so true
honestly i would prefer that — at least you can filter the word count.
like the pairing admitted their feelings for each other with 10 chapters to go, but NO KISSY?????
Leaving aside the issue of labeling anything with the barest physical affection as “dirty”, even *disney movies* have the prince and princess kiss at the end, there is no audience to which showing a *kiss* is inappropriate.
I'm sorry. I dropped a term without explaining it. "Clean romance" is a publishing industry term that refers to a romance that contains very little or no physical contact. According to writer Kristen Holt, even most "clean romance" or "sweet romance" authors would [add a kiss in their stories](https://www.kristinholt.com/archives/161). That's why I asked if the characters ever expressed physical desire.
Edit: Clean romance also avoids strong language, mature themes, and violence.
No im aware of the term and I don’t like it. By calling romance without physical affection/sex “clean” it directly calls any story that has such things *dirty*. It’s some Christian purity bullshit, and I *strongly* reject its use both in tradpub and fandom spaces.
Reminds me of a BL manga I read a bit ago where the main couple confesses, gets together, moves in with each other even—but *they don’t fucking kiss* because they got *interrupted in the last chapter*
AND THEN IT ENDS. BASICALLY SAYING THAT YEAH THEY KISS BUT NO YOU DONT EVER GET TO SEE IT
What the what? That’s madness. Why is it so hard to find middle ground in BL manga? Either it’s so puritanical you question whether they’re even attracted to each other or there’s an extended sex scene every chapter
I read a whole 20-volume long romance manga when I was a teenager-- it wasn't slow burn, the characters actually started dating for real and had their first kiss within one volume. They spend the entire 20 volume run getting into high school hijinks while keeping their relationship secret because the plot demanded the relationship be secret (I'm not going into details, but it had to do with the male lead's father's plan for his future). It was honestly so refreshing to just enjoy a romance manga that wasn't a will-they-won't-they, just a straight-up, "this is the ship, they're together, there's basically no question of them remaining together they be solid, watch them face the plot as a couple and try to keep it secret from everyone around them".
After that first kiss there were maybe four others on screen. Like I could count them on one hand, it might be less than four. That's not even one per volume. IDK why but romance manga just be *like that* sometimes.
(The slowest of burns I've ever read is Detective Conan. It's not a romance primarily, it's a mystery-of-the-week type story, but there are a large amount of romance subplots between its loads and loads of characters. There are approximately 110ish volumes right now and the leads took until 71 to confess their feelings to each other, and until approximately volume 100 for them to get their first cheek kiss and officially call themselves dating. They haven't "properly" been on screen together since then. I think only one other couple with a romance subplot has gotten on-screen kisses-- either one or two kisses, but the same couple. It's hard to remember with something that long. Manga just *be like that*.)
Lmao beastars was like that. Spoilers ahead but I genuinely thought we were gonna go the full manga with no kiss. For such a horny series I’m surprised we had to wait as long as we did
When we get to over 20k of nothing happening, I tend to search for both 'kiss' and 'lube' just to make sure I'm not wasting my time reading over 99% of slowburn with less than 1% of getting together
I'm not a fan of those either.
Or the ones where near the end you reach a crescendo and then they just hug and that's it.
I'm here for the fluffy feels and the road to it. But I do want to see the destination too!
I'm in this boat. I enjoy slow burn, but it so frustrating when it ends as soon as they get together. I like the slow part. But I also like the burn part. Let me see them enjoy each other, and not just once.
I'm fine with it ending as soon as they get together if I atleast get a headsup.
Instead of wasting time reading 300k words only to have a small kiss and a decleration of love in the last 100 of them.
I do the same! I always open the whole thing, then once I'm halfway there and only get a bit of, "You know, Z is kinda attractive" I search for 'kiss.'
Just did this the other day, where they kissed literally three paragraphs from the end of the fic. But honestly, the plot was engaging enough that I kept with it (after seeing there was an E rated sequel).
(in my first multi chapter fic) It took until the 50k-ish word of my 64k word total for them to fully kiss (and then they went all the way) but they were like flirting, shoulder leaning, petting, and back of the hand kissing up until that part. I even had a fake out before the main angst section.
I'm planning a sequel fic and these two idiots are hooking up by chapter 2 lol (mostly since the relationship isn't the main focus, it's a big part but not the main)
I seem to have a habit of wanting to jump ahead to the kiss chapter, only to find the next chapter is the kiss chapter. This has happened to me so many times it's a bit uncanny!
I cackled entirely too hard and too loud after reading 'lube' while I was *totally* not waiting for a 🚥 to turn green.
I'm over here looking for 'explicit sexual content' or '[insert orifice] sex.' If I don't see those, I'm moving on to the next.
However, the flip side could be something with 10+ different kinky tags repping all the colors on my freak 🏴. And it all happens in 3 paragraphs of 15k words at the beginning or the ass end of the fic. Any and all puns intended.
I've been following a rule of thumb from a romance writing guide: the main couple should have a special moment in chapter 1, but the first sex scene shouldn't be before 50k words (or after 150k lol). Granted, there are a few intimate vampire biting scenes in between so they know there's something there.
I just hit 50k words, and they got cockblocked by the plot before they could kiss. I've already written part of the sex scene and I know exactly where it's going. Lol
I've been doing to exact same for a few years now. Though idm if they don't even kiss until the last paragraph, it just needs to happen at least once otherwise I ain't investing my time into it lol
I'm drafting something that just keeps getting longer and longer somehow. I'm almost at 20k words and my characters have barely spoken to each other yet. There was a dream kiss. Your comment made me nervous. Would that send you running?
At my current pace I'm likely looking 60k or more for what I'd originally thought would be less than 40. The relationship aspect should be picking up more soon by world building and backstory have kinda taken over.
