💘 10 tips for writing compelling fictional friendships

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Hi, and welcome back to another installation in my writing tips and advice video! (Fantasy worldbuilding pt. 4 is coming up soon, I promise! Thank you for all your patience.)
today's video is all about writing compelling, interesting, and story-strengthening fictional friendships. While they often take a backseat to romantic relationships, friendship is yet another way to create a compelling bridge between your characters-as well potentially breed a whole lot of conflict, which pushes characters to develop in new and interesting ways! So, here are 10 simple tips on how to write interesting platonic relationships into your story.
I hope you find this video helpful or illuminating in some way! As always, my usual disclaimer applies: prescriptivist writing advice is for the birds.
✨ timestamps
0:00 - opening
0:04 - intro
0:51 - the value of writing friendship into your stories
2:05 - tip #1: utilize tropes (especially common romance tropes!)
3:09 - tip #2: how do your characters’ platonic relationships define them?
5:08 - tip #3: fulfill character needs / have character complete each other platonically
6:00 - tip #4: trauma bond your characters
6:36 - tip #5: build character arcs THROUGH platonic relationships
7:56 - tip #6: write THEME. relate the theme of your story to friendship!
8:58 - tip #7: write character foils
10:23 - tip #8: consider writing toxic or unhealthy relationships
11:30 - tip #9: form a band! use the power of fictional friend groups, gangs, parties, etc.
12:23 - little tangent on how to write interesting fictional friend groups
13:06 - tip #9.5: make your friend group fun!!!
13:45 - tip #10: my BIGGEST fictional friendship pet peeve - don’t do this in your writing
15:07 - outro
✨ previous:
help, i've written my novel's first chapter 100 times // may writing update
• 💫 help, i’ve rewritten...
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[@iambadatnames5809]

I think part of why friendships are so often ignored is that as soon as a hint of chemistry shows up between characters people immediately start to ship them, which can make friendships obsolete in fandom spaces. And writers often lean into that as well with all kinds of baiting so it's an endless loop! Idk I sometimes write cute platonic moments and think to myself "people are so going to needlessly ship this" and it bums me out a little haha

[@lynndjung]

Yeah I agree! I think part of the joy in platonic relationships is that there is room for different interpretations. It feels similar to why people sometimes gravitate toward queerbait vs. canon queer relationships-there's more beauty to be found in subtext as a reader/viewer because you can fill in the blanks yourself. I do agree and wish more people would appreciate the beauty of platonic love tho! haha if nobody else will appreciate your cute platonic moments, I WILL

[@tamakibread1411]

anna?

[@KrisMF]

YES FRIENDSHIP. I have spent so much time trying to refine how to write romance that I feel like I haven't focused too much time on platonic love. it's a huge goal of mine to write a chaotic duo that feels like ~true love~ but in a platonic way :') I agree that using romance tropes is a really good starting point! these are all great tips hehe. I've written casts where the personalities of the characters overlap wayyy too much and so there's no "emotional texture" in their interactions LOL.

[@lynndjung]

Figuring out how to write romance has eaten up so much of my time too lol, I think you would absolutely crush it with a chaotic platonic soulmate pair though, and I'd LOVE to read that!! omg yes it can be so hard not to have characters feel like carbon copies of each other in a group. I feel like a lot of superhero franchises are SO guilty of this lol, and just slap different costumes on them to distinguish the characters. thank u for watching!!

[@bttmofthebrrlstudios]

Another thing you can play with is how characters react when their platonic needs aren't being fulfilled, or how changes in that dynamic affect their behavior! Does a lonely character continue to isolate themselves when offered friendship or do they start to fawn over their new friend? If a friend leaves or joins a group, do they splinter? And really push the differences between characters! Great vid, Lynn! ^^

[@lynndjung]

Oh this is SUCH a good point, what a great way to subtly characterize and peek into someone's internal world! Thanks for watching

[@laurenct]

Oh, there's so much that can be said about exploring unhealthy relationships in fiction. Definitely creates a new level of intrigue. I also love what you said about giving characters agency! I make it a point to flesh out even minor arcs across most of my characters - I don't know, I just think it's so juicy to see various characters' relationships interact with various levels of complexity.

[@lynndjung]

Right?? Unhealthy friendships are such a rich subject imo. I also love getting into the thick of it by deepening the complexity of the web of relationships, esp as the story and arcs progress :) so you're not alone lol!

[@RiaxaraCo]

I love friends who’re also narrative foils!! Especially if they have a friends to enemies back to friends arc because of their differences! Unfortunately I don’t see this super often in fiction

[@lynndjung]

Friend to enemies and back is so much fun!! It would be so great to see that type of story more often, there's so much narrative richness and tension baked into that premise

[@morningglory.2]

Just discovered your channel yesterday and I absolutely love it!!! 💙

[@lynndjung]

thank you so much for your support!!

[@ChancellorMarko]

Can think of lots of good adult friendship groups from TV/movies but not so much from literature.

[@lynndjung]

Same here! It's very interesting, I wonder how that came about

[@ChancellorMarko]

@@lynndjung idk but I looked through my book collection and can't find many examples.

[@kelleyiswriting]

Hi Lynn!! I love your hair here 😍you are so pretty!! I love writing friendships

[@lynndjung]

Kelley, you are so sweet to me haha! I agree, the oversaturation of romantic relationships (especially ones that feel very shoehorned in) has been giving me some fatigue lately. I still love romance arcs ofc but I have been craving a departure from the formula! Thank you for watching!

[@justalittleme]

A really good example of character foil is Hannibal and Will, from NBC's Hannibal. They bring out the worst and best in each other, and it's a really fun dynamic to watch develop into something far beyond our understanding, even if it's horrifically fascinating and literally murderous.

[@atlantistalamantes9262]

great video and examples thank you!

[@lynndjung]

thank you so much!

[@nicoledias4245]

IM SO GLAD TO FOUND YOUR CHANEL!! And u just said what I need to know! Idk if u ever felt like that but some storys are so stucks on our mind that starts to kill us till we write down 😂❤

[@lynndjung]

Thank you so much, I'm glad you found it too!! Oh I definitely know that feeling... It's a tough one but what comes out the other end is (usually) very much worth writing!

[@laluenbaires]

Hi! I'm from Argentina and I'm writing a novel which theme is Friendship. They're 7 characters, ages 18 to 30 who are all connected through the main character, but they're all very distinct people. There are going to be new friendships, one broken friendship, a 'will they won't they' trope and other things, but I'm having a hard time writing new male friendships. I'm a girl and I have guy friends but I have no idea how guys become friends with one another, I discovered 😂. I saved your video on my favorites to come back to it tomorrow and see if I can tackle this thing. You explain things really well, great video!

[@lynndjung]

ohh that's a really interesting dilemma!! thank you so much for watching, i hope you figure it out :)

[@idoesntlikepeople]

I honestly really like writing platonic relationships more than romantic, i feel like romantic relationships are overrated in way 😅. I wish there was more friendships because i don't think relationships are always necessary or possible in certain situations. (Like stories around war) I also feel like friendships get overlooked by the couple by both writer and reader. But thats just my own opinion.

[@lynndjung]

Totally agree, I've read stories where a platonic relationship might have served it better but a romantic one was shoehorned instead! I think because they ~sell better~ it's understandable why so many writers choose to focus on romantic relationships over platonic ones.

[@elf1709]

Are you ENFJ

[@lynndjung]

I'm ENTP!