: Re: How to subtly portray a secret relationship I currently have a set of characters in which two of them have had (and still do have) history together, however I do not intend to drop the ball

If my experience with fan fiction has taught me anything, it's that readers are able to "ship" (as in, see a potential relationship between) even characters who never had a scene together and are unlikely to ever have met.

It helps if the characters are portrayed in a way that romantically inclined readers would consider them a good match. (For example, they could share a common interest. Or have similar personality, or complement each other's strengths and weaknesses in the way they interact in the workplace.)

You can also drop small clues hinting at them spending more time together than would be expected or talking about topics beyond whatever is necessary for their official relationship. They're probably giving gifts to each other, they're likely to show an interest in the other's well-being, etc.

Maybe character A likes to read and character B doesn't, yet it's B you meet in the bookstore. Maybe one character always seems slightly more knowledgeable about what's going on at the other's workplace than you'd expect. Maybe character A has a specific type of flowers growing in their garden and, at some later point, character B has a vase of the same kind of flowers. Maybe, at one point, both characters coincidentally have a cold at around the same time. Maybe there's a turn of speech (a quote, an expression) they both use to refer the same kind of thing.
Some of these are probably already too heavy-handed.

Don't make a big deal out of any of those, but over time the clues will just add up. In fact, you might find yourself having to cut it down when you find that too many of your test readers pick up on the relationship too early, or place too much importance on it.

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: Re: How to subtly portray a secret relationship I currently have a set of characters in which two of them have had (and still do have) history together, however I do not intend to drop the ball

More posts by @Michele605

: Is there a writing software that you can sort scenes like slides in PowerPoint? I generally use PowerPoint for outlining my scenes (prose, not script). I put a general description of what the

: Is it ok to use long footnotes? In my text, I have a footnote (6 or 7 lines) that is meant to be an extra insight. It does seem, however, to be a bit large for a footnote. On the other

: Lovesick Character Distracting Readers How do you show that a character is suffering from lovesickness in a story plot, but not distract the reader from the actual main plot of the story?

: A "sequel" that takes place during the events of its predecessor is called a midquel (or more precisely, an "intraquel"). In your case, only the first 25% of your second book is intraquel,

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