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I'm writing a romantic segment to one of my games, and I wanted to know, how exactly do you go about doing that?

I mean, I should probably follow my own advice and say "Just write it, you procrastinatory fuck!" but this is very different. So much of so many aspects of attraction and affection happen in your head, and you don't exactly have the time to analyze what's going on unless you're a highly philosophically-minded person or you've been given an awkwardly long time to think about it shortly after the moment's occurred.

So I'm asking, how do these emotions come about, why, and, most importantly, since this is what troubles me, how the fuck do I show that this is happening without awkwardly cutting in to say everyone's thoughts!?

Depends. When two people have the right chemistry, it just sort of... happens. 

Like, I have them talking, and they seem to hit it off really well, and they hit on each other, but literally no matter where I try to direct it, everything seems to feel incredibly rushed. Even hugging seems off. I do try to put more plot in between, but that feels like filler, and I can sort of feel that when I'm writing and re-reading it. I do try to trust my gut with this, but I'm not sure my gut is trustable in matters pertaining to things I'm already uncomfortable writing?

Edit: Then again, my best experience with romance in a CYOA is Snow and its many clones, where, in most cases, it's among kids where the entire thing remains perfectly innocent until the tragedy happens, and/or it has literally been building up to this shit for several decades now.

There are literally thousands, if not millions of scenarios in which two people can be pushed or gently nudged (or hog-tied and hurled) together. If you really do need examples or ideas, I can offer you some, but whether or not it feels natural often depends entirely on the couple and their traits and what kind of relationship they have beforehand.

Well, like what Kiel said, it's... case-by-case, I suppose.

There are literally infinite situations that it could originate from, whether it be love at first sight, a slow build up between friends, or one of those Slap-Slap-Kiss moments.

You'll think of something, I'm sure.

love

l?v/

noun

1. 1. 

   an intense feeling of deep affection.

   "babies fill parents with intense feelings of love"

   synonyms:

   deep affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment; More

2. 2. 

   a person or thing that one loves.

   "she was the love of his life"

   synonyms:

   beloved, loved one, love of one's life, dear, dearest, dear one, darling, sweetheart, sweet, angel, honey;More
3.  

verb

1. 1. 

   feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone).

   "do you love me?"

   syn

I think the easiest way is to just describe an experience you've enjoyed or wish had happened and then modify it to fit your story. Allow your mind to wander, do automatic writing. Logic and analysis is not the answer for sure :D

What is love?

Going downstairs at 3 in the morning to make a sandwich because your loved one says she is hungry and can't sleep...

^ This.

... kawaii?

... da booty?

Yes, feeding your loved one or doing them favors of any kind out of the goodness of your heart makes you whipped. So, if you get a girlfriend / wife, tell her to make her own damn sandwich and you can blow yourself, everyone wins. :P

Haha I think me and Kiel are on the same wavelength. I equate Love with something like Selflessness, putting someone's own interests ahead of yours safe in the knowledge they'll repay the favor in some way in the future. Trying to give someone else the best possible life with the knowledge that they'll recognize this and try to do the same back to you (some people of course just take advantage of this but that's ok. You just stop talking to these people :P). It can also be applied on a lower scale to friends and family, doing things that improve their days or lives and getting good experiences back, shared fun activities like going to the movies or the bar are good for things like this :) I'm not sure why I've slipped into my talking-to-children mode, sorry about that :D

Wow, Will. You really are the nicest person on the site!

I couldn't have said it better, Will. Love absolutely equates to putting the needs of someone else above your own for me. And learning when to walk away is a valuable lesson, if sometimes a painful one. I've had to do it a few times, but I've still got a lot of people in my life who return those favors gladly.

If you can blow yourself, you are definitely already a winner.

Actually, I want to go back to your first part:  If it makes you uncomfortable to write about it, why are you? Most stories don't require romantic affection.  Honestly, that's a problem I have with a lot of stories, is that they felt like they had to have a love interest.  And it came off like they felt like they had to have it, not that the relationship made sense.

Because if I don't practice it, I'll never not be uncomfortable writing it, and I want to practice in this particular story because I'd like to have that in my box of plot tools. And while in this particular story I'm very comfortable writing an already married/long dating couple for a character I already said was in a relationship, writing the part where this relationship came about is the part I'm having trouble with, where it all just feels really rushed.