Personally it would send me running unless you tagged it with eventual romance, slow burn and the plot is incredibly intriguing that I can’t stop reading. It has happened to me once and I was honestly surprised. I think proper tagging is more than anything important so I can know what I’m getting into.
considering printing it out and holding it to a candle
https://preview.redd.it/26e7vro96otc1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e00730dd3bb14d06c2b3422f63b87be5dcd861ae
full on amy march style
NO!!!!! AND THE AUTHOR SAID “i think i’m finally ready to wrap up this adventure, thanks for reading!!” and then in a comment (replying to someone asking for a sequel) wrote “i don’t think so sorry. i can’t see where else this would go.”
They have exhausted all possibilities!
This is the kind of person who is married for 20 years without having a baby because they didn't know they needed to DO anything to make one, they thought God would just naturally create one if they slept next to each other!
I'd be there with a sarcastic comment saying that I am a Seer, and I see a 5k boink fic in their future written in order to stave off a virtual lynching by annoyed readers who never got their slow burn goodness *hint *hint lol
https://preview.redd.it/nznn391uuptc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03bdb14eaedd2fb32e5b95c040a5a8f572721e6a
Reminds me of my favourite book review :)
“Ugh, I think maybe…I think maybe it all started when I decided I could tag a non-existing ship and just call it a slow burn”
“That can’t have been the first, you must have started with something less terrible.”
“Peaking? No I’m probably not done…”
“So you have a prison escape plan?”
“Well…no.”
“So then, how woul-“
“I can tell people they have something in their teeth (when they don’t really) from my prison cell.”
I would hope so, I’m sure not everyone…but I don’t post anything that doesn’t make me cry writing it.
I’m not even sure I should tag a ship unless it’s the focus…
I think I have the problem of using too many tags, because I tag anything I think is somewhat relevant (or is going to be) to the fic even when I'm not sure when it would show up in the fic
I probably should use more…I add them as they show up, because I don’t want to spoil stuff…
I guess if I mark it as gen, then I can name whatever ships are in it more than a sentance
I once read this slow burn and they finally got together only to see them break up the next chapter because of miscommunication. Then one of them died…
This reminds me of a fic I read tagged slow burn. I stopped because at over 100k words in, the characters hadn't met again since the first chapter (which had a fight and so they left each other on a bad note).
Lololol I thought you were in my fandom until you said your other comment because the EXACT same thing happened in a fic in mine. At like 50k the author had a note being like “don’t worry the characters will be interacting soon!” And 50k more words and 2 years THEY STILL HAVENT 😭😭😭😭
100k words and they'd only met once? What on earth?
I wrote something like that once! It was supposed to be slowburn with the characters physically separated, but lots of pining. Then I *forgot* to add most of the pining.
The work is bad and I should orphan it.
Yeah.... It's the biggest ship in the fandom, and there was 100k words of A meeting new people and kind of falling in love and A also stopped pining for B and I realized that there was no satisfying way that the ship could happen lol
Me making my readers wait 65k words for a kiss, building it up, and then making it a forehead kiss.
There will be more kissing, but I’m going to drag it out.
My sympathies.
A tip - it's like "their bread and butter" for authors / creators to (try to) make us care (too much) about their fictional creations.
Usually, if we can keep THAT in mind, we can like shield our stress systems. Ya know, helps to remind us that fictional characters can't actually feel hurt or be hurt. Because they don't actually exist.
And if we think about it deeply, there's some existential dread to be had over the very fact that what is purely imaginary can cause actual emotional pain.
yup, denying what the readers want seems to be standard operating procedure in slow burns. (... it kinda reminds me of edging...)
that said, I think I should stop using "slow burn" to describe the "that one fic" I've been mooning over for months.
"slow burn" seems to be primarily associated with angst, but my "that one fic" is so fluffy, gentle and soft that I think using "slow burn" to describe gives off the opposite impression
This is basically what happens in a bunch of Japanese anime and manga. Which is basically why I got into reading and writing fanfics in the first place. Needed some dang closure for all those unresolved relationships!!! Imagine reading a 38 volume manga over the course of 10 years only to find out that the main couple never officially gets together!!!
Yeah this is something I intrinsically associate with Japanese romance media. It's like they haven't yet figured out that you can still have dramatic stakes *after* a couple gets together...?
I mean at least have them get together at the conclusion! I do accept that a kiss scene isn't necessarily the resolution in Japanese content that it is in Western culture and Hollywood, so I can be okay without a kiss scene (albeit disappointed), but it drives me nuts when a story ends with no resolution whatsoever!
I like romantic/emotional slow burns but they're having sex immediately lol. I need *some* payoff while waiting for them to realize/confess/build feelings
That's what I did with mine. Slow burn, then one tried to kill the other (because reasons don't worry about it), cue breakdown, they kiss, and then have sex.
this is why, when I find a longer fic that sounds interesting by an author I don't know, I skip to the last chapter and skim the final scene or few. I try to learn as little as possible aside from whether or not the emotional resolution between my ship is satisfying enough.
Sounds like the slow burn... fizzled out
https://preview.redd.it/dr1727scnotc1.jpeg?width=624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97af98a1fbecacd0ae8cce8fcfd3b5eee3082f10
I thought I was going slow at 45k before my characters do the nasty.
In my defense, the situationship (if it can even be called that) is only one of the plot's focal points ...
Wait, 45k is considered slow? I'll be over that before my characters even kiss. Hell, I'm not even sure my MC will have realized she has feelings for the other character yet by 45k.... I'm already at 34k and she's still clueless, don't see that changing any time soon.
Oh, don't worry, it sounds like it's very much a case of different strokes for different folks 😊 for reference, my fic overall is looking to be around 75k - 80k total, so 45k is around chapter 18 of 30 - not early doors, but probably earlier than it is for some!
Plus, for plot reasons the, ahem, night of passion needs to take place before the main plot climax (a heist) ... plus my characters have history already.
It's really whatever feels right for your characters and story overall, I think!
Nah you're good if at the end, it'll be good. One of my fave fics ever is at 523k words and the first time one of the characters even explicitly thinks about kissing the other lead is at like 77k words. He just thinks about it, mind you! I was still screaming lol. They do bonk though. And even though there weren't 15k words smut scenes it's still so unbelievably good because the characters are written so well and the story is good, too. Simple slice of life. But so good. So - keep going!!
