One of the characters gets drunk and does something horridly stupid (yet entirely expected, because they're drunk), such as kissing and/or sleeping with the exact wrong person.
Or maybe they just make a complete zebra of themselves and the other can't handle it.
I'm not saying your characters shouldn't have problems or shouldn't break up at some point. That's actually pretty standard in the romance plot, and most romances don't work without some kind of split at or around the 3/4 mark. It makes the getting-together-at-the-end all the more satisfying.
What I'm saying is that using alcohol as a means to incite a major turning point in your story has been done to death already.
Stop doing it. You're more creative than that. Think up something better.
~Lydia
It's quite telling of me that when I read the title of this post my mind immediately went to drinking wine while writing. :-p
ReplyDeleteI really am not a fan of "get the characters drunk to cause drama" moments. Drama should come about because of characters' flaws and conscious decisions, not by taking away control over over their actions.
Even though I deal with the older part of YA, which is more likely to fall into underaged drinking at a wild teens party (which has also became sort of a cliche. If you have a party for teens, there will be alcohol), I'm yet to run into a situation where alcohol seems natural.
ReplyDeleteI mean, the Halloween at the mid-point of my story is already a set-up for some rational-induced drama. No sense having someone sneak in some beer and scretch belief. Besides, the parents are around, and it's likely the same stunt had already been pulled in the past (and that stunt probably got foiled by the narrator, knowing him.)
My characters don't need alcohol to incite them into doing something horribly stupid. They just come by that naturally. ;)
ReplyDeleteahahahahaha!
DeleteRofl!
DeleteI agree! This drives me nuts!
ReplyDeleteThis is funny, because just the other day I wrote a note to an author who had asked me to read her ARC, congratulating her on having avoided this very thing in her book! Only I didn't come up with that catchy and creative name, "alcohol fallback."
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, yes! Recently read a novel where the alcohol fallback was used at least twice in one book. *headslam*
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right. (And that GIF fits the mood perfectly!)
ReplyDelete