Romantic Stories suggestions

[Sammael Bard]

No dead family/children or traumatic past. No they-remind-me-of-my-dead-spouse-and-I'm-lonely or childhood friends trope. Just two people (as normal as can be) falling in love..


I usually read Thriller/Fantasy/Sci-fi so I'm a dead fish when it comes to romance. I'm looking for inspiration and challenging myself to write something that just focuses on two people making it work without using a traumatic history as a narrative crutch. It may be fu*King hard but I hope the well-read population here can help me out.

I'll be eternally grateful if you point me towards a story which meets this criteria (here or elsewhere).



[P.S. I leave a trail of feedback on stories I read. Whether it was constructive or destructive - I'll leave that upto you. ]

 

[MelissaBaby]

No dead family/children or traumatic past. ]

Well, that leaves me out.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Well, that leaves me out.

...

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I think NotWise posts in Romance a lot, so he'd probably be able to give you some pointers.

 

[NotWise]

No dead family/children or traumatic past. No they-remind-me-of-my-dead-spouse-and-I'm-lonely or childhood friends trope. Just two people (as normal as can be) falling in love.

I'm sure there are a lot of examples. My example is Valentines for Cinderella. It isn't a Cinderella story., the title derives from the last scene of the story.

 

[ChloeTzang]

.....I'll be eternally grateful if you point me towards a story which meets this criteria (here or elsewhere).

[P.S. I leave a trail of feedback on stories I read. Whether it was constructive or destructive - I'll leave that upto you. ]

My “Summer Breeze” and “Chinese Eyes.” Link to stories below. Just romance, my version of. No trauma.

No feedback needed. Read and enjoy. Or not

 

[ElectricBlue]

You could try my Rope and Veil three parter, which ends with babies being born and an orphan being adopted. It's different, getting there. Oops - traumatic past for the female lead.

My latest (third chapter still in work) is about as trauma-free as you're going to get - The Hyacinth House.

 

[MichaelGH]

Trying to write a romance story myself. Where I'm having trouble is in the commonalities between the two characters. You know you want it to be generic enough that readers can see themselves in the characters and the story can comment on love as a whole but specific enough that you can see why the two characters would be together

 

[Rustyoznail]

Ogg’s “Car maintenance.”

I’m writing a version for the “Pastiches de Oggbashan” event. Something different for me as well.

 

[YDB95]

I have several pretty good ones, if I do say so myself. The ones linked on my sig-line and marked as "first time" also work pretty well as romances (in fact, that is how I submitted some of them).

 

[MelissaBaby]

...

To each their own, I hope you find many stories you enjoy.

I am a believer that you can't appreciate the warmth if you haven't felt the cold. I understand that approach is not for everyone.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Well, I’m with MelissaBaby; I’ve written some romances I’m happy with, proud of, but ones which would be excluded by your terms. OK, none of my romances then. Sadly, many of my personal favourites on Lit are darned good romances, but with a touch of acid in amidst the sweetness, so it’s a big no for most of them, too. But there are a couple...

Kethandra did a First Time story which is, IMHO, one of the nicest romances here, Nudity is for the Birds.

eclair has a couple of very nice ones, but the only one I can think of which fits your Procrustean bed is Bonsai Hunting.

I think Thucydides’ The Socratic Method is a good one.

Good luck.

 

[oggbashan]

I have a large number of Romance stories that fit the definition. This is just the start:

https://www.literotica.com/s/ancient-liberties
https://www.literotica.com/s/bell-rock
https://www.literotica.com/s/best-mans-duties
https://www.literotica.com/s/bird-protection
https://www.literotica.com/s/boat-to-looe
https://www.literotica.com/s/broke-3
https://www.literotica.com/s/candice
https://www.literotica.com/s/car-maintenance
https://www.literotica.com/s/christmas-journey-1
https://www.literotica.com/s/christmas-on-duty
https://www.literotica.com/s/dont-fall-in
https://www.literotica.com/s/durante-the-dog
https://www.literotica.com/s/e-mail-valentine
https://www.literotica.com/s/faded-card
https://www.literotica.com/s/fairy-ring
https://www.literotica.com/s/family-values-4
https://www.literotica.com/s/genie-1
https://www.literotica.com/s/great-rite
https://www.literotica.com/s/halloween-hitchhikers
https://www.literotica.com/s/halloween-viking

 

[Sammael Bard]

All I have are negative stories.

I can't write anything without someone having a tragic background somewhere. I don't find anything wrong with that but I want to challenge myself to write something that doesn't need such morbid support. I want to write something bright and sunny for a change.

Hence me looks for sum inspiration.

Trying to write a romance story myself. Where I'm having trouble is in the commonalities between the two characters. You know you want it to be generic enough that readers can see themselves in the characters and the story can comment on love as a whole but specific enough that you can see why the two characters would be together

Nailed it.

I have a large number of Romance stories that fit the definition. This is just the start:

By the time I finish this list, I'll be singing Happy New Year.

Much appreciated, Ogg.

 

[oggbashan]

By the time I finish this list, I'll be singing Happy New Year.

Much appreciated, Ogg.

By then I might have added a couple more...

 

[Hypoxia]

Though several of my pieces contain romantic elements, I've just one story posted in Romance, The Botanists, about real-life science-celebs of a century ago and more. Their professional lives are well documented; their personal lives, hardly at all. So I made up their romance based on ONE personal notice: They surprised their colleagues by marrying in 1889 in San Diego; for their honeymoon, they walked 600+ miles to San Francisco, "botanizing along the way".

