for anyone who isn't impressed by you and
doesn't see you as an equal just throwing that out there and leading on from that last but not least:
deep understanding on top of equity on top of interesting conflicts on top of character growth
and the appeal of redemption arcs on top of all of that we have the two lovers part of enemies
to lovers because the appeal of the trope is not just being taken seriously and not just
being thought of as dangerous not just having someone who treats you as an equal and takes you
seriously and yada yada it's also someone who not only does all of those things but falls in love
with you as well it's the idea that a character can be deeply and intensely loved by someone
who already knows all of the bad things about them i mean to be so irresistible that even people who
hate you find something lovable about you wish fulfilment on steroids man i love it character a
sees character b and all the terrible things that b has done some of them to a but can't help but
fall in love with b anyway because they know them so completely and what they know is so deeply and
intensely lovable. there's no need to hide the bad or shameful parts of yourself from an enemy
to lover because they've already seen them it's completely brutal but it's also searingly honest
and that craving to know and be known and be loved in spite of or because of that knowing is a very
very human one enemies to lovers is a trope which like all tropes can be good or bad or indifferent
but because it contains so many elements which can be key to really good storytelling compelling
empathetic characters equity respect desire redemption an arc it's never going away so if
you're already writing or have now been inspired to write your very own epic enemies to lover story
or at least let your ttrpg players have a crack at one then today's sponsor Campfire
might be able to help, and it's free for smaller projects and frankly who does not love free?
campfire is a browser-based writing application that has helped over 150 000 people write better
stories faster the manuscript module stores your project be it campaign or novel in the cloud and
means you can quickly reference details because it has auto tagging it has a character module which
helps you create dynamic characters and remember what hair color they have and what height they are
among other things it has a relationship module which helps you track the dynamics between
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if you need extra stuff on top of the free account you just pay for what you need either as a monthly
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things you want so that seems pretty good to me organize your story today and take
the frustration out of writing by clicking either the link that's on the screen or the one that's in
the video description and if you decide to publish the results of all of this writing do let us know