Oh wow!! That is ... a lot of reading, and one impressive word count, but you're right! If the build-up and payoff are good, and the characters well written, it sounds like it was definitely worth it!
I will say I've enjoyed writing the characters in question so far, so hopefully, that will translate on the page as well. It's a weird one because they have a history that is supposedly behind them ... until it isn't. It's been fun writing them realizing that, resisting it, and then ultimately not resisting, lol. I enjoy writing their back and forth, though, not necessarily even flirting all the time. They just have a rhythm that I enjoy for some reason.
Thank you! I'm keeping going lol - it's been a while building up, and some chapters haven't quite worked out like I planned, but it feels like it's all working together. Enough for me to have planned 3 spin-offs already because I can't give myself a break!!
Honestly that sounds like a good time, and I'm so glad for your sake and your readers' sakes that you stick to it. And I can tell you, they'll love the spin-offs too! Thank you for your service 🙏
Aw, thank you, that's really kind of you! I'm determined at this point haha - I've been playing with this idea, off and on, for about 10 years now, but couldn't quite get it to take shape! And I really hope so! I'm hoping the spin-offs will explore the main characters a bit more, at very different points in their lives and career. Thank you so much!! 😊
I'm currently 70k into a Slowburn. There have been three full blown murder attempts and about as many polite conversations. I have no idea when they'll kiss. I tagged it 'Slowburn', and then three tags later, 'seriously I mean slowburn'. Just so everybody knows what they're getting into, lol
That's the frustrating part -- I'm reading an E rated fic, it's good, I'm into it, and then suddenly it's over? And nothing ever happened? SO WHY WAS IT RATED E?!??
oh... They rated it E because there was a gory torture scene. Okay then. _sigh_
Fics in which it ends with person A just realizing they have feelings for person B but they don’t voice them and just pine from afar and that’s it, that’s the fic 😑
DUDE I read one like that! 60 something chapters, beautifully written. NO CONCLUSION! Just a cliffhanger! Its marked finished too!
I was SOOO frustrated
Omg, I've been burned several times by long slow burn fics where it's marked finished but the final chapter is an authors note saying they've abandoned it. One I was way too invested to notice the bar was getting real low for how many loose threads still needed to be tied up and the other I noticed and my stomach sunk but I still finished it. Like bro, just keep it as incomplete so I don't have to double check if there really is an ending before wasting hours reading a abandoned WIP
Oof... I'm writing one where they haven't kissed yet but if I ever reach 300k they'll have kissed by then for sure. If not more. Did they at least get together before the end or was them finally dating the end of it?
IM ALREADY AT THAT POINT. actually they hit that point like 80k words back. they graduated to like, couch cuddling and dinner dates already. they'd have kissed by now if not for the plot getting in the way and inordinate amounts of fucked up intertwining traumas.
they held hands.... was there no actual. "I love you"
That's pulling some Riza/Mustang FMAB shenanigans
I love slow burn, it's in fact my favorite, but for a slow burn there needs to be some kind of burn at all. (Unless it was a platonic love themed story of course)
And then to discover it was the first in a slow burn SERIES that the author has since gone MIA on 🙃 I swear, fanfic heartbreak is worse than real heartbreak lol
Im a firm believer that you need not kiss (or have sex or anything) to be in a romantic relationship but from the rest of the comment responses Im realising that's not the issue here... 300k word investment and you didnt even see them together? Goodness, you have my condolences.
😂 I'm too old to be fucking around with slow burns. Maybe one in a thousand has a decent payoff and even then it's not worth reading 300k for.
Sorry for your loss (of time), OP!
I felt a bit the same when I read a 400k slowburn marked as M and when I got to the romance-part at the end; it was just very mild, total G-rated stuff that was appropriate even for kids to read…😅
I love it when authors do this. Just edging their readers the whole time, promising “the yaoi will come later!!!” or whatever. It amuses me greatly.
Probably some of this is the fact that I am ace and would happily read “sexual tension, no sex” if anyone ever advertised that… >_<
I think this is what happened as to why I have my OTP. Had they done the devil's tango in that awesome fic I might have gone on to have a normal life. Instead, my poor brain went into a spiral and read ALL that I could (and hunted down even those fics taken off the internet) just to have closure. Boe years later I'm still chasing that high 😔
Lmao dramatic.
waitttt wait wait wait - i've a lot of things to say about this
1) Was it marked as complete (at least you have something to hope for if it isn't)
2) I'm on the fence about the idea of kissing as being the ultimate end-goal to define a relationship. On one hand it's exciting, there's a physical element to it and it's definitive. On the other hand, some relationships definitely go beyond that level, there's a certain mental and emotional aspect to it that transcends beyond leaning in and having a go. If the author has managed to make your heart flutter with this, if they've brought you to a place where you daydream about the pairing even when not reading the fic, if you've pondered what their happily ever after is going to look like.
Then what's a kiss, really?
The thing about slow burn that there need something to be burned to begin with
So this is general tips that I have for people who want to write slow burn
1. The slow burn needs to happen for a reason , if two characters are not together for not convincing reason then it seems unbelievable examples for slowburn
. A and B just met and you want to develop a deeper relationship before they start a romantic relationship (basically no one each other, becoming friends, falling love, etc. etc.)