Their only barriers were those imposed by careers, society, and propriety; they had no misfortunes or villains to overcome. It's enough.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Depending on how absolute you are about the "no tragic past" bit, my "Riddle of the Copper Coin" might fit your bill. F-F romance/Arabian Nights fantasy. One character is mentioned to have lost her mother at an early age, and the protagonist starts the story in the dumps after a break-up and a broken ankle, but it's not a huge angst-fest.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Though several of my pieces contain romantic elements, I've just one story posted in Romance, The Botanists, about real-life science-celebs of a century ago and more. Their professional lives are well documented; their personal lives, hardly at all. So I made up their romance based on ONE personal notice: They surprised their colleagues by marrying in 1889 in San Diego; for their honeymoon, they walked 600+ miles to San Francisco, "botanizing along the way".

Their only barriers were those imposed by careers, society, and propriety; they had no misfortunes or villains to overcome. It's enough.

I loved that story.

 

[SynSlave]

To each their own, I hope you find many stories you enjoy.

I am a believer that you can't appreciate the warmth if you haven't felt the cold. I understand that approach is not for everyone.

Similar if not the same from my perspective as well. I'm a firm believer in the inherent need for darkness to amplify light. It isn't just science, it's also a philosophy I subscribe to.

But more to the point of the OPs initial query--it would be nice to see a story where the tension is kept at moderate levels to allow for a more positive and less dramatic love story. I would have chimed in a while ago, but i have less experience in this subject area with literature than I do with movies and other media. Even there the only example I can think of off the top of my head is something like "You've got mail". Something where people can be civil even when moderate tension is present.

But as others have pointed out (one way or another) you can't avoid tension completely in any story. Otherwise your plot is just a long uninteresting diary entry.

Still, I encourage the plan and would love to check out some reasonably short reads suggested (have been) or created to the OPs point/plan. Don't think I could honestly give a 150k word read a fair shot on the proposal, but a 15k word story would be something worth checking out at least.

Edit: But of course if you want to add tension outside of the couples' relationship then you have limitless opportunities and those get done more often. But then the love story usually takes a back seat.

Now I'm in the mood to watch Swiss Family Robinson.... Think I have it on disc somewhere... I'd put on Life is Beautiful or Wall-E, but I'm an emotional hydrogen bomb whenever I watch stuff like that. It's a Wonderful Life still makes my eyes water despite having seen it maybe 500 times... sometimes to the point I have to find a reason to leave the room for a minute.

 

[NotWise]

Similar if not the same from my perspective as well. I'm a firm believer in the inherent need for darkness to amplify light. It isn't just science, it's also a philosophy I subscribe to.

But more to the point of the OPs initial query--it would be nice to see a story where the tension is kept at moderate levels to allow for a more positive and less dramatic love story. I would have chimed in a while ago, but i have less experience in this subject area with literature than I do with movies and other media. Even there the only example I can think of off the top of my head is something like "You've got mail". Something where people can be civil even when moderate tension is present.

I had the impression from Sammael's original post that the problem he saw was with characters' having troubled backstories -- something that writers seem to do to help give the character more depth. It is a common tool.

If problems develop within the context of the story then it's something else. It's tension and conflict that is (hopefully) inherent in the plot, not just wallpaper on the characters.

 

[JPGmvny]

No dead family/children or traumatic past. No they-remind-me-of-my-dead-spouse-and-I'm-lonely or childhood friends trope. Just two people (as normal as can be) falling in love..


I usually read Thriller/Fantasy/Sci-fi so I'm a dead fish when it comes to romance. I'm looking for inspiration and challenging myself to write something that just focuses on two people making it work without using a traumatic history as a narrative crutch. It may be fu*King hard but I hope the well-read population here can help me out.

I'll be eternally grateful if you point me towards a story which meets this criteria (here or elsewhere).

I've a bunch of romances, FF, MF, MM. Not a lot of trauma, I don't think. I have one parent die. (Very Rich 3.) A struggle with a slide into submission. (Ethel's 2.) A struggle with alcohol (Neallys 2.) I think that's it. The Professor is older man/younger woman.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I had the impression from Sammael's original post that the problem he saw was with characters' having troubled backstories -- something that writers seem to do to help give the character more depth. It is a common tool.

If problems develop within the context of the story then it's something else. It's tension and conflict that is (hopefully) inherent in the plot, not just wallpaper on the characters.

Yeah, most of my “romances” have that. I mean, I’d say “Tales from Old Shanghai” but that had a lot of trauma in it besides being a love story. So it didn’t fit the criteria. A sweet and happy little romance on Literotica is a rare and wonderful thing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Al Steiner's Miss Darling (https://www.literotica.com/s/miss-darling) is a nice romantic seduction story, without any darkness or troubled backstory. Steiner is better known for long, epic stories with lots of sex in them, but he has some good shorter stories as well such as this one.

 

[Hypoxia]

I loved that story.

Many thanks!

I had the impression from Sammael's original post that the problem he saw was with characters' having troubled backstories -- something that writers seem to do to help give the character more depth. It is a common tool.

I sketched the botanists' fairly untroubled actual backstories. He was a civil war veteran and noted explorer. She was a superstar scholar and expedition leader. Neither his war nor her prior bad marriage inflicted major damage; their lives before they met certainly showed depth. Real people can be like that, hey? I didn't need to follow a Romantic Formula.

 

[DryLips]

No dead family/children or traumatic past. No they-remind-me-of-my-dead-spouse-and-I'm-lonely or childhood friends trope. Just two people (as normal as can be) falling in love..

You can try my novel I'm in the process of putting up. For now, it fits your criteria but it'll take a turn down the road that you won't appreciate (still a few chapters away from that happening). If you want to skip the earlier chapters, you can probably jump in around chapter 4 without losing much besides the history and background of the protagonist.

The story is titled Eighteen and can be found here: https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5133396&page=submissions