Ima be really honest. There's a difference between slow burn and dragging a plot out. Whi...

Ima be really honest.

There's a difference between slow burn and dragging a plot out. Whilst this story might have started as slow burn, it's obvious that the plot is starting to drag and degenerate.

The goal with a slow burn story is that the feelings and emotions gradually build up and up and up until a critical point in which the climax occurs and the pair finally solidify their relationship. It gives the reader an extremely satisfying and emotional conclusion. Kind of like climbing a tall cliff and finally getting to the top where you flop onto the grass proud and joyful.
Whilst this slow burn feeling was there when the story first began, the author decided that; instead of getting to the climax, they took a step back and almost kind of shattered that already built foundation for a good slow burn story. Now don't get me wrong, conflict is an extremely vital part of a story, and it is not *wrong* to have a character conflict before the climax of the relationship.

However,

The conflict that the author wrote in was *not the correct type*. During the conflict the MC completely slammed away ANY possibility of their being a relationship between them, and it wasn't out of an emotional outburst (Which would've worked). The way the MC told the LI (love interest) was extremely calm, serious, and thought out. That will put a permanent dent in their relationship and completely erase all of the relationship progress that they had made. What annoyed me even more was the unnecessary nature of it. The only reason the MC had these thoughts was because of a misunderstanding jealousy trope. Like, SERIOUSLY? *THAT* TROPE? There are A HUNDRED ways to do an insecure character arc, and you chose THAT ONE?!!

What annoys me even more is that the internal conflict makes complete and utter sense. The internal struggle that the MC faces is perfectly thought about and is completely realistic. But the author just chose such a bad time to implement it and went about writing it in such a bad way that it just loses all its potential. Like, imagine if the MC was having this internal struggle AFTER the two got together? It would be so much more effective in which the MC would have to debate whether to hurt the LI by breaking up an already solidified relationship, or remain being by his side in constant regret. It would be so much more effective and could only be solved through communication, WHICH WOULD BE EXTREMELY VALUABLE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

The conflicts that happen *before* the slow burn relationship is defined have to be conflicts that the two main characters have to work together to overcome. That's character development. It solidifies the relationship and and gradually builds up the strength of their attachment. But instead of doing anything like that, the author went with a fat big hammer and knocked down everything that they had build up. And the only way to solve such a huge hit is for the slow burn to start all over again from the bottom. The author didn't take a step back, they ran a fucking mile behind themselves.

Now the issue with that is:
A single conflict is only interesting for so long, which is why major conflicts are left for later on in the story when the two main character's relationship is more defined. They can afford to have such a big hit to their relationship. But the way that the author tore down their relationship progress and then immediately went on to another couple just leaves the readers feeling frustrated and annoyed.

When you create a conflict, you have to dedicate the next chapters to solving that conflict before the relationship dampens. You can't just move on to another couple with NEW conflicts. And that's where the author has been going wrong. And that's why so many people have grown frustrated with the story. The author is dragging it out without the slow burn element in play.


So basically I'm just gonna stop reading for a few months and then see if the author has stopped fucking around and moves on to complete their conflict arc.

If you have a different opinion to mine, feel free to reply to this and give your point of view