Fiction - Character Relationships

As a novelist, I prioritize my characters to be the stars of novels. I believe a good plot with weak characters is a recipe for disaster. Pairing solid characters with an average plot still works. However, great characters can’t hide a weak plot.

 When characters are essential, you must consider their relationships with other characters. Think about real life. We spend our days interacting with other people. Like all things in the fictional world, there are many types of relationships for your characters.

This essay is a brief introduction to character relationships.

Let’s start with the relationship types. There are two types of relationships: love and hate. I write crime novels these days, so I have more hate relationships than loved ones. However, my protagonist has had a vital love relationship with her best friend since childhood.

Here is the list of love relationships.

Imprinted

·       Loyalty or friendship that is genetically preassigned.

·       This relationship is possibly the result of a species imbalance.

·       Also, this relationship is only for non-human characters.

·       Non-human characters like dogs, cats, and wolves can be animals.

·       They can also be aliens, werewolves, zombies, or fantasy characters.

Family

·       Loyalty or friendship is the result of biology or adoption.

·       These relationships are based on common ground or family traits.

·       There might be loyalty tests.

·       They grow with maturity and perspective.

Situational

·       External forces create a contrived relationship.

·       These relationships often have a rough start.

·       The characters’ backgrounds, personalities, and roles in the forced situation might affect their power dynamics.

False Pretenses

·       Characters only in a relationship because they don’t know the truth.

·       These relationships offer tension that you should utilize well.

·       You should give the characters genuine moments of connection.

Strange Attractor

·       Characters who are in a relationship despite it looking impossible.

·       There are actual differences between the characters.

·       The characters’ backgrounds, personalities, and roles in this relationship might affect their power dynamics.

Purposeful

·       Forming a relationship to accomplish something.

·       This is similar to the situational one, except this relationship isn’t forced.

·       Purposeful relationships offer characters that can help each other.

·       For example, a small business owner might not be good at accounting, so they hire an accountant to do their books.

Soulmates

·       Characters who click with one another.

·       This feels easy.

·       A character can have multiple soulmates.

·       A soulmate relationship doesn’t mean the relationship is perfect.

·       The characters do have shared values and a shared worldview.

Here is the list of hate relationships.

Predator

·       Animosity that is genetically preassigned.

·       This relationship is possibly the result of a species imbalance.

·       Also, this relationship is only for non-human characters.

·       Non-human characters like lions, wolves, robots, zombies, vampires, werewolves, or artificial intelligence.

Core Values

·       Animosity is the result of deep beliefs.

·       Core values don’t mean shallow values.

·       Impossible to compromise with these values.

·       You can make your villains so bad that you dehumanize them.

Final Straw

·       Hatred that results from long-term exposure.

·       This is often found in families.

·       These can be standing disagreements or family traits.

·       There might be loyalty tests.

·       They grow with maturity and perspective.

Situational

·       External forces create a contrived relationship.

·       These relationships often have a rough start.

·       They usually grow with shared experience.

·       These may face unusual animosity.

False Pretenses

·       Characters only in a relationship because they don’t know the truth.

·       These relationships offer tension that you should utilize well.

·       You should give the characters genuine moments of hatred.

Uncanny Valley

·       Characters who can’t stand each other even though they should be friends on paper.

·       These characters are too similar in all ways, including flaws.

·       This relationship creates feelings of self-consciousness.

·       These also reduce uniqueness.

Rivals

·       Forming a relationship to want the same thing.

·       Characters in this relationship are often friends.

·       They may have mutual hate for one another.

·       The characters may have distinctive approaches.

Hate at First Site

·       Characters who can’t get along with one another.

·       The characters have realistic differences and different approaches.

·       They may also have peculiar triggers and mutual disrespect.

·       The characters may have shallow reasons for hating each other.

One thing to remember with love or hate relationships is that specificity can transform something from bland and ordinary to unique and exciting. Do the hard work on your characters, and your novels will be more enjoyable.