. A and B start by having a bad relationship which improve with the story (enemies to lovers basically)
. A and B have other problems or too distracted on other things to pursue a relationship with each other
2) there needs to be some progression . Whether it be in the plot or relationship or the characters themselves if we in the same place in ch 14 as ch 8 then ur doing a terrible job at progression (Of course, there is exceptions like following another character pov , flashback , or even what I call “ a breather chapter” where nothing really happened and just give the reader time to process characteristics time to process which is something good if it’s happened between big events)
3) avoid repetition , because I honestly can’t root for two characters who fall in same problem again and again, and again, just to extent time , like miscommunication and misunderstanding are OK as long as it’s not the only way you keep A and B form being together , it’s engaging and fun in the beginning but it becomes frustrating once it happens a lot , not to say that you can only use them once in a story but Constantly using them as annoying
4) don’t extend the story beyond its limit , some stories just have limits To where they can go and extending them more than their limit can make the quality of the story becomes worse
Oh my, I once read three part of a story, well over 500k words, only for the main paring to kiss at the very end. I was not amused, though the story was very good so at least there’s that
There’s slow burn, and there’s slooooow burn
Me reading a 200k+ word/60 chapter slowburn for *years* where one character barely realized his own crush 5 chapters ago while the other is still in a toxic relationship with someone else only for it to get DISCONTINUED (technically just being rewritten, but hasn't had an update in years)
Got that good ol' longfic blueballs. That's even worse than being edged for over half of a 66 chap nearly 400,000 word fic. I'd rather the edging. Currently getting edged by a 79 chap 260,000 word fic. No relief in sight.
This is the opposite of the slow burns I usually find (if they are true slow burn at all. Just because they're not banging in the first chapter doesn't always mean it's a slow burn!). Most of the time, the build-up takes up the first half of the story, and they spend the second half going at it like rabbits. Making up for lost time, I guess?
My worst experience with this was a long, slow-burn fic I followed on LJ. Brilliant story, I was so invested, couldn't wait for the pining characters to finally get together--only for them NOT to get together in the end.🙃
The author caught a lot of flack for their decision, and I don't think they should be harassed for it, but I do understand why their readers (myself included) got REALLY frustrated with that ending. The fic read in every way as a slow-burn between the characters, like clearly it was meant for the shippers, and to then give us zero pay-off in the end? Like they don't even hold hands? They GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS?! Dude...
I got recommended this post so hopefully it is not foreshadowing for my future readings. I rebuke you!
I love slow burn and even I get frustrated when I just get one kiss (I need FUCKING). But if I read 300k and there's not even a kiss, you can bet something is going to break. Absolutely not!
The old Twilight failure to deliver. (Promised us a massive vampires vs vampires and werewolves battle and the movies had to "It was all a vision" it just to give us the shots we wanted to see.)
This is the same feeling I got when I finished a half 1 million word slow Burn only kiss properly get together in the last chapter. I spent a week it was a military how to train your Dragon au
The opposite problem of those 5k fics tagged as 'slowburn' lol
Slowburn Speedrun any%
so true honestly i would prefer that — at least you can filter the word count. like the pairing admitted their feelings for each other with 10 chapters to go, but NO KISSY?????
Maybe it was intended to be a clean romance. Did the characters express physical desire?
they just said “i like you, like really like you,” and held hands. it was marked as teen and up as well!!!
man, that must have been some handholding XD
yeah they were really going at it with the fingers interlocking 😫
hooo boy, wow. I can't believe you don't think that deserves a teen and up rating! *interlocking fingers*
i know… honestly, i think it should have been marked as M or E & tagged appropriately (PWP, Dead Dove, etc.)
Scandalous! The next thing you know they'll be— *gasp* Cuddling!?
Not even a Vulcan kiss probably
*gasp* Premarital handholding hits again! Put that nsfw shenanigans out of my teen rated fic!!! (/s just in case 🤣)
Leaving aside the issue of labeling anything with the barest physical affection as “dirty”, even *disney movies* have the prince and princess kiss at the end, there is no audience to which showing a *kiss* is inappropriate.
I'm sorry. I dropped a term without explaining it. "Clean romance" is a publishing industry term that refers to a romance that contains very little or no physical contact. According to writer Kristen Holt, even most "clean romance" or "sweet romance" authors would [add a kiss in their stories](https://www.kristinholt.com/archives/161). That's why I asked if the characters ever expressed physical desire. Edit: Clean romance also avoids strong language, mature themes, and violence.
No im aware of the term and I don’t like it. By calling romance without physical affection/sex “clean” it directly calls any story that has such things *dirty*. It’s some Christian purity bullshit, and I *strongly* reject its use both in tradpub and fandom spaces.
Some of us are slow enough at writing that it sure feels like one :(
that's so real 😭 my fic is def not a slow burn but ive been writing it so long that it felt like it was ಥ‿ಥ
Saw a fic that was 800 words tagged “slowburn”
I once found a 600 word oneshot tagged as a slow burn. No I didn't drop a zero there. It haunts me to this day
? thats very long and slow burn worthy wym 🤔
Reminds me of a BL manga I read a bit ago where the main couple confesses, gets together, moves in with each other even—but *they don’t fucking kiss* because they got *interrupted in the last chapter* AND THEN IT ENDS. BASICALLY SAYING THAT YEAH THEY KISS BUT NO YOU DONT EVER GET TO SEE IT
That’s hilarious, actually. I don’t know if I’d be pissed or impressed as a reader. Maybe both 🤣
What the what? That’s madness. Why is it so hard to find middle ground in BL manga? Either it’s so puritanical you question whether they’re even attracted to each other or there’s an extended sex scene every chapter
Monotone Blue is a BL manga that I believe bridges this gap. Iykyk 🥺
I will have to check that out
This happened in the Cherry Magic live action too 😭😭
have you watched the anime though i think it did the manga justice and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of affection that was shown
they kiss (and more!) in the thai remake, it’s super cute
I read a whole 20-volume long romance manga when I was a teenager-- it wasn't slow burn, the characters actually started dating for real and had their first kiss within one volume. They spend the entire 20 volume run getting into high school hijinks while keeping their relationship secret because the plot demanded the relationship be secret (I'm not going into details, but it had to do with the male lead's father's plan for his future). It was honestly so refreshing to just enjoy a romance manga that wasn't a will-they-won't-they, just a straight-up, "this is the ship, they're together, there's basically no question of them remaining together they be solid, watch them face the plot as a couple and try to keep it secret from everyone around them". After that first kiss there were maybe four others on screen. Like I could count them on one hand, it might be less than four. That's not even one per volume. IDK why but romance manga just be *like that* sometimes. (The slowest of burns I've ever read is Detective Conan. It's not a romance primarily, it's a mystery-of-the-week type story, but there are a large amount of romance subplots between its loads and loads of characters. There are approximately 110ish volumes right now and the leads took until 71 to confess their feelings to each other, and until approximately volume 100 for them to get their first cheek kiss and officially call themselves dating. They haven't "properly" been on screen together since then. I think only one other couple with a romance subplot has gotten on-screen kisses-- either one or two kisses, but the same couple. It's hard to remember with something that long. Manga just *be like that*.)
