Trope Talk: Forbidden Romance

[sijopunk]

This is one of my favorite tropes, and it doesn't really require a lot of definition. I dipped into this with one of my stories, and I really want to go back to this well because it's so delicious.

I made use of a cultural taboo, the reluctance of people in Korea to be seen dating a foreigner.

A few other ways I've considered to employ this trope:

* Interracial (human / elf)
* Class based (noble / commoner, Dirty Dancing)
* Family (Romeo & Juliet)
* Cultural (Brokeback Mountain)
* Religious

What are some of your favorite ways you've seen a forbidden romance employed (or that you'd like to see)?

 

[StillStunned]

A trope that's open to countless possibilities. I think I like it particularly when at least one of the characters involved struggles internally, whether or not there is external censure as well.

I have a WIP about a demon-fighting knight who falls in love with a demon. Another about an older man who becomes involved with a much younger woman. A published story about a gentleman who falls in love with an immortal vampire.

Like everything, how well it works depends on the writer and the story. I think there needs to be a plausible reason *why* the love is forbidden. Even if it's abstract, there should be some tangible or visible effects. That helps the reader to buy into the characters' conflict about breaking the taboo. Otherwise it's too easy to say, "Well, fuck the rules, why don't they just do what they want?"

 

[sistemic]

This is one of my favorite tropes, and it doesn't really require a lot of definition. I dipped into this with one of my stories, and I really want to go back to this well because it's so delicious.

I made use of a cultural taboo, the reluctance of people in Korea to be seen dating a foreigner.

A few other ways I've considered to employ this trope:

* Interracial (human / elf)
* Class based (noble / commoner, Dirty Dancing)
* Family (Romeo & Juliet)
* Cultural (Brokeback Mountain)
* Religious

What are some of your favorite ways you've seen a forbidden romance employed (or that you'd like to see)?

There's also age, infidelity (which I'm less keen on personally), danger (eg the "Heathcliffe" effect).

 

[Katie_Mae]

This is probably my favourite trope, and I like it when it has a happy ever after but also when it doesn't work out at all. There's a good reason why some relationships are forbidden.

I think I like it particularly when at least one of the characters involved struggles internally, whether or not there is external censure as well.

Yes, same for me. At least one of the characters, if not both, needs to show some reluctance, not because they don't want the person (they should want them very much) but because they can't want the person because of who they are.

So far my writings of this trope include:
- Teacher/(adult) student.
- Employer/maid.
- A lesbian relationship (which was forbidden because it was lesbian in a society where you couldn't be, but also there was a class, race and cultural difference. These two women weren't even meant to so much as speak to each other. )
- Two people on opposing sides of a war.

None of these stories are on lit, by the way.

I have a princess/childhood best friend, where the best friend is a lower noble and NOT the man she's meant to marry, and she breaks a marriage contract to be with him.

I have a few WIPs of this trope and most I do plan on posting here.

One is married middle aged woman and her childhood best friend. They never actually get together. The story is her diary where, in-between snippets of her real life, she is fantasising about all the situations she could be in where she and her friend just *had* to fuck. Not realistic situations, mind. Like, aliens abduct them and make them... you know, for research purposes.

Another is a master and his slave. He's a human, she's a fae. Basically, he's an undercover detective and has to get a slave as part of his cover. He falls in love with her. Obviously he'd never take advantage so there is a good portion of him trying his best not to have those thoughts, because he would never act on them. Until he does, and he genuinely believes she loves him back. He joins an underground movement to fight for the fae freedom, risking his mission and his career. He wins her freedom-- whereby
(I did have this next part under a spoiler tag but it apparently wasn't working so I've removed it, I don't know why I can never get the spoiler tags on this place to work.)
she leaves him, because she was never in love with him and it was just him convincing himself she was. (While in captivity she was programmed to please, she literally couldn't say no, but also this resulted in her begging him to fuck her, which is how the "relationship" started. The moral of this story is there's a reason why some relationships are forbidden, consent can't exist in some circumstances.)[/SPOILER]

 

[old_prof]

I think forbidden romance is one of the easiest and strongest ways to bring the conflict that a good story needs.

The conflict can be internal, overcoming one's own prejudice or external (think Romeo and Juliet) where the love needs to overcome (or fail to fully overcome in R+J) an outside force.

I think failure to overcome can be as powerful as successfully overcoming. It does not have to be as tragic as R+J. It can be bittersweet, as in Bridges of Madison County.

 

[NotWise]

Forbidden romance is an aspect of sibcest stories. It's possible to build romance into other incest stories, but it's easier not to.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is one of my favorite tropes, and it doesn't really require a lot of definition. I dipped into this with one of my stories, and I really want to go back to this well because it's so delicious.

I made use of a cultural taboo, the reluctance of people in Korea to be seen dating a foreigner.

