Tsunderes/Bitchy Love Interests

My most viewed blog entry is about female perverts....Okay, let's talk about bitches then. Bitches and tsunderes.

Actually, I highly doubt the majority of my base knows what a tsundere is...So, basically a tsundere is a Japanese term using the word tsun tsun, kinda meaning cold, and dere, kinda meaning sweet. Basically it's one of those bitchy characters that'll argue with you for three fourths of the book, then by the end they're kissing some poor bastard. Now just because I use female derogatory terms don't think a tsundere is just for females, there's plenty of males. In fact the most famous male tsundere has to be Mr. Darcy from that one book you all know of. He's not bitchy per se, but he's very much so a guy that has a cold persona that rubs people wrong more often than not.

Now I'm not sure why people like having these as main love interests, and god forbid both characters act this way, but I decided to help people write them. Mostly because I actually have experience...acting this way in real relationships. Don't look at me like that and just finish reading the blog article!

1. Have a reason your characters even act this way: For whatever reason people think having tsunderes/bitchy people as love interests creates amazing drama. And this is true, it does create drama, but it's too easy to do. A character has to have reasons for why they do things, in a way they're puppets, but they need to believable to your audience. If your character acts like a saint to everyone else, but suddenly is cruel to the poor guy that likes her, then that's out of character. She needs a reason to act that way! Maybe she's rich so she sees everyone below her, and people above her social class or inside it she acts 'stiff' since she wants to be on their good side. That would make a lot more sense than some usually sweet girl suddenly wanting to cut off some poor guy's head for liking her.

2. Don't have them switch from 'cold' to 'sweet' erratically: I hate it when a couple sits there and will have a snuggle moment, but a few scenes later the tsundere/bitch person will freak out around the love interest. It just doesn't work that way, not even with PMS. The only way to remedy this is to have proper character development. Have them go through trials that has the bitchy person rely and value the love interest, and have moments when the love interests realizes that it's hard for the bitchy person to open up about their feelings. Speaking of which...

3. Don't have an overwhelming amount of angst: Do us all a favor and tattoo this to your face, so every single time you look into a reflective surface you remember this rule. It's standard for any type of writing, romance or not. If you need to, tattoo it to your refrigerator and cellphone as well, just get this rule in your brain.

4. Don't have the tsundere/bitchy character suddenly decide to love the love interest: Love at first sight does not exist, sorry to burst your bubble. On the same note love after hours and even years of arguing doesn't exist either. If you want your couple to argue, fine more power to you, but don't have them plan a wedding at the end of the book. If I don't see any kind of affection, not lust, then I'm not going to believe it. Affection stems from something, either an action or some words, and then it branches on to connect to other things in a person's head. It's also a mass of chemicals and a false sense of security, but who am I to get in the way of romance?

5. Don't have bitchy as the main character trait: As a person who is a bit hard on their lovers, I know that it seems to be all consuming, but you have to realize that we're not really this way all the time. It's mostly around love interests or people that are generally seen as annoying, yet they hold some sort of affection for; not necessarily romantic affection. So if your character is around their best friend that they found soothing, they'd probably act completely different. Basically what I'm trying to say is look at the character interaction as well as the character traits.

So that's it. I'm gonna go watch Sgt. Frog....