Episode 16: Writing romantic chemistry part 2

Building on last weeks’ Valentine’s Day episode about romantic chemistry and the 4-type framework of attraction (Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Emotional), Fable and the Verbivore continue to discuss dynamic relationship development using character examples from Marie Rutkoski’s Winner’s Trilogy.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, The Winner’s Curse opens to find the characters Kestral and Arin on opposing sides of a struggle between their people groups the Valorians and the Herani. Due to circumstances that are at times orchestrated outside their direct control, the fates of these two characters begin to become tied up together, and a complex attraction and fragile relationship is forged.

Kestral and Arin’s relationship dynamic is complicated by their loyalties, and throughout these novels their unique chemistry is formed through areas where they have affinity and where they clash which helps propel forward their own personal narratives and builds romantic tension.

Though we mostly focus on a potentially romantic pairing in this episode, we believe that elements of this attraction framework can also be used to develop ambiguous or platonic character relationships as well. Throughout this series author Marie Rutkoski does a fantastic job of demonstrating the push and pull of romantic, platonic, and familial relationship dynamics. These are especially shown through the two main characters thoughts, choices, interactions with each other, and interactions with those around them.

Notes:

The Verbivore paraphrases a quote that Pixar storyteller Andrew Stanton included in his Ted Talk titled “The Clues to a great story”. That quote comes from time stamp 2:10 of the youtube.com video, and references words given to children’s TV host Mr. Rogers by Mary Lou Kownacki. He kept this written on a piece of paper in his wallet. The quote is as follows:

  • “Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.”

There are a variety of theories and models that describe and define elements of romantic chemistry and interpersonal attraction. We choose one that spoke to us and made sense within our own life experience. The romantic chemistry framework using 4 types of attraction (Physical, Intellectual, Social, and Emotional) that the Verbivore mentioned comes from several sources, but was most informed by author Kristen Kieffer’s Well-Storied blog post “How to Craft Romantic Chemistry Between Characters”. Here are Kristen Kieffer’s definitions of the 4 attraction types:

  1. Physical Attraction: a desire to touch and be touched by another person, often in a sexual manner.

  2. Intellectual Attraction: a desire to engage with someone due to their intellect and/or interests.

  3. Social Attraction: a desire to interact with someone because of their social aptitude; their confidence, humor, ambition, likability, and/or particular social personality traits.

  4. Emotional Attraction: a desire to connect with someone on a spiritual level, an attraction often prompted by a person’s emotional capacity, attitude, beliefs, or shared experiences.

Books Mentioned:

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Bethany Stedman