Established and Non-Established Relationships

Basically, an established relationship is a relationship that is already going on when the story has started. They don't get together in the story. Obviously non-established is the opposite. (Is there a word for that, 'cause I'll change the title if there is.)

Discuss which you prefer to write, to read. Are there certain things you think are important in established relationship fics? What do you like/dislike about one or the other? Do you think a certain kind works better for chaptered/oneshots?

I like to write non-established the most, I'm not sure why. Probably because I always feel the need to explain when I write an established relationship and obviously, with non-established, there is no need to explain the relationship, because you see it developing.

I like to read either or, but I think my favorite that I've ever read starts non-established where one of the mains is dating a different person to begin with (as in they break up with their boyfriend to date the other main), but only if it's written right.

^ referring to chaptered stories.

In one shots, I prefer established.

I think pre-established works amazingly well for oneshots. I'm a bigger fan of pre-established anyways, but I like the mix of the two the best. Like, they're already great friends and it goes the extra step or something like that.

I think it's easier to be cliche and boring with non-established fics, at least that's what I've observed.

I'm a bigger fan of non-established although a lot of my stories aren't (going to be) established relationships. Sometimes I would have both in a story like in my story Extranormal.

If I'm writing one-shots or a drabble, I always go with established couples. I don't think I've ever written a one-shot about the development of a relationship because I think relationships (especially the inception of one) is much too complex to fit within a one-shot. If I'm writing a romance about a couple, I want to be able to establish them as individuals first before creating their relationship personality. That can't be done in a one-shot.

If it's a chaptered story, I like to see established older couples and non-established younger couples. I love seeing the dynamics of older adults who have been together for a long time or have been remarried (divorced in the past).

I honestly like established relationships better, just because all of the awkward "will they get together or won't they?" stuff is out of the way and for the most part, the characters are comfortable with each other. I prefer to read stories that have both established and developing...I guess..relationships. Like the main couple hasn't gotten together yet, but the minor couple has or vice versa.

I think oneshots are better with established relationships, just because I feel like it's kinda hard to fit in everything that goes into getting into a relationship in a oneshot, or maybe that's just true with the type of oneshots that I read.

I mean, I think non-established relationships can be fun to read and write (I have a non-established relationship fic that I'm working on now that I'm like, addicted to), but in general, I prefer established. But it's amazing when I find a fic with a little of both

I prefer established relationships in chaptered and in oneshots, though I mainly write oneshots. I have written non-established as both oneshots and chaptered, however. I can write a non-established fic in a oneshot no problem. I mean, my characters already know each for the most part, so that helps, I guess.

I like established relationships for a few reasons.
1) I'm not patient at all. I don't want to wait.
2) I don't normally give a damn how so-and-so got together. I'm assuming they got together because they like each other. I don't really care.

I'm if reading non-established, I prefer it as a oneshot, myself. Simply because I'm not patient and I'm not going to wait for an update to wait for these people to get together.

On the other hand, I'm okay with the middle. Like, when characters sleep together but aren't dating and end up dating later? I love that.

I think my story Learning to Fall actually has both, sort of. In the beginning, Pete and Ryan were sleeping together for about a year and they're newlyweds, but they're figuring each other out. So the relationship is established, but the characters themselves aren't established within the relationship.

I think it really depends on the story that you're trying to tell because in one story I play with both an established and a non-established relationship though the established relationship is one that you discover along the way of the story.

For the majority I've always written non-established relationships. Most of my stories, are either a lot of action sequences and then some romance thrown in.

But like Chemistry it's just growing and I don't even know if they'll be together in the end. things like that.

I went through a lot of my Panic fics. Not all of them. (I left a lot of drabbles out and some were too weird to categorize and some had no real pairing.)

But here are the numbers for the ones I did do:
75 were established relationships and 21 were non-established.
(Ironically, of my three chaptered/completed fics, two were established and one was non-established.)

There were several that I couldn't classify as either, like Objective Promiscuity, where Ryan and Brendon were already sleeping together and it was understood they would be together. They weren't together at the beginning, but they were together in the end. However, the plot of the story wasn't them getting together so I didn't feel comfortable saying it was either.

Mostly I prefer writing non-established because I like exploring how a relationship can start and progress. I'm writing an established relationship as a side pairing for my BBB and it's interesting but also a bit weird because I have the urge to massively go into detail with their backstory and I can't. I'll probably end up writing a prequel where they're the main focus, which kind of defeats the point, really.

I like reading both, though, and absolutely I love it when the relationship is a mixture of both.

It really depends on the story. I love writing my established couple and referencing what happened and how they got together, but I also love my non-tablished (and frankly, not really even canon) couple because I love having a character "warm up" to another.

I kind of don't have a favorite because I don't really write enough of either.

Reading, it's non-established for mot chaptered stories unless it is a genre like Horror or Sci-Fi or something. For one-shots, established, always.

When I write established I don't often point out how they specifically got together. I know, but it's usually backstory. 'Cause it's about what's going on now, not what happened then.

I think I write more non-established. Although with any story if relationships even comes up at all I love to have a healthy dose of both. Like if it's about a non-establised, then I will try to have side characters in an established or vise versa.
Although I think I most of what I write wouldn't really be either. It's either not about a relationship at all or it's complicated and not really either of those.

I love writing established. Even my non-established romances tend to be between people who have known each other a long time. I like to write intimacy, familiarity, secret-sharing.

Non-established is fun to read, but it tends to follow a very specific arc. It's predictable - not that there's anything wrong with that. A good writer can make it work. But you know they're going to get together. With established, you can throw anything their way.

Little cloud of depression here, but I like looking at how relationships fall apart more than how they start, so I generally like to write established relationships and focus on, either the end of the relationship or maybe a rough patch within one.

^
I love that.

I usually write non-established relationships, because I like how you can make the characters grow and develop from one thing into another as they fall in love. However, I often give some of the characters a complex history with another character; like a back story, so I guess that counts as an established relationship.

I like writing established relationships, because I find it easier. I think they're interesting though, how a pre-established relationship can grow over the course of a story and either it becomes strengthened or it dies.

While I like non-established relationships, I find it hard to find the balance between going too slow when developing the relationship or going too fast. Relationships can work at any speed, but it's difficult for me to find the balance.

I kind of a mixture both. I mean I mostly write the non-established relationships in stories, but I like exploring already established relationships in my stories. This is all for writing. As for reading, I like the whole non-established relationships because I want to experience what the characters are going through as they're getting to know each other, but I'm also good with stories featuring a pre-established pairings too.