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I came up with an idea for a romance story after reading the prompt for the Synergy Contest, but the problem is that I'm not a romantic and don't have experience in that department. So, any tips for a warm-hearted romance between a blind girl and a loner guy in a high school setting around Halloween?

(Also, any writing tips in general?)

Set a blind girl and loner guy in high school up on a date and then secretly follow them around, writing down their every move.

Well...that's a good idea, but not quite something that would fit in the story...Although maybe I can incorporate in somehow.

Make the blind girl a medusa and the loner guy a weird hair sniffer in a wheel chair.

This should also take place in some eastern euro country.

No offense, but how is this romantic? Just generally curious. Also, the setting is a high school in the real world, so anything fantasy related would either have no place in the story, or would be referenced in a book in the story. But I greatly appreciated your input. So thank you.

You know I let this kick around in my brain for probably too long but those two characters would make an absolute wild love story. You got the blind Medusa girl who no one likes because obviously turn to stone and snake hair. Then you got the weird loner wheelchair guy. They bond of their lack of legs and when the weird loner guy has his weird hair sniff moment, the Medusa's snake hair do the same back to him and they live happily ever after. 

I know right? Folks just don't have any imagination.

Don't make fags like they used to

This for some general advice on romance stories. For the exposition, they could have a project together in one of their classes, and they become friends. Since you mentioned Halloween, while they work, the blind girl could tell him about a dream she always had—winning a costume contest at the Halloween dance. The loner could help her out since she can’t see the costumes but can come up with ideas since she wasn’t always blind. If you go with that, you could have them win another contest together, like prom king and queen, if they end up as a couple. My biggest advice is to make sure the loner’s only personality trait isn’t just being a loner or a loser, and the blind girl’s main trait isn’t just her blindness. Characters who focus on one trait tend to make terrible stories, especially in romance. They feel like plot devices rather than actual people. Also, if it’s from the perspective of the blind girl, be sure to include lots of sensory details. While she can’t see, she can still hear, feel, and smell. And don’t rush the dating part either. It should feel natural—rushing isn’t a good idea in real life, so why would it make a good story? For just writing advice, read the helpful articles older members of the site have written, like this, this, or this. If you do join the contest, good luck, and have a great time while you're around.

I actually really like your idea. I'll have to use it for a route. Thank you.

I enjoy that the only accepted advice in this thread has been from the tween that had to beg for a romance plot himself.

Well I took y'all's advice, and got better at writing as a result. You should be proud, or not, it is a romance story.

Fuck it, I'm gonna write a romance story for the upcoming contest.

The cliche route is to go the Ben Grimm X Alicia route from fantastic four. Guy is hideous and freakish looking but girl is blind so she can see that he has a good soul. Obviously, you won't get many points for rewriting cliches like that, but it could at least be a good starting point.

For general writing advice, like others have said, the articles in Help & Info are your best bet. There's some really good stuff there.

I wasn't planning a copout. Those are boring and tedious. I'll have to check out the help and info articles. Thank you.

But you're writing a high school romance.

Honestly, you can get something unique just by combining a lot of old ideas. Of course, it is your story so you can use the process that you want to make it, but if you're finding it difficult to come up with a completely original idea, then it isn't really a bad idea to get inspiration from other sources.

There's not really even any such thing as a "unique" story, and when that term gets tossed around it usually just demonstrates a lack of experience. There's really just a handful of elements that any plot that humans find satisfying contains, the rest is just applying a filter pretty much.

So what is a unique story? One with something never before used or read before?

imbecile 

Smh

Lol, guilty as charged, I guess. I don't have much experience in writing my own stories yet. I'm just basing my talk on stories that I've seen or heard.

Well I was more or less agreeing with you actually. Nothing wrong with combining elements, and your suggestion of a Beauty and the Beast type theme was a natural one given the elements included. (Blind girl, romance, Halloween...)

For something "totally unique, never been done before!" she'd basically need to be mashing her face against a keyboard or cranking up the randomness value on an AI, and would not wind up with a story that was satisfying to basically anyone. Uniqueness is not some magical element that equals a good story, there's a reason "lol random" games (and whatever that thing was that Bexros published) don't tend to do very well here.

Ahh, I see, I get it now.

heres a cool idea: guy has a long term female friend. He doesnt think she has feelings for him, one day she says her mom got cheated on by her dad, so shes now single and using dating apps to find a new boyfriend. You (the male lead) decide to joke about whether you can send in your resume to her mom to be her new boyfriend (you joke about how much of a milf she is). Your friend reacts viscerally to this, to your shock, why would she take your joke so seriously and be so offended? turns out, she has feelings for you, therefore you joking about dating her mom offended her, so she ignores you at first and acts coldy. What ensues is a romance story where you can either get close with her mom or her, depending on your choices. Mixed with extra drama and spiciness along the way, semi based on a true story btw. Well, the making a joke about dating her mom, and her having an extremely poor, over the top reaction to it.

Pretty gay... 

Should have the male lead just nut up and ask the mom out.  When the daughter finds him making breakfast in the morning she lets him know she's jealous and he ends up taking both of them to the prom.

And then the prom is invaded by a motorcycle gang of killer mutants and he has to bust out the fire axe and save them both while everybody poses like a Frazetta painting.

Now it sounds romantic.

Then, after an extended fight montage where he escapes death numerous times while protecting the women, they realize he really is a total loser. Both of them decide that the mutant gang members are much more Chad and ride off into the sunset on the back of a couple of the members bikes.

And then the planet explodes for no apparent reason.

Stacy's mom does have it going on frfr

Lol, this sounds like "If she prefers another, there is always her mother" but reversed XD

I don't have like plot point or ideas for you, just things to avoid. Make sure that the characters are more than just 'he has no friends' and 'oh she's blind' give them interests, quirks (not too many though) and opinions on the world. I like to think about questions like "How would they react to being punched?" "What is a place they are drawn to? a place they like to avoid?" "Do they have enemies?" things that only show up subtly, but still show what the character is like. make sure to do research on blindness as well so it doesn't come off as stereo-typical, or cliche. Have fun writing, and really, take creative freedom, and do whatever you'd think works!