Plothole: Saving Love

17 March 2010 | Filed Under Plotholes, Tales from the Author's Desk 

We’ve all seen this situation before:

“Hero: Oh no! I love you, Darling, but my heroics have put you in *gasp* certain danger! I must break up with you to keep you safe!
Darling: Oh Hero! I understand! Don’t worry, I will never love another!”

Please. Like the villain cares that you aren’t officially a couple. He’ll still totally use your Darling against you.

Here are two of my favorite examples:

Harry Potter – Harry breaks up with Ginny at the end of Half-Blood Prince to protect her but Voldemort has no way of knowing that! Heck, he probably doesn’t even know Harry’s dating her in the first place. If he cared, I guess he could find out from Snape. But no one’s delivering a message to Voldie to let him know “btw, Ginny’s no longer suitable bait since, you know, they broke up.”

Lois & Clark – Clark breaks up with Lois in the 3rd season to protect her from future villainous antics but she’s Lois Lane a.k.a. Superman’s girl a.k.a. the go-to-person when you’re looking for Superman’s help! That’s why she was targeted in the first place. The kidnappings are not going to stop just because they privately broke up.

Come on. If you’re going to have this kind of scene – and I highly advise you don’t – at least have it make sense.

Or, you could choose to subvert the cliche like Sorcery 101 did here. That always makes a good twist.

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

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    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

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    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

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