Relationships are tricky – romantic or otherwise – because at the heart of each relationship are two individuals who have expectations, often unspoken, about what they owe to each other.

The Prompt

Write a story in which two close friends, lovers or family members struggle through a difficult moment.

Tips

Love relationships are based on certain expectations (for more on that, see last week’s post about the types of love, what forms them, and how they can go wrong). Conflict arises when one party’s expectations aren’t met, and when they feel betrayed or disappointed.

Conflicts between people who love each other ought to be easily solved. All we have to do is follow a script written by a relationship therapist, and all will be well, right? Of course not!

Think about the things that can go wrong after the initial ‘insult’. Perhaps the aggrieved party responds with anger, irritation, sarcasm, triggering something in the other person. Perhaps the aggrieved party says nothing at all and allows the insult to fester. Perhaps the person who upset them is absolutely clueless.

You could write a story in which a wound like this breaks a couple up and it is only decades later, that the other person finds out why the relationship failed.

Or you could write a story in which a couple try to fix a problem only to make it worse, try again, make it worse again and then, if you’re an optimist at heart, you could let them have a moment of humility, when each realises what they’ve beem doing wrong, and fix it.

These relationships could be friendship, romances, or work relationships. Think about what’s at stake in each. For example, in family relationships you’re kind of stuck with each other and have to make it work (or upend your whole family structure), whereas friendships can be relatively ‘easy’ to leave behind.

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!