Cheating is a tough topic honestly. People deal with it different ways, some forget and forgive, others stay broken because it’s a horrible feeling, not knowing why that person did that and you start to be very insecure and closed off to people, and other people took it with anger and want the other person to suffer.
In my opinion this honestly shouldn’t be romanticized. It’s really deep and it doesn’t involve any “good feelings or things”.
If you want to do a cheating story, go ahead.
But be careful because some people know what it’s like being cheated on.
Make it realistic and it would be a good idea to see the MC who gets cheated on, grow and learn from that experience, like found their worth.
That could spread positivity that you can move on from that becoming an even better version of yourself that you were with that person.
Idk what you think about this or if I explained myself bad
And not face any consequences (at least if most episode stories). Freedom of choice freedom of consequences unlike real life. Seems alot of people are taking out their ehem guilty pleasure doing things they won’t or won’t dare do in real life and do it here on episode lol.
I actually wouldn’t mind well written cheating stories. It adds reality to a story because let’s face it cheating is really common in our society. Spare me your puritanism, it’s really likely that we will have to face infidelity in our life: as a cheater, as a person whose been cheated on, as the other one, as a witness or even several roles mentioned above.
It can really add depth to a character or a relationship (developmentally wise) if well done because, every story, every reason that leads to infidelity, and every ways to see it is different, this is not as simplistic as "I fell out of love ", “I’m a matcho alpha man” , “I’m a dumb gold digger”.
Monogamous relationship may not suit everyone too, but in our society they’re highly promoted like the only acceptable alternative, while in other society things other alternatives were promoted.
But I agree, character should face consequences for their action in the story, even if in real life some people get away with it.
Maybe cheating story will be better suited for ivy thought, but I think it’s an interesting thing to develop in a plot.
Quit honestly I’m tired of the “puritanism” here, and I would love to see more anti hero character and lI as long as it isn’t glamorised.
Maybe it’s because I’m not from US, and in my country we don’t have as much issue with the censorship of this kind of things, or maybe it’s because I’m a morally grey person, or maybe both
It is really weird on its surge of popularity lately, especially on how the MC cheating is treated differently than when the a-hole ex cheats (which honestly I can do without reading anymore as it is the laziest excuse of a prior relationship being dissolved).
Thing is, I think in general a cheating MC (at least a past of cheating ) would be interesting, as Long as the story develops her properly and learn from her mistakes and impulses.
Sure, I got some thoughts. Here’s the thing. Usually, the stories where the MC cheats, their partner is an abusive piece of crap. And it’s set up that way so that readers can still get the ~forbidden love~ aspect without having an MC who’s in a position to have to be held accountable for their actions. I mean, I always have empathy for people in abusive relationships but in the real world, we can’t control what’s happening. In stories, authors have control of the narrative and rather than offering perspective on building healthy relationships or critiquing the nature of societal expectations for relationships, we’re given a story where the MC is put through a traumatic experience to justify the reader’s need for a forbidden love scenario.
The other thing is…man, I don’t know. I feel like we put cheating on a different level than other problematic behaviors and while it’s not “good” it’s seen as more “forgiveable.” And I’m not here to say whether individual people should or shouldn’t forgive a person who’s cheated on them. But ignoring the boundaries of a relationship by cheating suggests the person doesn’t respect other boundaries either. Or at the very least that the people in the relationship don’t communicate about what’s going on for them and rather than facing the hard truths of relationships not working the way they want, they start disregarding the boundaries of the relationship and it’s not impossible to come back from that, but it’s definitely difficult.
Personally, I don’t really want to play as a cheater. But if an author were going to write about this, I think they would really need to examine the problematic expectations of romantic relationships that we accept as “normal.” A lot of people say communication is key to a healthy relationship, but most people don’t really actively practice that - for reasons that are understandable, sure, but if an author wanted to have an MC who could acknowledge that instead of ending the relationship or trying to communicate about what wasn’t working, they took the easy way out. I think we especially need to be careful about the messages we send to young readers - and regardless of how many adults read and write on episode, it is an app geared towards a young teenage audience so to tackle issues like cheating really should be handled sensitively.
At the end of the day, people may have reasons for what they do, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good reasons and it doesn’t mean those actions can be justified. But it also doesn’t mean the character can’t learn a lesson and redeeom themself. I would especially appreciate if the redemption arc actually didn’t conclude with their partner forgiving them and getting back together, because the redemption should be because the MC wants to be a better, more communicative person who comes to terms with living with the consequences of their actions.
Sorry, I think I’m misunderstanding you or you’re misunderstanding me. Are you talking about the person who cheated or the person who got cheated on?
Because when I said that, I was specifically talking about the cheater. Why not leave instead of cheating on someone? It had nothing to do with the person who got cheated on. I understand why it’s hard for you to leave someone you love because they were unfaithful. But if you cheated on someone, I do not agree that you love them.
Omg, I’m sorry. I totally misunderstood you. I thought you were talking about the person who got cheated on. That’s why I said what I said.
And now that I understand what you say, I completely agree with you. If you want to get with someone else, please break up with your partner first. Maybe it’s gonna hurt more if you cheat than if you break up.
I think cheating stories where you get cheated on and you find someone better is a great concept as long as it’s done correctly. Like ER Gurney’s “Under You” for example. But stories where you play as the cheater pushes me away lol
As someone who feels extremely strongly about loyalty & fidelity, I do not like stories where the MC is unfaithful at all. She/he immediately becomes unrelatable to me. The fact a featured story glorifies it is worrying and somewhat disappointing to me.
