• Home
  • Tales From Sea and Skies
  • My Stories
  • About Me
  • Blog

Wood the Writer

~ Author of Tales From Undersea

Wood the Writer

Tag Archives: bad writing

Top Seven Worst Types of Love Interest

28 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Jessica Wood in Blog, Common Criticism, musings, romance, story, tv, writing, writing advice

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

bad writing, creative writing, love interest, muse, romance, romance cliches, romance fiction, story, writers, writing

A while ago I talked about the types of love story that turn my stomach. Today I’m going to talk about the types of love interest which make me throw a book into a fireplace, or throw the remote at the television. I’m not going to go on about Mary Sues or Manic Pixie Dream Girls because other people have already given hilarious parodies of those. These are the ones which I personally can’t stand.

  1. The Plank of Wood.
A Plank of Wood appropriately named Rod.

A Plank of Wood appropriately named Rod.

This is when the love interest is so underdeveloped they could be replaced by a plank of wood and it wouldn’t make much difference to the story or romance arc. This can happen generally with poorly written characters but its even worse if that character is supposed to be a love interest. How are we supposed to buy that this person can be loved if they have virtually no personality or redeeming features?

  1. The Karma Love Interest

big bang

Something which frequently appears in sitcoms with a ‘beauty and the geek’ romance. This is where the love interest, usually a female, is an embodiment of all the popular girls who refused to date the geeky guy in high school, making up for what horrible bitches all the girls were to him. Or perhaps it’s a girl who wouldn’t give him the time of day in high school but is now hopelessly in love with him, despite the fact that he hasn’t changed at all. I’m not the only one who felt that Ross and Rachael would just break up again a few years after the grand finale. I don’t even get why they would be interested in the type of girl who made their adolescence a living hell anyway.

It’s unfortunate because it almost implies that guys, no matter how horrible their personalities are, don’t have to try and change themselves but simply wait for girls to come around, stop being bitches, and fall in love with them. Yet if the genders are reversed, the girl will have to drastically change both inside and out to get the guy. Wow, I just made a horrifying revelation…

  1. The Muse
No amount of catchy pop tunes can save this romance.

No amount of catchy pop tunes can save this romance.

Closely linked to the manic pixie dream girl who often has a bit of the muse within her. This is where Person A falls for Person B not so much for who they are but for how they inspire them to create their artworks. Again, it is unfortunate as it is clear there is little basis for the couple to form a relationship and once the artist has finished his project, he can just dump her and find a new muse.

Just as bad is when an artist falls in love with a literal muse, which has been overused to the point of tedium. In fact, while writing this post I got the idea for a short story about a human falling in love with a muse for who they are, not for their artistic inspiration.

  1. The Replacement
'I know I had a crush on The Doctor last week but this is totally fine.'

‘I know I had a crush on The Doctor last week but this is totally fine.’

Often a form of lazy writing when a writer can’t think of what else to do with a character so they just shove in a new love interest for the sake of drama. The object of a character’s affections has just died or decided they’re not interested. What to do, show them getting on with their life? Think of an interesting new story for them? Nah, let’s shoe-horn in another love interest right away.

  1. The Dumbass in Distress
We all know where this is going...

We all know where this is going…

Another old trope which is still discussed a lot, Person A falls for Person B because he saves her, often repeatedly. But if it’s such an outdated story, why does it still keep appearing? Is it because we still see the person being rescued as the reward and believe they should fall in love with the rescuer as thanks? The whole concept of falling for someone because they saved your life makes no sense anyway. Sure they’re probably a good person if they saved someone, but they probably just did that because they saw that person in danger and natural instincts kicked in. It’s really not much to base an entire relationship upon.

  1. The One That Got Away
Don't do what Gatsby does...

Don’t do what Gatsby does…

This is when a would-be-couple is separated for many years then they re-enter each other’s lives again. Either Person A will suddenly fall in love with Person B again despite barely thinking about them for years or will still love them throughout the years not for who they are but for who they were years ago. People change a lot as time goes by so the person they are pining for has probably become a different person than the one they originally fell for. I think it can work if the characters get to know each other all over again and find that they still have things they like about each other, but I don’t think things that happened ten years ago should be the basis for an entire relationship.

