Favorite character relationship types to read

Okay, so I'm just curious. What are you guys's favorite type of character relationships to read? I'm not just talking about romantic relationships, just any kind of character interactions. Rivals? Student and mentor? Siblings? Parent and child? Romantic? Maybe unrequited love? Heterosexual Life-Partners? What relationship types do you like to read about, why and what types of things do you like to see in the characterization of the relationships?

edited 21st Nov '11 9:26:46 PM by NoirGrimoir

Actually, it would be a lot easier to say which of those I don't like to read: unrequited love, and rivals in the sense of The Rival. All of the others can be enjoyable to read about and write. One I didn't see you mention, incidentally, is (arch)enemies, especially ones with a lot of history between them - that can be very interesting to see in action.

I know a bunch of relationship types.. I love romance. I love how two people grow to love each other, and then if they get separated, when they fall into each other's arms. I also like if there's age difference, like an older woman and a younger man. Then there's "Friends with benefits" - especially if it gets kinky.

I like unrequited love. It's painful and exciting at the same time. (The only thing is if they handle this right, and it doesn't feel like they're purposely stretching it to death.)

I don't really like the "Moe! So cute! Kawaii-chan!" thing. It's so artificial.

Maybe I come up with more.

Oh, lord, I hate that stuff too.

After a bit more thought, I'd actually have to say that my favorite relationship type to read about is purely Platonic Life-Partners, whether of the same or opposite sexes. Friendship tends to be undervalued in fiction compared to romantic or familial love, I think.

There's also a sort of beauty when two people used to really love each other, but they get separated and many years pass. They meet once again by chance, but time has eroded their feelings. So they rekindle one last day together before parting ways.

edited 21st Nov '11 10:03:18 PM by QQQQQ

• Romantic: Ones where the partners slowly gain good, solid reasons for loving each other...that don't have much if anything to do with sex, physical attraction or "hotness". Failing that, destructively passionate relationships that are portrayed as destructive. Oh, and there's my personal favorite...the failed-romance-turned-friendship. As long as they don't end up getting back together, that is.
• Friendly: Something with some nuance, where I'm left to wonder at the history and details. Friends don't explain why their friends every five minutes.
• Mentor/Student: Vitrolic and tempestuous. I like it when the mentor's occasionally wrong, too.

edited 21st Nov '11 10:07:14 PM by drunkscriblerian

Also, for rivalry — extremely memorable villains that you want the heroes to overcome. Human villains who really have reasons to be the way they are, besides the usual 'I have an evil nature!' cliche.

edited 21st Nov '11 10:17:46 PM by QQQQQ

Childhood sweethearts. It is such a cute relationship when they stay as best buddies, even cuter when they upgrade into platonic life partners.

Maybe they're two deadpan snarkers that insult the other every so often. Or punching and kicking the other in a playful way.

I don't really like the whole concept of childhood sweethearts developing romantic interests in each other-it destroys the closeness and specialness they share. But then again, it would be fun if the girl was the one who's oblivious to love.

I have no idea why in anime the girl acts like the boy's personal maid and take their childhood engagement for real. Has she completely lost her mind?

EDITED: I also find masculine girl & feminine boy a sweet couple.

edited 23rd Nov '11 3:34:03 AM by YuriStrike

Just about anything can be interesting. I like rival-type friendship in particular.

It's easier to list what I don't like.

Unrequited Love. I understand it, and experience if, but I've seen it so many times it's gotten old.

Belligerent Sexual Tension. I dunno. It may be possible, but I just hate it when a couple of people who constantly snipe at each other, say "I hate you" non-ironically often, and that sort of thing fall in love.

edited 21st Nov '11 11:54:38 PM by Mukora

I like characters who, by the end of the story, understand each other. (This does not necessarily equate to liking each other, mind . . .)

Lovers (in the paramour sense), army buddies, childhood friends who are separated geographically but can still turn to one another unconditionally in time of need. Any relationship in which the parties have a great deal of independence but also absolute trust. I always think of two people who live their separate lives, but come together every now and then for a drink at a bar and a night of real love and real intimacy.