Like, how difficult is it to stay devoted to one person?
I saw that “Secret Love” or whatever it was called was an actual featured story and was totally shocked- i read the veryy first episode and dipped outta there right after cuz it was so infuriating. You can tell the author tries to justify their cheating by having both of their partners treat them like dirt and then set it up as a “Romeo Juliet” love situation, but i think thats a gross message to send to the readers. So Im completely with you on this one- now maybe the point of the story is to show that its NOT justifiable and theyll show actual consequences to the infidelity, but as an interactive story where the reader has to “choose” that the mc has the affair and make that the seemingly “good” option kinda makes that message seem pretty implausible…I would hope they would show the consequences and treat it as an actual mistake but unfortunately i really doubt it. There are so many of these stories where the mc is in a toxic relationship and then they fall in love with the LI and they makeout and whatever without ever acknowledging, that hey we also might be doing something wrong too. I wish for once they would show that the two click but instead of having them both be like “our partners suck, we’re so alike- Lets makeout and sleep together RIGHT NOW,” they focus on helping eachother find the courage to stand up for themselves and breakup with their buttface partners. THEN they can pursue their love all they want. THAT would be a message I could support easy- then rather have a LI who just stoops down to the jerks level and uses the mc the LI could actually be worth LIKING! …dang Im glad you said something bc honestly it needed to be said and also I needed to vent lol
Oh totally! I don’t have issues with that usage of cheating as it actually shows how sh*t of a person someone has to be to be unfaithful, I think cheating can be used pretty well to show how a character is a bad person. ((I just have an issue when it’s the MC cheating on their partner and it being depicted as a fun little thing))
I completely agree, It would be one thing if It was used as something MC could grow from and learn to be a better person but the stories where it depicts it positively are just gross
I would call cheating a mistake if you mean it in the sense that the mc choosing to cheat was wrong, but if you’re looking at “mistake” as in meaning that they did it on accident, Id say that cheating’s never a mistake. The choice was voluntary, regardless of the scenario. Of course, certain circumstances require far more empathy bc perhaps someone might be in a relationship that theyre scared to be in, and I cant imagine how hard it would be to just ADMIT that your in a relationship like that. I still think itd be wrong to cheat, but I would never think that made them a bad person. And i could never judge them for making a choice like that bc i think it would require a crazy amount of bravery to stay honest while dealing/confronting that abusive partner and to have the strength to leave, an amount i think most wouldnt have. Just bc you made a bad choice doesn’t mean you’re a bad person and i think thats a super important thing to recognize. But also, just bc your a good person doesn’t mean you cant make bad choices. I hope that makes sense?
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I think cheating is generally perceived by those who’ve never come close to the situation as something risky and exciting. Having a partner while also spending time with someone else must look audacious and bold to an ‘innocent’ reader’s eyes. I should know, because I remember my friends from middle school fantasizing about the whole triangle relationship dynamics like it was the most thrilling thing in the world.
By anyway, now that I am in a solid and long-term relationship the thought of cheating actually makes me feel sick. I would never dream of it and I’d feel disgusted at myself if it ever happened. Even if accidentally.
Cheating can be handled in various ways and there could be various reasons for it to happen. But as usual, most of the stories which show it just end up glorifying it like the rest of abusive situations Episode stories are renowned for
I personally do not condone cheating. There are very few circumstances in which I would consider it ‘acceptable’, for lack of a better word.
That being said, I have written works that involve cheating. Cheating is an “easy” plot device to use when trying to create conflict or an inciting incident in a story. Hence why I think it is so commonly used.
However, it appears as though most cheating storylines are not acknowledged appropriately. I generally don’t read purely romantic stories (and I definitely don’t read “affair” stories), but the few I have read tend to try to justify cheating based on who is doing the cheating (when, in fact, cheating is often wrong regardless of who is doing it).
The MC’s boyfriend cheats and he is an awful, awful, awful human being. He can never be forgiven regardless of the circumstances. But the LI cheats and he is not a villain because it’s with the MC. His ex-girlfriend is the one who always ends up being the villain, even though her anger is valid. The MC cheating is a newer idea, but the MC is never the villain either, because it’s the MC, and she and the LI are meant to be…and her boyfriend is an awful human being…and he’s ugly (just in case you needed a little more justification for her actions).
I have a work where the MC has to evaluate why he thinks it’s okay for his LI to cheat on her boyfriend with him, but it’s not okay for his dad to cheat on his mom. His sister brings up his hypocrisy, forcing him to address his feelings and the pedestal he placed his LI on. I’d like to think this is a more interesting take on the usual storylines we see.
If you’re going to write an affair story, at the very least, acknowledge the cheating storyline appropriately. It’s okay for the MC to be the “villain” and to have them acknowledge that their behavior is not okay. It’s okay for the MC to acknowledge that the LI is the “villain” and that their behavior is not okay. The normalization and justification of cheating based on which character is doing the cheating is not okay. At least, not in my opinion.
I can agree with that. The person she cheated on feelings are paramount and it’s their decision to forgive or not.
And I don’t think you looked into my comment too far :) I enjoy discussion!
(also I LOVE YOUR WORK H DKJHFHFAFHAS)
Ha I’ve noticed this too In addition to the boyfriend being the most disgusting person on the planet, he is also the ugliest How did you get with this dude in the first place, MC?!
In addition to the boyfriend being the most disgusting person on the planet, he is also the ugliest