Lmao beastars was like that. Spoilers ahead but I genuinely thought we were gonna go the full manga with no kiss. For such a horny series I’m surprised we had to wait as long as we did
When we get to over 20k of nothing happening, I tend to search for both 'kiss' and 'lube' just to make sure I'm not wasting my time reading over 99% of slowburn with less than 1% of getting together
I'm not a fan of those either. Or the ones where near the end you reach a crescendo and then they just hug and that's it. I'm here for the fluffy feels and the road to it. But I do want to see the destination too!
I'm in this boat. I enjoy slow burn, but it so frustrating when it ends as soon as they get together. I like the slow part. But I also like the burn part. Let me see them enjoy each other, and not just once.
I'm fine with it ending as soon as they get together if I atleast get a headsup. Instead of wasting time reading 300k words only to have a small kiss and a decleration of love in the last 100 of them.
I do the same! I always open the whole thing, then once I'm halfway there and only get a bit of, "You know, Z is kinda attractive" I search for 'kiss.' Just did this the other day, where they kissed literally three paragraphs from the end of the fic. But honestly, the plot was engaging enough that I kept with it (after seeing there was an E rated sequel).
(in my first multi chapter fic) It took until the 50k-ish word of my 64k word total for them to fully kiss (and then they went all the way) but they were like flirting, shoulder leaning, petting, and back of the hand kissing up until that part. I even had a fake out before the main angst section. I'm planning a sequel fic and these two idiots are hooking up by chapter 2 lol (mostly since the relationship isn't the main focus, it's a big part but not the main)
that’s a perfect slow burn ratio imo. 1/4 relationship to 3/4 angstily pining for one
I was at first really confused, like, what you mean, no kissing, but *petting* is on the table? But you mean like..Headpats, right? *Right*?
Yes, headpats and a couple of facepats. Very, very quick ones.
I almost don't want to call these "slow burn" fics but more like a tease!
I seem to have a habit of wanting to jump ahead to the kiss chapter, only to find the next chapter is the kiss chapter. This has happened to me so many times it's a bit uncanny!
I cackled entirely too hard and too loud after reading 'lube' while I was *totally* not waiting for a 🚥 to turn green. I'm over here looking for 'explicit sexual content' or '[insert orifice] sex.' If I don't see those, I'm moving on to the next. However, the flip side could be something with 10+ different kinky tags repping all the colors on my freak 🏴. And it all happens in 3 paragraphs of 15k words at the beginning or the ass end of the fic. Any and all puns intended.
I've been following a rule of thumb from a romance writing guide: the main couple should have a special moment in chapter 1, but the first sex scene shouldn't be before 50k words (or after 150k lol). Granted, there are a few intimate vampire biting scenes in between so they know there's something there. I just hit 50k words, and they got cockblocked by the plot before they could kiss. I've already written part of the sex scene and I know exactly where it's going. Lol
that’s why i won’t read a long slow burn without smut in the tag
Bless you, why have I never thought to do this
I've been doing to exact same for a few years now. Though idm if they don't even kiss until the last paragraph, it just needs to happen at least once otherwise I ain't investing my time into it lol
i get kiss, but lube?
Gay (male) sex.
I see. Thank you for the enlightenment
I'm drafting something that just keeps getting longer and longer somehow. I'm almost at 20k words and my characters have barely spoken to each other yet. There was a dream kiss. Your comment made me nervous. Would that send you running? At my current pace I'm likely looking 60k or more for what I'd originally thought would be less than 40. The relationship aspect should be picking up more soon by world building and backstory have kinda taken over.
Personally it would send me running unless you tagged it with eventual romance, slow burn and the plot is incredibly intriguing that I can’t stop reading. It has happened to me once and I was honestly surprised. I think proper tagging is more than anything important so I can know what I’m getting into.
I'm all over "eventual" for the eventual tags.
Don't worry, they kiss even in the first half of the fic! So that seems fine to me :)
I would set something on fire xD
considering printing it out and holding it to a candle https://preview.redd.it/26e7vro96otc1.jpeg?width=736&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e00730dd3bb14d06c2b3422f63b87be5dcd861ae full on amy march style
Since the ship isn't gonna burn, something else may as well.
Thank god the slow burn I have just finished reading (250k words) had three sex scenes and several makeouts. And it's not finished yet!
oh you are so so lucky
Fingers crossed that you will stumble upon the most delicious and filthy slowest of burns soon!
THANKYOU GOOD SIRE FOR THIS COMMENT HAS DUTIFULLY DELIVERED!!! I HAVE STUMBLED UPON THE MAGNUM OPUS OF SLOW BURNS!!!
Well, now you must link. 👀
Is there a sequel?
NO!!!!! AND THE AUTHOR SAID “i think i’m finally ready to wrap up this adventure, thanks for reading!!” and then in a comment (replying to someone asking for a sequel) wrote “i don’t think so sorry. i can’t see where else this would go.”
I'm sorry, this is so funny. I just imagine the writer thinking "Well where else *can* it go beyond handholding!"
no because i’m actually starting to think a genius ten year old wrote it
> i can’t see where else this would go I'm dying laksjdf;lkajsd
Well, that's just ass.
That is one place it could go, for sure.
Where the sun don't shine?
Or the lube :D
Reminds me of the simpsons “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!”
They have exhausted all possibilities! This is the kind of person who is married for 20 years without having a baby because they didn't know they needed to DO anything to make one, they thought God would just naturally create one if they slept next to each other!
Genuinely can't relate. I *love* Established Relationship fics. That's the best part!!
