While I was documenting myself to create a romantic work between two women, I made a little detour and read a Manga (Love Hurts, by Kiriko Nananan) that made me wonder if the idea I initially had for my story is too idealistic to the point of bordering on childish. It’s just that the manga portrays interpersonal relationships in such a raw way (compared to what I’ve been consuming until then), that perhaps the impact it gave me was even greater than I expected.
I understand that there are those who prefer an escapist work, experiencing more of a dream than a one-on-one copy of real life. I also know that there are those who don’t see much value in escapism and prefer art to function as a mirror of reality. I personally found myself somewhere in between.
What I would like to know is which side I should lean more towards in order to do the best work possible.
I think romance in fiction is really hard to do well because you somehow have to get across the fact that every romance is different, unique, and often doesn’t make too much sense except to the people involved.
A “realistic” romance can be realistic to the author but be filled with very idiotic choices that makes the reader find the romance not realistic at all
Similarly, an “ideal” romance might be written as perfect for the author and certain readers feel it’s the least romantic thing in the world.
This looks like a lose-lose but all I’m trying to say is that regardless of what you pick, to me, the most important aspect is getting across that this relationship is entirely between the two characters and difficult to get across to the reader. That’s why, to me, romances in stories often work when they aren’t the main plot as it lets the reader fill in the gaps of how that romance evolved.