There are three kinds of love. Love of family, love of friends, and the love of a lover. 

Don't cut in to say everyone's thoughts then. Sprinkle in some details about what they're doing - looking away while speaking indicating shyness. Fiddling with a piece of jewelry or with your hands indicating nervousness. A blink and lack of verbal response indicating confusion. Laughter where the eyes give it away that they don't really find it funny and that there's a problem. 

This mainly applies to teenagers. I'm not sure what age the protagonist is in Sent's story though.

... The signals Taco is talking about? ... No, I've seen adults do all of that, too.

You get nervous, Extremely nervous. Walk up to her/him and keep yourself barely out of your lover's personal space. Talk to her/him, small talk. A  "Umm.....you look... nice... today." Will get the reader's attention of a romance coming on. So, give your characters a sense of fear, caution, sensitivity, and joy. 

That is just my idea though.

Love is a deep and irrational regard for another living creature, a regard that you can not justify but, at the same time, can not reason away.

It is the desire to hogtie a random game warden and bust their knuckles with a ball peen hammer to the tune of SoaD's "Prison Song" because you recently saw a video of Colorado Wildlife Officers hanging raccoons to death over supposed clerical errors by their rehabber.

It is the desire to tell your mom that her mother's day gift is you not reporting her illegal baby sitting service to the IRS after your stepdad killed your dog.

It is the desire to blood-eagle Sarah Palin and dedicate her entire fucking state as a living temple to Woden.

It is the desire to drive to Virginia and gut-punch a neckbeard because he made your girlfriend feel like she wasn't even worth taking out to a Mexican restaurant.

You can tell whether an emotion is love based on whether you will get at least five years of prison if you act on it.

Also, it is rather impossible to demonstrate love solely through actions.

I reccommend kidney-punching. Neckbeards have too much armor protecting them for a gut-punch to do anything.

The problem, I guess, is that both of the characters in question are badasses, and a lot of the things they'd maybe do for a mere crush could get them 5 years in prison, so I'm having a little trouble with pacing. I'll have to try and manage my gut instincts a little better to get through this, I guess?

Have you tried the "fighting leads to awkward, intimate contact" thing yet?

I can't really find a reason for them to fight, except for the part where he was fighting her older sister because she was a space bounty hunter who was after him for... Nevermind, it was broken up without incident and he moved in with her. They're way too cordial to try and beat the crap out of each other any time soon. Especially since I'm trying to get the point across that the girl is a very calm, reasonable person compared to the guy, who's an asshole trying his best not to be an asshole.

Boom! He asks her for help controlling himself, and it leads to an intimate moment.

He doesn't exactly know he's an asshole, he's just trying his best to be more "Jedi Good" and/or "Batman Good" rather than "Deadpool Good". He's under the impression that there's absolutely no enemy he can't take on himself, even if his enemies are his own glaringly-obvious-to-everyone-except-himself flaws. My idea is that he's being uncharacteristically shy and saccharine because of this and he gets very upset at his inability to recognize and accept his feelings, and, actively against his wishes, one of his loved ones tries to get the girl's older sister to try and help set them up on the grounds that it decreases the likelihood of him violating probation.

He kills someone the girl happens not to like and she takes it as him flirting with her, so she fucks him like a ragdoll?

He's on probation for time-travelling vigilante murder issued by a court run by the Unrelenting Good Guy version of Ultron after downloading the TARDIS app on his head-core. He'd have trouble killing anyone without being spotted and then sentenced to 32 deaths by Attilla disenlegment. I do like this line of thinking, though.  Maybe an intense beating, and Ultron will just give him a firm Karate-chop on the wrist.

That actually sounds a lot cooler than it should.

And why does she like him?

She's very uptight and rulesy, and he's good at teasing her into letting her guard down and having fun, so she's very comfortable and likes spending time with him. This origin comes into play later in the story, it starts off establishing that, over time, the guy's become obsessive/rules oriented and the girl is now the adventurous one. I feel like the flashback would make him feel the need to balance things out again and not be a wet blanket.