#writersconnection

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1. Establish the Foundation

Define Their Connection: Decide what brings these characters together—shared history, common interests, or a deep emotional understanding.

Set Boundaries: Clarify from the start that their relationship is non-romantic, avoiding any lingering tension that could be misread as attraction.

Give Them Complementary Strengths: Show how they support and challenge each other without romantic implications, emphasizing mutual respect.

2. Shape Their Role in the Story

Decide Their Impact: Determine how their bond influences the plot—do they solve problems together, serve as each other’s moral compass, or push each other toward growth?

Avoid Romantic Clichés: Refrain from using traditional romantic tropes like longing glances, accidental physical tension, or excessive jealousy.

Show Their Value Beyond Love: Let their relationship be crucial to the story in a way that isn’t reliant on romance or tension.

3. Build Their Dynamic

Use Natural Banter: Let them have inside jokes, tease each other, or share moments of camaraderie without any romantic undertones.

Create Moments of Deep Understanding: Show how they confide in one another in ways they wouldn’t with others, reinforcing their trust and emotional closeness.

Let Them Have Other Romantic Interests: This solidifies that their bond isn’t about unspoken attraction, making it clear that romance isn’t lurking in the background.

4. Define Their Chemistry

Make Their Interactions Unique: Ensure they have a specific energy that distinguishes their bond from romantic connections in the story.

Emphasize Loyalty Over Possessiveness: They can care deeply about each other without feelings of possessiveness or unresolved tension.

Show Physical Comfort Without Romance: Casual, platonic touch like a ruffling of hair, a side hug, or a reassuring pat on the back can reinforce their connection without romantic connotations.

5. Demonstrate Their Impact on Each Other

Let Them Grow Together: Show how they influence each other’s decisions, ambitions, or emotional development without needing romance as a motivator.

Create High-Stakes Moments: Put them in situations where they rely on each other, proving their bond is just as deep as any romantic relationship.

Allow Conflicts Without Romantic Resolution: If they fight, let their reconciliation stem from their friendship and values rather than an underlying romantic interest.

6. Develop a Satisfying Arc

Decide Their Long-Term Dynamic: Whether they remain lifelong friends, drift apart naturally, or take different paths, ensure their bond leaves a lasting impact.

Showcase Their Relationship’s Meaning: Highlight how their connection was vital to their growth, reinforcing the importance of strong, platonic love.

Avoid Unnecessary Romantic Subtext: Let them stand as proof that deep, meaningful relationships don’t need romance to be powerful.

Examples of Strong Platonic Relationships

1. Film/TV Examples

Frodo & Sam (The Lord of the Rings): A loyal, emotional bond built on trust and shared hardship.

Robin & Steve (Stranger Things): A brother-sister-like friendship that develops beyond a possible hetero-romance.

Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes (Captain America): Sibling-like love based on support, teasing, and mutual admiration.

2. Literature Examples

Duke the Guarder & Dawn Demiss (The Guardians of Camoria series): A deep friendship based on emotional intellect, trust, and shared insecurities.

Jo March & Laurie (Little Women, after rejection): A lifelong friendship that remains strong despite romantic expectations.

Harry Potter & Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series): A close friendship built on trust, emotional support, and respect without romantic tension.

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Writing Toxic Relationships

Hi @moonlightwriter

I apologize for taking so long, maybe a year, to answer your question. I have unintentionally become less active on this account, but I hope this advice isn't too late!

Writing about toxic or manipulative relationships is all about subtlety, control, and tension. Here are some tips to help you craft them convincingly.

Understand the Core of Manipulation

Just like us, the characters we write won't willingly enter a relationship knowing the other person has these negative and toxic traits.

A manipulator uses control disguised as care. A manipulator often frames their dominance as protection, concern, or love. (“I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s why you shouldn’t see them.”)

There is a "rule" in dating. I use quotations around the word 'rule' because it isn't a real or scientifically supported concept. But, it's said a person won't show their true selves until after around month three or after... so planning out small instances in which the manipulative partner demonstrates their dominance is a great way to plant seeds for the readers.

Gaslighting is used to make the other person doubt their memory, feelings, or reality.

Intermittent Reinforcement is when the manipulator uses kindness followed by cruelty to keep the other person hooked, always chasing the “good side” again.

2. Use Subtle Power Dynamics

Show how one character always ends up deciding where they go, what they do, or how they speak. This demonstrates the lack of consideration for their partner as well as the lack of communication. Often believing their partner's say and opinion does not matter.

Have the manipulator interrupt, speak over, or twist words so the other character feels smaller without overt abuse.

Highlight body language: leaning in too close, touching without permission, cornering in conversations.

3. Layer in Emotional Hooks

Love-bombing → devaluation → apology cycle: grand affection, sudden cruelty, then a “soft” apology that resets things.

Fear of abandonment: toxic characters often weaponize the other person’s insecurities.

Isolation: cutting the other off from friends/family “for their own good.”

4. Sensory Writing for Tension

Toxic dynamics feel heavy in the body:

Knots in the stomach before answering a question.

Silence that stretches too long, making the air feel suffocating.

A touch that is both tender and trapping.

5. Keep the Victim’s Perspective Realistic

Show how they rationalize the manipulator’s behavior: “They’re only like this because they care so much.”

Emphasize the slow erosion of self-worth. It’s rarely instant; it builds until the character can’t recognize themselves.

Include fleeting moments of clarity—brief realizations before being pulled back in.

6. Dialogue Techniques

Backhanded compliments: “You’d be perfect if you weren’t so sensitive.”

Shifting blame: “I wouldn’t have yelled if you hadn’t provoked me.”

False choices: “If you loved me, you’d do this.”

7. Avoid Caricature

The most unsettling, manipulative characters aren’t always villains 24/7. Sometimes they’re charming, playful, even genuinely loving. That contrast makes their toxicity more believable—and more devastating.

Writing relationships like this can be mentally exhausting and/or triggering, so please, please take care of yourself first! We're writers and we want to pour our heart, soul, and everything we have into our story and characters, but do not let it affect your well-being. So take a break if you have to! These characters and their story can wait, but your well-being cannot!

let's make nectar, honey, news in a positive.

let's watch windows from streets below carnivores or wrap a quiet strong hand around oh, so be gentle again...

-

palm fortune and paper cards that don't tell you, not exactly, what will become.

suck it up, buttercup, problem child, brilliant mind in a dull scrotum of couragous what-have-you.

@flashfictionfridayofficial --original fiction, 840 words

Title: In The Wake of Fleeing Gods

cw: blood/injury, swearing

The Prince leans heavily against a tree, fingertips curling tiredly into the chipping bark underhand. He's been panting for the last few leagues but Everett had hoped they'd be able to make it farther out of the city by now. It pains him to slow.

"Your Majesty…" Everett starts uncertainly, bone-carved propriety poking at the insides of his mouth.

"Shut up," the Prince gasps. "'M not…that anymore. Don't call me that."

Everett turns his back to frown and masks it by raising his hand to his brow, peering out into the woodlands like he might be able to catch a flash of Royal silver in between the muddled greens and browns. He bites the inside of his cheek.

This is a request from the bottom of my heart. I put a piece of their soul into this book, dreaming of the day it would find its readers. I’m asking you, begging you… please be one of my readers. If you’ve ever wanted to support an author’s dream, if you’ve ever wanted to get in on the ground floor of a new series you can fall in love with, please give The Shadow Realm Chronicles: Maeve a chance.…