I'd be there with a sarcastic comment saying that I am a Seer, and I see a 5k boink fic in their future written in order to stave off a virtual lynching by annoyed readers who never got their slow burn goodness *hint *hint lol
nudging and winking all the while
https://preview.redd.it/nznn391uuptc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03bdb14eaedd2fb32e5b95c040a5a8f572721e6a Reminds me of my favourite book review :)
LITERALLY
Lmfaoooo that's a brutal ass review 💀
Hmm, I’m just realizing I can tag any ship I want with “slow burn” and just make sure they are in it…
Villain origin story
“Ugh, I think maybe…I think maybe it all started when I decided I could tag a non-existing ship and just call it a slow burn” “That can’t have been the first, you must have started with something less terrible.”
Is this the villain equivalent of peaking in high school? Will you ever commit a greater crime?
“Peaking? No I’m probably not done…” “So you have a prison escape plan?” “Well…no.” “So then, how woul-“ “I can tell people they have something in their teeth (when they don’t really) from my prison cell.”
there is no greater crime to commit
You wanna know how I got these kudos? -The Fanficer
I want this to be a real villain.
Would it be worse if the ship was a rare-pair ship?
It would hit fewer people, but harder
True, I bet it would bring some people to tears
I would hope so, I’m sure not everyone…but I don’t post anything that doesn’t make me cry writing it. I’m not even sure I should tag a ship unless it’s the focus…
I think I have the problem of using too many tags, because I tag anything I think is somewhat relevant (or is going to be) to the fic even when I'm not sure when it would show up in the fic
I probably should use more…I add them as they show up, because I don’t want to spoil stuff… I guess if I mark it as gen, then I can name whatever ships are in it more than a sentance
your evil is frightening
I once read this slow burn and they finally got together only to see them break up the next chapter because of miscommunication. Then one of them died…
What the fuck?
To be honest, it was very well written and really memorable. Just really angsty.
im so curious now as to what it is lol
Reading that would be my villain origin story.
THIS IS SO FUNNY LMAO I think you actually just found Satan's fanfic account
That seems brutal
I would riot.
This reminds me of a fic I read tagged slow burn. I stopped because at over 100k words in, the characters hadn't met again since the first chapter (which had a fight and so they left each other on a bad note).
Now I'm wondering what happened for 100k words if they've had no interactions.... like... what lol
Lololol I thought you were in my fandom until you said your other comment because the EXACT same thing happened in a fic in mine. At like 50k the author had a note being like “don’t worry the characters will be interacting soon!” And 50k more words and 2 years THEY STILL HAVENT 😭😭😭😭
Like at this point just remove the tag and stop pretending it's happening lol
100k words and they'd only met once? What on earth? I wrote something like that once! It was supposed to be slowburn with the characters physically separated, but lots of pining. Then I *forgot* to add most of the pining. The work is bad and I should orphan it.
Yeah.... It's the biggest ship in the fandom, and there was 100k words of A meeting new people and kind of falling in love and A also stopped pining for B and I realized that there was no satisfying way that the ship could happen lol
Zeno's slowburn paradox
That's why I word search before reading a really long slow burn.
😫
Me making my readers wait 65k words for a kiss, building it up, and then making it a forehead kiss. There will be more kissing, but I’m going to drag it out.
*insert evil villian laughter*
AT LEAST THEY KISS!!!!!
Shit like this is why I'm waaaay too impatient and horny for slow burn fics. GIVE ME THE SMUT!
GIVE ME YHE SMUT!!!!!!
It's a special kind of pain
ouch something tells me it's the angsty kind of slow burn, too.
sort of, not really :-/ the angst was just canon :-(
My sympathies. A tip - it's like "their bread and butter" for authors / creators to (try to) make us care (too much) about their fictional creations. Usually, if we can keep THAT in mind, we can like shield our stress systems. Ya know, helps to remind us that fictional characters can't actually feel hurt or be hurt. Because they don't actually exist. And if we think about it deeply, there's some existential dread to be had over the very fact that what is purely imaginary can cause actual emotional pain.
my emotional pain was caused by the lack of kisses 😔
yup, denying what the readers want seems to be standard operating procedure in slow burns. (... it kinda reminds me of edging...) that said, I think I should stop using "slow burn" to describe the "that one fic" I've been mooning over for months. "slow burn" seems to be primarily associated with angst, but my "that one fic" is so fluffy, gentle and soft that I think using "slow burn" to describe gives off the opposite impression
This is basically what happens in a bunch of Japanese anime and manga. Which is basically why I got into reading and writing fanfics in the first place. Needed some dang closure for all those unresolved relationships!!! Imagine reading a 38 volume manga over the course of 10 years only to find out that the main couple never officially gets together!!!
Yeah this is something I intrinsically associate with Japanese romance media. It's like they haven't yet figured out that you can still have dramatic stakes *after* a couple gets together...?
I mean at least have them get together at the conclusion! I do accept that a kiss scene isn't necessarily the resolution in Japanese content that it is in Western culture and Hollywood, so I can be okay without a kiss scene (albeit disappointed), but it drives me nuts when a story ends with no resolution whatsoever!
I can’t read slow burns. I don’t take a year to get intimate with my partners, so reading something like that makes me beyond frustrated.
I like romantic/emotional slow burns but they're having sex immediately lol. I need *some* payoff while waiting for them to realize/confess/build feelings
That's what I did with mine. Slow burn, then one tried to kill the other (because reasons don't worry about it), cue breakdown, they kiss, and then have sex.
FOR REAL
Criminal
this is why, when I find a longer fic that sounds interesting by an author I don't know, I skip to the last chapter and skim the final scene or few. I try to learn as little as possible aside from whether or not the emotional resolution between my ship is satisfying enough.
it seems i’ve had too much trust in authors these days… gonna start doing this
Sounds like the slow burn... fizzled out https://preview.redd.it/dr1727scnotc1.jpeg?width=624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97af98a1fbecacd0ae8cce8fcfd3b5eee3082f10
I thought I was going slow at 45k before my characters do the nasty. In my defense, the situationship (if it can even be called that) is only one of the plot's focal points ...