People with understandable motives and morals facing off each other and eventually befriending each other after a long struggles and many encounter. That's why I love Heel–Face Turn so much.

I agree. Just plain, simple friendship, without any other overtones, is hugely underrated. Most people seem to think you can't tell a story without having romance involved.

I like reading about established relationships - characters who are already friends, or already enemies, or already a couple. I'd usually really rather skip the "How they fell in love" or "Why they're friends" or "This is why we're enemies" part and just see how they interact with one another and face their problems.

I also like Enemy Mine, Worthy Opponent, Vitriolic Best Buds, and Battle Couple relationships.

Vitriolic Best Buds, Odd Couples, and Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them type relationships are my personal favorites. I do enjoy reading romance occasionally, provided it's well executed, as well as Unknown Rivals.

Also Foe Yay. Oh Foe Yay. My favorite type of romance...

edited 22nd Nov '11 11:16:57 AM by KSPAM

Father and child. I love to read about sweet, tender and caring fathers.

Polyamory is the only type of romantic relationship I really like reading about. Everything else either seems too limited, or so jealous and possessive that it equates in my mind to slavery.

I also like reading stories about friendship — especially friends who are really, really close — and enjoy pretty much any enemy/rival type relationship because conflict makes for excellent dramatic tension.

I'm not really a fan of reading romance. There's Huge Girl, Tiny Guy which I always find as funny and sweet, but that's more of a thing, you could say. So romantically, I don't really pick favorites.

When it comes to friendships. Heterosexual Life-Partners or Bromance or whatever you want to call it, that's always fun. I value friendship extremely high, so it's nice to see works that function with that in mind. Childhood friends and relationships are nostalgic, a nice break from the troubling relationships you see all the time nowadays. Platonic relationships... I guess I just get tired of seeing "two people like each other? Obviously, sex." Such a tired way of seeing things... It's nice just to watch people grow as friends and nothing more.

I totally agree.

I don't really like romance stories either - that is, I don't really like stories that are only about romance, where romance is the only plot. Like I said, I prefer reading about established relationships, and I usually prefer romance that is just a sideline to the main plot, sort of a "By the way, I love you" thing and not the entire dang point of the story.

But sometimes it's refreshing to read something that's just about friends, with nothing else involved or hinted at or interpreted at all. No romance, at all, can make a story far less frustrating.

But it really bugs me when romance is hinted at and then discarded at the end of the book. Like when the author seems to be hinting at something, enough that it makes you want Character X to end up with Character Y, but at the end they say "No, we're just friends." I guess basically what I mean is I like it to be consistent. Either there's no romance, or there is romance. I can't stand romantic zig-zagging, which usually results from the author's lack of ability to write any sort of relationship other than a romantic one, so when they want to write a non-romantic relationship they basically write a romantic relationship and then deny that it's romantic.

For some reason, I like relationships with Incompatible Orientation. There's something about one character loving another, but the object of desire emotionally can't return the love in the same way, that sticks out.

I also like duos, platonic or not.

By contrast, Victorious Childhood Friend is starting to become a predictable cliche in my mind. An implausible one, at that. Therefore, in Manifestation Files, it doesn't exist. (Even the "hormone-gushing" Scout finds the idea of having a crush on the narrator weird).

edited 22nd Nov '11 2:39:31 PM by chihuahua0

Sweet, cuddly, caring, hardworking, protective super virgin girl X Ancient evil demon guy plotting to take over the world

The best kind of pairing.

Interestingly, I find the Unlucky Childhood Friend the far more obnoxious version of the trope. Not saying that I really like either one, though.

Vitriolic Best Buds, Creepy Child turned Kuudere with secret utter devotion to a special person.

Fire-Forged Friends and those ones that are a mix of The Mentor and Parental Substitute.

The Corrupter and The Corruptible. Especially when they genuinely like and care for each other.

edited 25th Nov '11 6:48:34 PM by Novis