#i dont actually know whether to tag this as pdh or mystreet

[moonlit-escape]

Laurance, head in hands: every sport is just "hit the ball" why is pool any different

Laurance: "don't hit certain balls" oh yeah bc that makes sense. in a game about hitting balls, get over urself

Gene, counting his money: somebody's mad they just lost a game of pool

Laurance: i wish you pain and agony.

Gene: i wish you'd get better at pool

[shadowqnights]

because you're writing enemies to lovers... how do you determine when two people are enemies and how do you determine when two people are lovers? basically what are the qualities in a relationship that classify people as enemies and lovers respectively? how do they behave and act towards one another?

Oooo okay!!! Not sure if this is advice or just asking for my personal analysis on the topic but I'll gush anyway. I love talking about this because enemies to lovers, despite the name, also has my favourite middle ground "it's complicated", at least when I write it, which is 100% the most fun to write. It really really depends on the author actually. To me, a pair of characters are enemies when on opposing sides of morals or walks of life, whereas rivals is a much more domestic definition. Garroth and Laur are enemies mostly because of a) where they grew up and b)their current positions/affiliations (Laur is a Shadow Knight, Garroth is a Guard and runaway Ro'Meave + O'Khasis is the power city of the region and holds a LOT of control over the smaller towns where Laurance is most familiar). If I was writing for example PDH or Mystreet, I'd refer to them as rivals more than enemies, but once again I think that's a personal thing to the author whether they're enemies or not!

For me, I determine that two characters are enemies when their opposition/standing/affiliations or whatever makes them enemies is actively getting in the way of their daily life. It's not just an afterthought in the back of their mind - it's disturbing them. Garroth felt as if it was his duty to protect his home from the stereotype of Shadow Knights that he was familiar with, and Laurance was frustrated after discovering Garroth's upbringing and felt that life was unfair in that regard. In an enemies to lovers, the enemies in my mind has to last for a long period of time. More than just a few days. Changing your mind about someone you have strong opinions about is not an overnight process in the slightest and in my experience I made it a couple of months. I feel like at least longer than a month is needed to grow. I might become more sympathetic over the span of a few days learning new information about another person, but it will take me far longer to apply that into my interactions with them, and if we're arguing like 24/7 then that's not going to stop overnight. Even playful banter is going to carry on into the middle ground:

"it's complicated"

My personal favourite, because you're not enemies, you're not lovers, you don't know what the hell you are, you're just trying to figure this out. At these point one character might have unrequited feelings for the other, they both might be falling and are in severe denial, one is realising and the other isn't, but either way they're not lovers. They're awkward messes but do Not stop the playful banter no matter what. It's Crucial that the banter pauses. My favourite thing during this phase is to toy with the reader a little bit just as they are toying with each other - make it seem like they're on the cusp of lovers, and everything is going to be okay, then have things crumble for a little while. Ups and downs are key here, make things seem hopeful and then crush some hearts for a bit, push characters to their limits because that is going to inevitably bring them closer together, either by force or simply accidentally. These kinds of scenes reveal that something in a character wants to be close to their enemy, more than friends, and are actively choosing them instead of being forced into interactions with them by those around them.

Eg. Garroth and Laurance spending time together not because they have to, but because they take joy in each other's company. Of course, it's not easy to come to terms with that after spending so long hating each others' guts.

The fun part is figuring out when we're out of 'it's complicated' and into lovers because I SURE AS HELL DON'T KNOW! :D In my experience it's come pretty naturally as a transition because I place a LOT of focus on the "it's complicated" or enemies rather than the resolution of MONTHS of bickering, hatred and at least one homoerotic sword fight scene.

Lovers is the one part I can't talk about so easily because I have NO IDEA how "it's complicated" turns into lovers because everyone writes it differently!! :D I can't even explain how I write most of the time because I really have no idea what I'm doing at any given point in time. It's also a bit different for me because, as tags suggest, I'm writing enemies to lovers with an angst ending. I can't really help in that regard unfortunately I'm sorryHDFJKFD. Behaviour wise I'd say the light bickering doesn't change much, I don't enjoy very abrupt shifts in behaviour and personality after a confession or 'leap of faith' and whilst they might be acting a lot more gentle or warm towards each other, you can also make it fun by dipping in and out of It's Complicated and Lovers. The good old 'pretend it never happened but things are incredibly awkward now and I don't want to admit how much I enjoyed that kiss etc' works wonders for me, but it depends on the person! I classify Lovers as any point past the 'leap of faith' as I put it, and that particular leap I haven't even reached yet so I'm not the best person to ask about the Lovers part. Laughs nervously.......... soon I promise it's soon I swear.

ANYWAY I've already written too much about this so I'm trying to keep it short IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG I DONT EVEN KNOW IF THIS IS WHAT YOUR ASK MEANT ANON IM SORRY YOU'RE MY BELOVED :] <3