A few other ways I've considered to employ this trope:

* Interracial (human / elf)
* Class based (noble / commoner, Dirty Dancing)
* Family (Romeo & Juliet)
* Cultural (Brokeback Mountain)
* Religious

What are some of your favorite ways you've seen a forbidden romance employed (or that you'd like to see)?

I suppose this was in my mind when I first created my angel / she-demon pairing: Lily and Emma. But I pretty quickly undercut this by establishing that Heaven and Hell were not opposing citadels, but more Minneapolis-St. Paul, with angelic / demonic friendships and relationships being common among the supernatural hoi polloi - though less so with the first rank of angels and demons (which we later learn includes my two protagonists).

Beyond that, I think I’m mostly in sex positive territory with no pairing ever really verboten.

 

[Callum_M]

I like when the forbidden conflict is internal. It can be there because of external sources, but I find the hardest hurdles for us to clear are the ones we put up ourselves.

For example, I’ve been reading several WLW stories lately where one or more of the characters is coming to terms with her sexuality. Sometimes it’s the POV character and sometimes it’s not. Either way, at least one of them is throwing up roadblocks because they feel unworthy of the relationship or uncertain about their new feelings that they likely wouldn’t feel if they were in a hetero relationship.

That level of reluctance creates a forbidden sense in their minds and adds so much tension in the stories. In the hands of these particular authors, it’s a roller coaster of emotions that’s been well worth it to go through.

 

[ClintonBrooks]

I'm working on one now where, not only are they coworkers, and HR has a policy against that sort of fraternization, but she's 38 and he's 24. So she's feeling the strain of both.

But with his enthusiastic guidance, she get's past her uncertainty.

 

[bi_cathy]

I've written several forbidden relationships before, though I usually still like to find a healthy balance or loophole to continue the relationship from.

The one where I didn't look for a loophole, I was inhabited by an evil muse for the entire writing experience, and the internal conflict resulted in some of my most poignant writing. Check the signature below my post for one of those. Another quote: "Like she was measuring the exact ingredients of a life wreck and didn't want to mess up the recipe." And another: "Where do you want it to leave us? Tell me, and I'll crawl there." Aaaah, can't help it, one more:

I needed her to stab her heart in front of me. Pierce her skin, rip it open, and let me in. I needed to see her disassembled, her control and her boxes and her chewed pen cap and her black-rimmed glasses and her watches and neat little timers — all of them smashed, spread, then scraped off.

Absolute possessed writing. I hate the story, I love everything about the writing there. The conflict and hate pour out of each word. I don't think I can ever out-do that, but it's my personal mission to do so.

Other perspective: In one of my current WIPs, technically nothing is forbidden, yet the narrator feels that everything is. She has to, repeatedly, remind herself that it isn't and slowly allow herself to accept and enjoy what's happening. That's an interesting internal dynamic I don't think I've ever covered in this manner, and I'm enjoying exploring her discovery of this freedom she'd never allowed herself before.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Anything revolving teachers is just fun to write, not just teacher/student pairing. I haven't done teacher/parent (or even teacher/student/parent), but it's one version that I find better. Teacher/teacher it's just co-workers, so it's almost the same as office love. Unless we're involving more powerful people, like principals.

Then there's schoolgirl/anything. I have one with a nurse that's still drawing eyes to it, though I think I can make a whole series out of it. There was also this thread on Story Ideas that I found about a babysitter meeting back with their old charge, now grown up, and that was an idea far too similar to a meme I've seen jumping around anime circles years ago, which has been a plot bunny of mine. Honestly, I could just make a single entry, but I feel like I should make it like an anime series. Parallel thinking, perhaps? I don't know. Seeing the thread discouraged me a little from taking the idea, but it involves the teacher/student pairing again.

non-edited addendum: i don't really like putting content warnings around my stories (with one exception) because if you get triggered by my work, congratulations, you're exactly the person i'm writing for. but, because people online are becoming stupider by each slop they doomscroll through, i'm going to clarify that all my schoolgirls are at least 18-years-old. please leave a comment on how angry you are because i write schoolgirls while you go back to your mommy's lap stories. if you're wondering why there are no caps in this paragraph, consider this my monotone voice of being forced to read a psa that's not necessary due to online idiocy. meow to you too.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

How about the brave knight in shining armor and the dragon? To the point where the damsel in distress ends up more sidelined in a comical way?

In addition to the obvious contrast, you have themes of stepping out of one's comfort zone, questioning society, and exposing oneself... to different points of view.

 

[anthrodisiac]

How about the brave knight in shining armor and the dragon? To the point where the damsel in distress ends up more sidelined in a comical way?

In addition to the obvious contrast, you have themes of stepping out of one's comfort zone, questioning society, and exposing oneself... to different points of view.

