Blogger Decadence and I have been having a bit of a mammoth discussion, and it’s come around to what it takes for a hero/ine to break the habit of a lifetime and open up to somebody else.

This really is tricky, because writers put a huge amount of work into making their characters’ motivations for not being together believable. Tthey don’t always put enough work into making the breakdown of those reasons as believable, and it’s often the downfall of a good romance.

The moment of capitulation.

Luckily, there are these things called plot devices that help us out. My favourite kind is the loophole.

Decadence pointed one out in our discussion about Vishous. He knows he’s going to erase his woman’s memories, so it allows him to be and do what he would never normally let himself be and do.

In this draft of my novel, I’m using the old classic: the thunderstorm. Hero/ine (sadly, it’s mostly the heroine) is terrified of thunderstorms for whatever reason, and finds herself somewhere alone with the hero when it breaks. Et voila, he has to step in and comfort her, no matter what their current understanding.

And there was an absolute corker in tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries. I’ve made my opinion known, that we watch the show because we ship Elena and Damon – which means, of course, that they can never have consummation or the show will die.

But tonight one of those perfect loopholes appeared and we got a glimpse of what we want but can never have: he caught her without her necklace (the one that stops him from being able to compel her) and could tell her, just once, exactly what he feels.

Just before he wiped her memory and gave her the necklace back.

(eejit)