Writing Relationships: Hate to Love.
These types of relationships can be some of the most interesting and enjoyable, both to read and write, because they show us many sides of the same characters and the growth from a hatred to mixed feelings and finally to genuine love and acceptance is often heartwarming to experience. But relationships like also require finesse to portray in a believable, healthy manner.
Before we begin, some ground rules:Â
A hate to love relationship is not an âabuse to loveâ relationship, and none of these tips are aimed toward writing such a thing. Check this list for things to keep out of your healthy end-game relationships.
2. These characters need to be âship-ableâ already!
If your character would not naturally end up in the end-game relationship, youâve got a problem. The characterâs ability to be friends â shared interests, enjoyment of each otherâs company, comparability in communication â is crucial for the transition from hate to love.
Now then, how do we set up this hate to love relationship?Â
1. Examine why the characters hate each other.
Thereâs a slew of different reasons two characters might start out hating each other, including (but certainly not limited to):
They come from opposing sides of a war, feud, or have some other group-oriented dislike.
They have very bad first impressions of each other.
They already hold distasteful misconceptions about each other based on what trusted companions have told them.
One (or both) of them are acting or believing something the other has good reason to hate.Â
In order to pull off the first part of the relationship â the hate â you have to both have a reason for the characters to hate each other and convince the reader that the reason is a good reason.Â
Unless youâre writing in omnipresent, youâre telling the story through your characterâs eyes. No matter how good their current âenemyâ may be on the inside, the pov character wonât be looking for that goodness. Theyâll see all the flaws and turn offs they anticipate the character to have, and this will likely (hopefully) effect them on an emotional level the reader can connect with.
2. What needs to change for this hate to be repealed?