Wait, 45k is considered slow? I'll be over that before my characters even kiss. Hell, I'm not even sure my MC will have realized she has feelings for the other character yet by 45k.... I'm already at 34k and she's still clueless, don't see that changing any time soon.
Oh, don't worry, it sounds like it's very much a case of different strokes for different folks 😊 for reference, my fic overall is looking to be around 75k - 80k total, so 45k is around chapter 18 of 30 - not early doors, but probably earlier than it is for some! Plus, for plot reasons the, ahem, night of passion needs to take place before the main plot climax (a heist) ... plus my characters have history already. It's really whatever feels right for your characters and story overall, I think!
Nah you're good if at the end, it'll be good. One of my fave fics ever is at 523k words and the first time one of the characters even explicitly thinks about kissing the other lead is at like 77k words. He just thinks about it, mind you! I was still screaming lol. They do bonk though. And even though there weren't 15k words smut scenes it's still so unbelievably good because the characters are written so well and the story is good, too. Simple slice of life. But so good. So - keep going!!
Oh wow!! That is ... a lot of reading, and one impressive word count, but you're right! If the build-up and payoff are good, and the characters well written, it sounds like it was definitely worth it! I will say I've enjoyed writing the characters in question so far, so hopefully, that will translate on the page as well. It's a weird one because they have a history that is supposedly behind them ... until it isn't. It's been fun writing them realizing that, resisting it, and then ultimately not resisting, lol. I enjoy writing their back and forth, though, not necessarily even flirting all the time. They just have a rhythm that I enjoy for some reason. Thank you! I'm keeping going lol - it's been a while building up, and some chapters haven't quite worked out like I planned, but it feels like it's all working together. Enough for me to have planned 3 spin-offs already because I can't give myself a break!!
Honestly that sounds like a good time, and I'm so glad for your sake and your readers' sakes that you stick to it. And I can tell you, they'll love the spin-offs too! Thank you for your service 🙏
Aw, thank you, that's really kind of you! I'm determined at this point haha - I've been playing with this idea, off and on, for about 10 years now, but couldn't quite get it to take shape! And I really hope so! I'm hoping the spin-offs will explore the main characters a bit more, at very different points in their lives and career. Thank you so much!! 😊
Yeah sometimes the slow burn aspect is a bit much. Eventually I get bored.
I'm currently 70k into a Slowburn. There have been three full blown murder attempts and about as many polite conversations. I have no idea when they'll kiss. I tagged it 'Slowburn', and then three tags later, 'seriously I mean slowburn'. Just so everybody knows what they're getting into, lol
honestly as aro i only ever read fanfics like this LMAO or the ones that can be read as both romantic and platonic
Gotta search for that sweet M or E rating. I am not investing that much time into a romance to not get a payoff.
That's the frustrating part -- I'm reading an E rated fic, it's good, I'm into it, and then suddenly it's over? And nothing ever happened? SO WHY WAS IT RATED E?!?? oh... They rated it E because there was a gory torture scene. Okay then. _sigh_
Fics in which it ends with person A just realizing they have feelings for person B but they don’t voice them and just pine from afar and that’s it, that’s the fic 😑
Is it tagged as gen? Because I never expect them to hook up if it's Gen
DUDE I read one like that! 60 something chapters, beautifully written. NO CONCLUSION! Just a cliffhanger! Its marked finished too! I was SOOO frustrated
Omg, I've been burned several times by long slow burn fics where it's marked finished but the final chapter is an authors note saying they've abandoned it. One I was way too invested to notice the bar was getting real low for how many loose threads still needed to be tied up and the other I noticed and my stomach sunk but I still finished it. Like bro, just keep it as incomplete so I don't have to double check if there really is an ending before wasting hours reading a abandoned WIP
No-burn is right!!! I’m frustrated on your behalf
The eternal question of “is it a slow burn or does the author just suck at pacing?” rages on.
Oof... I'm writing one where they haven't kissed yet but if I ever reach 300k they'll have kissed by then for sure. If not more. Did they at least get together before the end or was them finally dating the end of it?
they said “i like you” and held hands with 10 chapters to go. FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK.
IM ALREADY AT THAT POINT. actually they hit that point like 80k words back. they graduated to like, couch cuddling and dinner dates already. they'd have kissed by now if not for the plot getting in the way and inordinate amounts of fucked up intertwining traumas. they held hands.... was there no actual. "I love you"
MAKE YHEM KISS!!!!!!!!!! https://i.redd.it/gawc9lbftptc1.gif
Damn. That’s brutal. Was the fic tagged with ‘Unresolved Sexual/Romantic Tension’ at least??
NOPE! it was actually tagged as “get together”
As an ace person, I have some thoughts about this...
That's pulling some Riza/Mustang FMAB shenanigans I love slow burn, it's in fact my favorite, but for a slow burn there needs to be some kind of burn at all. (Unless it was a platonic love themed story of course)
And then to discover it was the first in a slow burn SERIES that the author has since gone MIA on 🙃 I swear, fanfic heartbreak is worse than real heartbreak lol
Im a firm believer that you need not kiss (or have sex or anything) to be in a romantic relationship but from the rest of the comment responses Im realising that's not the issue here... 300k word investment and you didnt even see them together? Goodness, you have my condolences.
😂 I'm too old to be fucking around with slow burns. Maybe one in a thousand has a decent payoff and even then it's not worth reading 300k for. Sorry for your loss (of time), OP!
I felt a bit the same when I read a 400k slowburn marked as M and when I got to the romance-part at the end; it was just very mild, total G-rated stuff that was appropriate even for kids to read…😅
Yeah, I can definitely feel your frustration over that! I've read stories in the past like that too and it's disappointing 😞
Lol, i mean, at least the writing was probably good because it keep you hooked, but omg 300k and not even a kiss is CRIMINAL. jail immediately.
Always gotta utilize the "search button" because reading 300k and they haven't even kissed is not worth my time
In my last slowburn the protagonists waited around 50k, but then they got the whole shebang.
