𝖶𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖳𝗂𝗉𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖫𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝖲𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗒 𝖫𝗈𝗏𝖾

Skinny Love // A type of relationship between two people that are very in love with each other, or are crushing big time on the other; but are far to embarrassed to express their feelings. The relationship is 'skinny' because they have yet to come out and explain their true feelings.

Some Things To Note and The What-Not-To-Do's
✎ Avoid cliche obstacles, such as mean girls that 'tried to steal him'.
✎ Interesting characters are your entire book. Remember that.
✎ Laziness in the "awww" department can render your book boring.
✎ Avoid predictable outcomes when possible. We know they're going to get stuck doing 7 Minutes In Heaven in the party scene.
✎ Avoid putting characters in situations where you have to write them as being casually oblivious to what's going on.
✎ Avoid too many unmovable obstacles in the protagonists' ways.

Focus On The Readers' Experience
A big part of what makes skinny love such a powerful and flexible trope is the ability for it to coax intense emotion out of the reader by manipulating events and common human reactions.
People tend to expect romance novels to resolve quickly; for the two main characters to be together about half way through the story, ready to face the main conflict together. However, skinny love is different. It takes a long time to sort itself out and the ending is often much different than the reader anticipates. However, just because the resolution doesn't come until the very end doesn't mean the book itself has to be slow.

Be Meticulous About Plot Progression
Skinny love, by nature, resolves itself very slowly. The wonderful thing about this trope is the overwhelming amount of opportunity to include smaller events that the average romance wouldn't have time for. Skinny love is like a snowball; it starts as one little unique piece which combines with many others over time until it has formed a solid with enough power to have a significant impact. Then it is thrown at you from behind. That is how you're supposed to build up skinny love. The outline would look something like this:
✎ The protagonists meet
✎ A few tiny events bring them closer together without their control
✎ A lot of events happen between the two, building a connection
✎ A few events happen that make them aware of their growing feelings
✎ They wrestle individually with acceptance for a bit (awkwardness hangs in the air between them)
✎ Neither one believes the other reciprocates so they create distance
✎ An outside force brings them together in a situation
✎ A mutual epiphany takes place
✎ They get together in a dramatic, emotional manner (The "finally" moment)
✎ All is happy and life continues on a swell little path

How To Sort Out The Main Conflict
A great (depending on how you see it) aspect of this trope is that the events (even small ones) are conflicts themselves. Conflicts are meant to stand in the way of the outcome the readers are set up to root for. The beauty of this default plot structure is that it is so customizable but it never fails to accomplish its goal -> to frustrate the reader, who has no choice but to feel the agony of watching two people they are set up to care for twirl around in circles, obviously head over heels for each other.

Making The Tone Match The Pace
The tone is supposed to evoke emotions and reactions from your readers through smaller details they're not totally aware of. This will be covered in the following chapter.

Character Development
A major part of stories about skinny love is how much the characters have an effect on each other. Their self-concepts change, along with their behaviors and personal dynamics. It's important that when purposefully changing bits of your characters, it's the events and outcomes that should change them and not the other person. Your characters' development should not rely upon the discontent of their love interests. That sends a message that you definitely want to avoid.

𝖼𝗋: wordsnstuff