I don't think there is a right or wrong, just what's best for the story and what sort of relationships you want to explore. Generally speaking, I usually find platonic emotions resonate with me more strongly than sexual ones, but that's not always true. You can also have couples sans romance; the last SF novel I read, Elizabeth Bear's "Undertow", started out with most of the main characters either married or paired off, but it was not a romance at all -- just an adventure SF novel in which most of the characters weren't single.
Well, and that brings up another consideration -- narrative believability. Certain kinds of characters are much more likely than others to have either current or past romance in their lives. In many fantasy or non-Earth settings, a character's society will require them to be married young, so you'd need a really good reason for anyone past their culture's age of marriage to still be single, unless they're widowed. A 70-year-old, globe-trotting adventurer who's still a virgin would be such an oddity that I'd need some kind of reason for it in the story, whereas a 20-year-old could easily just have not had the experience yet. The older and more worldly a character is, the less likely it is that they don't have a lover or spouse in their past -- not that one couldn't, but depending on their society, personality and circumstances, it becomes much less likely. Even Emily Dickenson had boyfriends! (And possibly girlfriends as well.)
On the other hand, I certainly don't think a story is missing anything if it doesn't center around two characters falling in love. There are many other kinds of human relationships to explore. No matter what kind of story you write, there is surely someone, somewhere, who will find it just their thing.
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Date: 2008-11-27 06:16 am (UTC)From:Well, and that brings up another consideration -- narrative believability. Certain kinds of characters are much more likely than others to have either current or past romance in their lives. In many fantasy or non-Earth settings, a character's society will require them to be married young, so you'd need a really good reason for anyone past their culture's age of marriage to still be single, unless they're widowed. A 70-year-old, globe-trotting adventurer who's still a virgin would be such an oddity that I'd need some kind of reason for it in the story, whereas a 20-year-old could easily just have not had the experience yet. The older and more worldly a character is, the less likely it is that they don't have a lover or spouse in their past -- not that one couldn't, but depending on their society, personality and circumstances, it becomes much less likely. Even Emily Dickenson had boyfriends! (And possibly girlfriends as well.)
On the other hand, I certainly don't think a story is missing anything if it doesn't center around two characters falling in love. There are many other kinds of human relationships to explore. No matter what kind of story you write, there is surely someone, somewhere, who will find it just their thing.