  1. The Love Interest…And Not Much Else
I actually love Ygritte but god damn it...

I actually love Ygritte but god damn it…

Sure writers often have to insert characters to serve the role of love interest, but there are too many characters who exist only to be a love interest and have no purpose to exist beyond that. They might not even like or even interact with any other characters in the story because they only have eyes for the protagonist. It is much better for this character to make an impact not only in the romance part of the story but some other aspect of it as well, which doesn’t mean being kidnapped by the villain and used as the reward. Not only will the readers like them much more but they will be a better-rounded and developed character.

 

Are there any other types of love interest which turn you off? What love interests do you want to see more of instead? List them in the comments below!

 

 

Manga review – Strawberry Panic volume 2.

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Jessica Wood in anime, art, manga review, musings, series review, shojo, story, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

anime, backstory, bad writing, bifauxnen, character, character development, japan, love story, manga, mary sue, plot, relationships, romance, story, strawberry panic, yuri

The other week I wrote a review of the first volume of the Strawberry Panic manga. In summary, the characters were vapid Mary Sues, the book didn’t realise it had a plot until half way through and Catholic nuns are surprisingly ok with schoolgirl lesbians. I also found the second and final volume in the local library so of course I want to review that too and find out just how many more ways this manga could be terrible.

The last book ended on a cliffhanger on who Amane’s partner in the Etoile competition was, and we finally see that it is….Some character that has never been seen or mentioned before. What was the point of the cliffhanger?

By the way, it’s worth noting that Kaname is the only dark skinned character in the series and her appearance was completely changed in the anime. It seems that even Japan is whitewashing its characters…

sp 2.1 001

This scene also leaves me a little confused about what relation the Etoile candidates are supposed to have with each other. The position is supposed to be held by two girls, usually one older and one younger, who work together and share the Etoile’s duties. I watched the anime and assumed the position was supposed to be held by two girls with a strong, sister like bond between them, which is why Nagisa and Tamao entered together in the anime. Maybe it’s a mistranslation, but the dialogue in the manga suggests that the Etoile must be a pair of lovers. Not just any lovers, but those who have sworn to be together for all eternity.

It gets even more confusing when Amane says she doesn’t want to enter the contest with Kaname because they both sort of look like boys (although the miniskirts kind of give it away). That’s a problem…how exactly? I thought she was opposed to it because she has a crush on Hikari and Kaname is kind of a bitch. (In the anime she tried to rape Hikari several times.)

Flirting during class is fine but this is scandalous!

Flirting during class is fine but this is scandalous!

Meanwhile, Hikiari and Yaya are in the locker room and…you can guess where this is going, can’t you? Yaya ‘accidently’ unhooks Hikari’s bra then tells her she needs to wear sexy lingerie to impress Amane. Did I mention that these two are in middle school?

She also says ‘Is it the same one you wore at the library the other day?’ implying that they really did do it in that scene in the library! Wow, this manga actually referenced something that happened before! Too bad it doesn’t really contribute anything to the overall story arc.

Shizuma pushing decisions onto Nagisa has finally had some consequences as the other girls who are jealous of Nagisa and Shizuma’s new ‘relationship’ have forced clean up duty onto her and Tamao to punish her. And yet Nagisa is the one who apologises for it and says it’s her fault! Did she forget that Shizuma forced her into it without her consent? Did saying no ever occur to her? Worst of all, Shizuma only did all of this to show off Nagisa as her latest girlfriend! And Nagisa is such a ditz that she just says ‘that’s ok then!’ and starts angsting over a girl she spent maybe an hour of time with. This manga is not only stupid and poorly written, it’s starting to make me angry.

Next we learn that Shizuma previously entered the Etoile contest with her former lover who died of a terminal illness or something. I know that it’s getting repetitive for me to keep comparing the manga and the anime, but in the anime Shizuma’s backstory was hinted at several times before devoting an entire episode to revealed it in a dramatic and heart breaking way. In the manga it’s brought up with virtually no foreshadowing and rushed out as a pitiful explination for Shizuma’s actions, plus an excuse to show girls in swimsuits.

