Touche Cliche ― The Book of Cliches

-romance; unlikely pairings

00. romance;

Unlikely pairings in romance are one of the most infuriating things a reader can experience. There are various different types of unlikely pairings; one of them being 'murderer and spared victim'. The reason I am reviewing this is that this is one of the signs of a Mary-Sue/Gary-Sue. 

THE SCENARIO;

The victim (aka Mary-Sue/Gary-Sue) is usually sleeping or in a vulnerable state, the murderer (normally depicted/described as an unfeeling psychopath sees this as an opportunity to murder her/him. The murderer approaches, weapon drawn and climbs onto the bed. 

The victim turns over in their sleep, revealing their 'uncanny beautiful/handsome' face or a face the murderer recognizes as a friend/former love interest. 

Murderer backs off and vows to protect the victim by all means necessary (aka stalking and brutally murdering all rivals to their virtually-non-existent, unrequited relationship). Classy.

THE PROBLEMS;

First, I mentioned in parenthesis how the murderer is depicted or described as a psychopath, the reason I brought this up is that one of the symptoms of psychopathy is a lack of empathy or shallow/non-existent romantic relationships. 

Then, the Mary-Sue/Gary-Sue qualities show itself, aka, the inhuman beauty/handsomeness. 

Third, the cold psychopath recognizes the victim as a friend/love interest, despite the previous notion of psychopaths lacking the traits of having long-term, stable friendships or romance. (unless the 'friend or romantic partner' has something of value to them; wealth, information.). 

Finally, on the sixth to the final line,  the would-be murderer suddenly gets cold feet and leaves, promising to defend the victim at all costs, including murder. What disgusts me is the fact that, in the end, the victim is either kidnapped and slowly falls in love with their murderer or grows to love their stalker by their own means, despite all the unredeemable traits they exhibit.  

THE FIX;

I, honestly, cannot think of a way to fix this situation as it is flawed from the get-go. 

You can't change the plot of this, without changing the fundamentals of the characters involved. What I would suggest is to go back and do a complete rework of the characters or change the ending into an unrequited 'love' story in which the victim seeks the help of the police or some militaristic group (it does not have to be government funded) to bring down the stalker. 

Personally, I believe this is the only option to improve the scenario without turning it into a sappy story with minimalist plot and character development.