And naturally, the dragon pins the knight with big, sexy talons...

 

[MK_Whimsy]

And naturally, the dragon pins the knight with big, sexy talons...

They can kind of resemble a cage if strategically positioned.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I've tackled this a bit with anthro-human pairings in my main world. Human-anthro relationships used to be illegal until about the mid-90s, so there is still a lot of stigma associated with it. It's not really forbidden though, but there is a lot of element in the main series of "Can I even say that? Is it speciesist? Am I just attracted to them because they're exotic?" In my tamandua story, it's flipped, with her worried about not being human enough and being hyper-aware that humans are different and give her funny looks and secretly resent her (a lot of it is projecting because she's autistic) for dating a human, and also feeling the need to conform to human girlfriend expectations. I'm not sure that really qualifies as "forbidden" though.

The only one that is for sure forbidden is my foxxubus story, where demons are basically seen as non-sentient tools similar to AI, except they are sentient, but summoning spells mean they can't reveal that they are, or refuse anything somebody tells them to do, and have to do so in an incredibly sycophantic way. It's a rom-com with incredibly dark undertones. The foxxubus though manages to reverse it, summon her summoner, and force him to take her on cute dates. Anytime she acts not-demony in public, it draws a ton of scrutiny, culminating in him deciding to take her out somewhere fancy of his own volition, and being accosted for "wasting good food" on a tool.

 

[Bamagan]

Fox-hound-bunny lesbian threesome?

 

[KittyOfSteele]

How about the brave knight in shining armor and the dragon? To the point where the damsel in distress ends up more sidelined in a comical way?

In addition to the obvious contrast, you have themes of stepping out of one's comfort zone, questioning society, and exposing oneself... to different points of view.

Because the bard is always taking the dragon first, thus the knight always comes late. Plus knights are too bulky, and their chastity belt has another chastity belt as armor.

Unless you're a paladin sworn to my goddess of lust. Then a bikini chainmail is just an aesthetic choice because they don't wear armor.

Fox-hound-bunny lesbian threesome?

...

The Disney Robin Hood is coming back to my head, and... turning Robin into a vixen...

@anthrodisiac This, oddly enough, crosses our turfs.

I mean, Blacksad does too, but...

 

[MK_Whimsy]

Because the bard is always taking the dragon first, thus the knight always comes late. Plus knights are too bulky, and their chastity belt has another chastity belt as armor.

The dragon is the only one outside of the kingdom with the power to remove kingdom-issued chastity belts.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

The dragon is the only one outside of the kingdom with the power to remove kingdom-issued chastity belts.

...

*Sigh*

The church of the goddess of lust now has a sect of dragons and dragonborns in my D&D campaign now.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

...

*Sigh*

The church of the goddess of lust now has a sect of dragons and dragonborns in my D&D campaign now.

Now? Like, just now??

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

I made use of a cultural taboo, the reluctance of people in Korea to be seen dating a foreigner.

I have just started a series set ~20 years after a British white man dating a Korean woman and getting her pregnant caused uproar in K-pop/Korea and led to them essentially fleeing the country to get away from the media scrutiny. Quite fun to see this question and with this specific part of it so soon after that series was posted.

Also because it's actually a harem story we're now years removed from the original romance and there's going to be a lot of age gap stuff, interracial stuff, boss/employee stuff so lots of forbidden stuff in this one.

On a side note, teacher/student is hot too. I've written some of that and will definitely write more.

 

[anthrodisiac]

The Disney Robin Hood is coming back to my head, and... turning Robin into a vixen...

@anthrodisiac This, oddly enough, crosses our turfs.

I mean, Blacksad does too, but...

You have my attention.

 

[Zootonius]

The Farside

 

[NuclearFairy]

My favorite forbidden romance is boss/employee with a side order of teacher/student.

Now that I think about it, I have a back burner wip that covers both of those.

 

[Katie_Mae]

How about the brave knight in shining armor and the dragon? To the point where the damsel in distress ends up more sidelined in a comical way?

In addition to the obvious contrast, you have themes of stepping out of one's comfort zone, questioning society, and exposing oneself... to different points of view.

Someone please write this.
Or, do a slow burn between the knight and the dragon. The knight constantly tries and fails to kill the dragon, the dragon constantly tries and fails to kill the knight.
Eventually, the two men (well, one man, one dragon) gain an admiration for the skills of the other. That admiration turns into something deeper, and soon they’re meeting for fun, kinky sex.

They fall in love, and eventually cannot hide their relationship any longer. When they finally come out, it’s not the human-dragon thing people hate the most, it’s the fact they’re gay.

Nothing enrages a bigot quite like homosexuality.

A tale of two men (well… you know) who stand together against the world and the world’s expectations with a strength formed from true love. Yes, I'd read that.