It doesn’t even contribute that much to the story since the very next scene is of Shizuma getting cosy with Nagisa (and I swear they were having a garden party in their pyjamas). Since she’s seemingly already gotten over her past and moved on with Nagisa, it doesn’t form any kind of road block to the two of them getting together.

Oh yeah, she’s in torment. You can just see how torn up she is.

Oh yeah, she’s in torment. You can just see how torn up she is.

The Etoile contest finally begins with a sort of opening ceremony in which the various candidates are forced to essentially vow to be in love for all eternity. No pressure girls, you’re only making a promise to be with the same person forever in front of your Catholic Gods. It’s not like your lover could break up with your or die or something. Oh wait…

Awkward...

Awkward…

And it is only after making this vow of eternal love that Nagisa actually asks someone about Shizuma. How is it that this manga took so long to start the story and still develops their relationship too rapidly? What do the two of them even know about each other?

Next we have the first round of the contest – A horse race where the ‘older sisters’ need to race their horses to a tower where the ‘little sisters’ are being held. The little sisters have to jump from the tower, be caught by the horse rider and race together to the finish line. I’m starting to wonder how much these girls parents are paying to send them to this school and how much they are actually told about their education because THIS CONTEST IS INCREDIBLY STUPID AND DANGEROUS!! This manga is so awful it’s making me type all in caps and overuse the exclamation mark!!

The whole thing is so reliant on split second timing and expert level horse riding skills that it would be very likely for one of the girls to crack her head open or be trampled by a horse. In fact, the tower is so overcrowded that Nagisa gets knocked out and almost falls to her death. She’s only lucky that Shizuma somehow caught her in time.

sp 2.6 001

‘I wish I was doing a spelling test right now.’

 

This contest feels like something out of Ouran High School Host Club, put together just for the romantic visuals of girls being rescued from a tower and carried by their ‘princes’. In fact, I think even Ouran would consider this too over the top.

What does this have to do with being an Etoile? What does an Etoile even do anyway? The manga never explains what the Etoile’s duties are other than look pretty and have the rest of the student body swoon over her. In the anime it mostly involves growing flowers. Does the position often involve rescuing princesses from towers? Maybe the next round will be slaying a dragon while serving tea.

The horse race between Shizuma and Amane is probably the only exciting part of the whole manga, as idiotic as it is, but it’s over in about two pages and we don’t even get to see the end, just a cut to the prize giving scene to reveal that Amane won. But of course she would because she’s in the equestrian club and this round gave her a huge unfair advantage.

sp 2.7 001

In the final scene, Nagisa and Shizuma confess their feelings for each other and kiss, ending with ‘Continued in volume 3!’ You’ll be waiting a long time for that because this manga was unsurprisingly cancelled after only two volumes.

sp 2.8 001

This book was at least somewhat better than the first one. There are far fewer stupid moments, the scenes fit together most of the time and there’s an actual plot. The art is nice and the girls all look adorable, despite one panel where Nagisa looks stoned instead of aroused. But the plot that we do get is awful, the main romance is developed poorly and there are many parts that just made me angry. Nagisa has so little personality and Shizuma is so unsympathetic that it’s hard to feel any support for the two of them getting together.

If you want a cute yuri love story that actually develops characters, relationships and backstories then watch the anime or track down the light novels. You won’t be missing much by skipping this manga.

JOIN MY NEWSLETTER

Contact me

jessica@woodthewriter.com

Social

  • View jwoodwrites’s profile on Instagram
  • View jessicawood21’s profile on Pinterest
  • View jessicawood10’s profile on Flickr
  • View jwoodwrites’s profile on Tumblr

Contact me

jessica@woodthewriter.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Wood the Writer on WordPress.com

Archives

Categories

Flickr Photos

DSCF4530DSCF4527DSCF4524DSCF4528
More Photos

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Wood the Writer
    • Join 371 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Wood the Writer
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.