20 Great Reasons to Separate Characters

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Especially in a one X one, and extra especially in a romantic one X one, it's important to have scenes and even small story arcs where the main characters are separated. This not only lets you develop your characters as individuals, but it opens up opportunities that are impossible to explore if they're always together! Below, please find 20 story prompts for spending time apart:
  1. "Why have you been avoiding me?"
  2. "I haven't seen you in forever; I have so much to tell you!"
  3. "I made a new friend, I think you'd get along so why don't the three of us have dinner?"
  4. "I found a new restaurant/hobby/entertainment venue we should do together!"
  5. "My family vacation was great, they all want to meet you by the way"
  6. "I haven't seen you in an age and now you show up on my door looking like death walking and begging me to hide you wtf?"
  7. "I wanted to see you so bad but being near me would have put you in danger"
  8. "A distance relationship is scary but of course we gotta try. I can drive out on long weekends to see you!"
  9. "I always look forward to your letters/parcels"
  10. "I'm trapped in this alternate universe and when I dream it's always of you and I think I'm seeing glimpses of your life? I guess I'll ask when my dimension portal is done."
  11. "What? No, I'm totally not jealous that you spent all weekend with this gorgeous and talented person that I've never met before." *cobtinues obsessively searching for this person's flaws*
  12. "My parent/sibling/friend doesn't think I should spend time with you and keeps manipulating so that I can't see you: we're going to have to get sneaky about this."
  13. "What do you mean you've been in the hospital??"
  14. "You were out of contact all weekend and now you show up with a world-class hangover and a mysterious new tattoo? Time to backtrack."
  15. "Yes I saw my ex yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I knew you'd get mad even though I swear I'm totally over them!"
  16. "They keep rescheduling on me and I'm sure it actually is just work being taxing but I can't help feeling shafted anyway"
  17. "My friends kidnapped me to Vegas, see you in a week!!"
  18. "I thought you stood me up so I left you a really angry message but now you're texting from the police station/hospital and omg please don't check your voicemail!"
  19. "I thought you had gone missing but I'm beginning to wonder if you were transfigured into that stray cat/dog that's been hanging around cause it looks/acts weirdly like you and you DO have a habit of pissing off magicians..."
  20. "Honestly I've been so buried in my new hobby I didn't even notice how long it's been since I saw you! .... Did you just hang up on me?"
Feel free to add more prompts in the comments!
 
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Not exactly what I was expecting, but entertaining regardless. I'm more of a group roleplayer myself, and by that I mean I just don't 1x1 at all. For me personally the separation of characters is absolutely crucial in group roleplays especially with a cast of 6 or more. I'll list a few of my own reasons, though in a different format ^^

1. Your character learns from the people around them, if your team of 6 is divided into 2 groups of 3 each character is learning from the other 2 they are with. Then re-unite your team and everything seems like nobody has changed. Divide again, but this time jumble the teams around in 3 teams of 2, and re-unite once more. Now each character has gotten to know how the other works, but after an extended period of time with a particular individual, their personality could easily have evolved, making the next 1x1 interaction much more complex, keeping things interesting.

2. Assume a dangerous setting. A fantasy world filled with monsters, a futuristic war, whatever it is, just imagine a story in this world where it's guaranteed your group is in danger at all times, and split up your group of 10 in 2 groups of 5. Make each group directly rely on the other, meaning if one group fails, the other will die. Now you have a certain level of tension where your characters trust and reliability are brought into question. It forces your character to look within themselves and see if they can truly trust their comrades with their lives in a situation where they are most vulnerable.

3. Very simply, the division of power. This particularly applies to fantasy settings where some characters are unavoidably objectively more powerful than others. Having a group of 8 badasses makes it really hard to put them in a situation where they can fail, splitting up the group between the weak and the strong will make the weak need to become stronger, characters will need to grow. As for the group of the strong, they will be able to see their results faster, however at a terrible price, because faster results means more psychological strain. Essentially, you put the strong groups minds to the test while you push the limits of the weaker group.
 
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