peltzwritesarchive-blog - Tumblr blog

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Where would we be without our friends? Honestly, every friend is so unique and special. I have my friends back in New Zealand, I have my friends in New York and California. Then you have your friends who are your family. I have a lot of love for all my friends.

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nicolaannepeltz when @alison.albrightchanges her flight and stays another week 😝 #wife

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nicolaannepeltz 🍞🥐🥖🥞

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the ‘fucking hell i really love chris evans’ meme (11/∞)

The point is that when I see a sunset or a waterfall or something, for a split second it’s so great, because for a little bit I’m out of my brain, and it’s got nothing to do with me. I’m not trying to figure it out, you know what I mean? And I wonder if I can somehow find a way to maintain that mind stillness.

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nicolaannepeltz🕊🕊🕊 “sproutsout

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nicolaannepeltz 💒💒💒

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i’ve moved :*

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because i love you!

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Send "💋" for my character's reaction to being kissed awake by your character

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nicolaannepeltz st. tropez 💭

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How do you go back to being strangers with someone who has seen your soul?

Nikita Gill, “A Question That Bleeds” (via wordsnquotes)

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(A table of contents is available. This series will remain open for additional posts and the table of contents up-to-date as new posts are added.)

Part Twenty-Four: Expectations

Alright, so your characters have made the leap and decided to make their relationship official with each other, whatever “official” means to them. Good for them! There’s enough interest there to make them both believe there might be a shot that the relationship could mean something and last. Or do they? One of the top reasons relationships fail is because the individuals’ goals either aren’t clear to each other or don’t align. Make sure you understand each of your characters’ perspectives, and most importantly, what they have and have not talked about explicitly.

Have your characters had any kind of conversations about what they’re looking for in the relationship? Who initiated it, and what did that conversation look like? Was it direct questioning (”Do you see kids in your future?”) or indirect (”I want you to know, I’m okay if you’re saving it.”)? The way a character goes about initiating the conversation and the way they phrase their inquiries can have a direct impact on the spiraling thought process that the other may go into. It’s pretty natural for some folks to try to understand what others are trying to imply with their questions. How direct do they want to be when they reply? Do they believe in being completely up-front or are they worried about destroying the relationship with whatever they say?

How early in their relationship do they express these expectations with each other and how does that impact their interactions going forward? Do they address sexuality and sex drive with each other? Do they talk about children, careers, what kind of a home they’ve always envisioned themselves in? Do they know what each person is looking for?

How do they handle goals that don’t align? What sorts of goals are deal-breakers and which ones have more wiggle room? How much compromise are they willing to do and what’s the breaking point for a topic? How many times can one ask for a change before the other has a reaction?

Communication is one of the keys to relationships, so understand where your characters stand. Take their individual histories into consideration as well as each character’s goal in life. When you’re first creating these characters, you’re mostly just dealing with their goals within the plot itself, but as soon as you add a relationship that the characters expect/hope will last longer, you’re also responsible to determining where they see themselves in the future. Have they always dreamed of having a couple of kids? Have they always seen themselves in a townhouse? Do they see themselves focused on their powers or magic? Do they see a person beside them, or could they see a person?

If they don’t talk about these things, what happens when one discovers the opinion of the other on one of the topics that doesn’t suit what they’d hoped? How does it change their view of the other and will they bring it up to the other? What do arguments look like between the characters? What tactics do they use to get their side across, and how do they cope with the other’s reaction?

Expectations can make or break relationships when they start to make strides toward the romantic and/or sexual. Knowing where they each stand, what’s most important to them, and how they’ll handle it is key to portraying healthy and unhealthy relationships as what they are. If you choose not to include the conversations about these things, that’s fine–sometimes they don’t fit well with the actual story you’re trying to tell–but you do need to know if they have talked about those things and how it went. Knowing that basis as you’re writing their interactions later will help you make sure it stays genuine.

Next up: Healthy relationships!

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I want to write sentences for days. I want days to not / be a sentence.

Natalie Eilbert, from “Let Everything Happen to You,” published in Poem-A-Day (via lifeinpoetry)

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sometimes work is very draining and i have to remind myself that i’m not going to be doing this for the rest of my life just so that i don’t come home and cry about it.