Romance Arc

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The journey of two characters from strangers to lovers.

One of the perennial herbs and spices in the cauldron of storytelling old and new. It's been around a while, it's a major driving force of fiction and it's not going anywhere. A surefire crowd pleaser; probably the only way to really, really screw it up is to overdo it. Induces emotional stakes in an audience like nothing else.

Comes in a myriad forms and flavors. Employs plenty of tropes to get itself across, though a lot of them are mutually exclusive. Like many other tropes, the Romance Arc is looking for a balance: Too many stock derivatives and it's just too much; too few, and it's not much of an arc at all.

See also: Love Tropes; How to Become a Love Interest

Here are some of the common checkpoints of a Romance Arc in typical chronological order.

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• Love Before First Sight
  • Girl of My Dreams
  • Childhood Marriage Promise
  • New Old Flame
  • Because Destiny Says So
    • Red String of Fate
• Boy Meets Girl
  • Meet Cute
    • Crash Into Hello
    • Falling Into His Arms
    • Returning the Handkerchief
    • The Glomp
  • Samaritan Relationship Starter
  • Rescue Romance
  • She's All Grown Up
  • Fate Drives Us Together
  • Love At First Sight
    • Love At First Note
    • Love At First Punch
  • The Bet
  • Fatal Attraction
  • A Match Made in Stockholm
  • Honey Trap
    • In Love with the Mark
• Just Friends
  • Not a Date
  • Oblivious to Love
  • Love You and Everybody
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend
  • Like Brother and Sister
  • Literally Loving Thy Neighbor
  • Attractiveness Isolation
  • Testing the Love Interest
• Will They or Won't They?
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension (UST)
    • Belligerent Sexual Tension
  • Romantic False Lead
  • Operation: Jealousy
  • Wrong Guy First
  • Moment Killer
  • Date Peepers
  • Ship Tease
    • Convenient Slow Dance
    • Chic and Awe
    • She Cleans Up Nicely
    • Sleep Cute
    • Caught in the Rain
  • Playing Hard to Get
  • False Start
    • Cannot Spit It Out
  • Everyone Can See It
  • Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone
  • Romance Ensues
  • Held Gaze
    • Almost Kiss
  • Redundant Romance Attempt
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore
  • Unrequited Love Switcheroo
  • Green-Eyed Epiphany
  • Love Epiphany
  • Love Confession
    • Anguished Declaration of Love
    • Dying Declaration of Love
  • Did You Think I Can't Feel?
  • Aborted Declaration of Love
  • Can't Stand Them Can't Live Without Them
• Maybe Ever After (probable exit point)
• Relationship Upgrade
  • First Kiss
    • Slap Slap Kiss
    • "Shut Up" Kiss
    • Now or Never Kiss
  • "Falling in Love" Montage
    • Literally Falling in Love
  • Holding Hands
  • Romance Sidequest
  • Twirl of Love
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle
  • That Didn't Happen
  • The First Cut Is the Deepest
  • Relationship Reset Button
  • I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies
  • Let's Just Be Friends
  • No Sparks (probable exit point)
  • Parental Marriage Veto
• Boy Loses Girl
  • I Will Wait for You
  • I Have Your Girlfriend
    • Cock Fight
  • Second Act Breakup
    • Downtime Downgrade (where the "Second Act" is either a Sequel or in between episodes)
    • Make Up or Break Up
    • The Masochism Tango
    • Break His Heart to Save Him
    • Your Cheating Heart
    • Break Up Demand
  • Third-Act Misunderstanding
    • Relationship Sabotage
    • Mistaken for Cheating
    • Was It All a Lie?
• Boy Finds Girl Again
  • Race For Your Love
  • Closed Door Rapport
  • Why Would Anyone Take Him Back?
  • Dead Sparks
  • Meadow Run
  • The Grovel (may involve an Anguished Declaration of Love)
  • Together Umbrella
• Did Not Get the Girl
  • Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends (exit point; do not pass go; do not collect $200)
  • I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy
  • Pair the Spares
  • Cartwright Curse
  • Derailing Love Interests
  • Death of the Hypotenuse
    • Murder the Hypotenuse
  • Dump Them All (exit point)
  • I Wish You Had Called
• Her Heart Will Go On (exit point)
  • Someone to Remember Him By
• They Do (exit point)
  • Hooked Up Afterwards
  • The Big Damn Kiss
  • I Uh You Too
  • With This Ring
  • Happily Married
  • Happily Ever After
    • Babies Ever After
    • Grow Old with Me
• Together in Death (exit point)
  • Reincarnation Romance (Go back to start)
• No Romantic Resolution (exit point)