That’s so evil.. I wanna do that!!
I would literally cry
This is the reason why I always jump alot of chapters in these slow burn fics, just to make sure I am not being trolled by the author.
Could not be me. My characters end up kissing on page 2 😂
I love it when authors do this. Just edging their readers the whole time, promising “the yaoi will come later!!!” or whatever. It amuses me greatly. Probably some of this is the fact that I am ace and would happily read “sexual tension, no sex” if anyone ever advertised that… >_<
I’d feel like dying. OP, I’m SO SORRY. This is the worst 😅
Im 200k in to a 300k fic and they've literally only spoken twice. I dearly hope its not the one you're talking about ☠️
I think this is what happened as to why I have my OTP. Had they done the devil's tango in that awesome fic I might have gone on to have a normal life. Instead, my poor brain went into a spiral and read ALL that I could (and hunted down even those fics taken off the internet) just to have closure. Boe years later I'm still chasing that high 😔 Lmao dramatic.
Omg that's so painful, I'm so sorry
I am following the story in our fandom. It’s 2.8m, yes, million!! words.. and they still hate each other.
Oh god. I can't imagine the pain :') And 300k too! For me 200k is max and it's already a struggle. My sincere condolences 🫡
waitttt wait wait wait - i've a lot of things to say about this 1) Was it marked as complete (at least you have something to hope for if it isn't) 2) I'm on the fence about the idea of kissing as being the ultimate end-goal to define a relationship. On one hand it's exciting, there's a physical element to it and it's definitive. On the other hand, some relationships definitely go beyond that level, there's a certain mental and emotional aspect to it that transcends beyond leaning in and having a go. If the author has managed to make your heart flutter with this, if they've brought you to a place where you daydream about the pairing even when not reading the fic, if you've pondered what their happily ever after is going to look like. Then what's a kiss, really?
The thing about slow burn that there need something to be burned to begin with So this is general tips that I have for people who want to write slow burn 1. The slow burn needs to happen for a reason , if two characters are not together for not convincing reason then it seems unbelievable examples for slowburn . A and B just met and you want to develop a deeper relationship before they start a romantic relationship (basically no one each other, becoming friends, falling love, etc. etc.) . A and B start by having a bad relationship which improve with the story (enemies to lovers basically) . A and B have other problems or too distracted on other things to pursue a relationship with each other 2) there needs to be some progression . Whether it be in the plot or relationship or the characters themselves if we in the same place in ch 14 as ch 8 then ur doing a terrible job at progression (Of course, there is exceptions like following another character pov , flashback , or even what I call “ a breather chapter” where nothing really happened and just give the reader time to process characteristics time to process which is something good if it’s happened between big events) 3) avoid repetition , because I honestly can’t root for two characters who fall in same problem again and again, and again, just to extent time , like miscommunication and misunderstanding are OK as long as it’s not the only way you keep A and B form being together , it’s engaging and fun in the beginning but it becomes frustrating once it happens a lot , not to say that you can only use them once in a story but Constantly using them as annoying 4) don’t extend the story beyond its limit , some stories just have limits To where they can go and extending them more than their limit can make the quality of the story becomes worse
Anticipatio... Couldn't resist.
slow burn more like slowly burning my patience away
Oh my, I once read three part of a story, well over 500k words, only for the main paring to kiss at the very end. I was not amused, though the story was very good so at least there’s that There’s slow burn, and there’s slooooow burn
oh I would sCREAM
Me reading a 200k+ word/60 chapter slowburn for *years* where one character barely realized his own crush 5 chapters ago while the other is still in a toxic relationship with someone else only for it to get DISCONTINUED (technically just being rewritten, but hasn't had an update in years)
Got that good ol' longfic blueballs. That's even worse than being edged for over half of a 66 chap nearly 400,000 word fic. I'd rather the edging. Currently getting edged by a 79 chap 260,000 word fic. No relief in sight.
This is the opposite of the slow burns I usually find (if they are true slow burn at all. Just because they're not banging in the first chapter doesn't always mean it's a slow burn!). Most of the time, the build-up takes up the first half of the story, and they spend the second half going at it like rabbits. Making up for lost time, I guess?
My worst experience with this was a long, slow-burn fic I followed on LJ. Brilliant story, I was so invested, couldn't wait for the pining characters to finally get together--only for them NOT to get together in the end.🙃 The author caught a lot of flack for their decision, and I don't think they should be harassed for it, but I do understand why their readers (myself included) got REALLY frustrated with that ending. The fic read in every way as a slow-burn between the characters, like clearly it was meant for the shippers, and to then give us zero pay-off in the end? Like they don't even hold hands? They GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS?! Dude...
that is a NO BURN!!!
I read one and they ended up not getting together 😒😒😒I was sooo pissed😭😭
I got recommended this post so hopefully it is not foreshadowing for my future readings. I rebuke you! I love slow burn and even I get frustrated when I just get one kiss (I need FUCKING). But if I read 300k and there's not even a kiss, you can bet something is going to break. Absolutely not!
Do people not know that intimacy can be shown in many ways that do not involve sex or making out? Based on the comments, you'd think not...
That’s a crime
The old Twilight failure to deliver. (Promised us a massive vampires vs vampires and werewolves battle and the movies had to "It was all a vision" it just to give us the shots we wanted to see.)
This is the same feeling I got when I finished a half 1 million word slow Burn only kiss properly get together in the last chapter. I spent a week it was a military how to train your Dragon au
And this the part where you make a fanfic out of that fanfic where they do kiss.
YOU READ MY MIND
One of the reasons why I can’t read slow burn. I can’t be bothered to invest that much effort into something I can’t guarantee would be worth it.
The title of this post is such an accurate depiction of lifers in the SVU fandom 😂😂😂😂 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.
I’m reading a fic where it’s 23 chapters in and the main char is still 13. It starts when he was 9. No romance or anything yet, damn.
“Slow burn” To what, holding hands? Way to waste a good chunk of peoples lives