External obstacles (homophobia, distance, timing) can exist, but the primary conflict should be emotional risk . What are they afraid of losing? Typically, it’s the friendship itself, or their own sense of identity.
There is a stereotype that queer women move too fast. Resist the urge to rush. Let the relationship breathe. A first kiss that happens 200 pages in is more satisfying than one that happens in chapter three. Subverting the Subversion Of course, no genre is immune to new clichés. The danger of "girl-very girl very" becoming formulaic is real. Already, we see predictable beats: the soft butch and the high femme, the art school setting, the obligatory rainy confession.
This article unpacks what makes this specific subgenre of relationship so compelling, why it resonates with audiences today, and how creators can write "girl-very girl very" storylines that transcend tired clichés. To understand the phrase, break it down. "Girl-very girl" does not imply a gatekept version of womanhood. Rather, it refers to characters who actively perform or embrace feminine-coded rituals, aesthetics, and emotional languages—not as a limitation, but as a source of power and intimacy.
And that terror, wrapped in shared lip balm and whispered jokes and the soft weight of a head on a shoulder—that is what "girl-very girl very" truly means. Keywords: girl-very girl very relationships and romantic storylines, sapphic romance, feminine intimacy in fiction, soft queer love stories, writing LGBTQ+ romance.
Or consider the film The Half of It . Ellie Chu is not a "girl-very girl" character in the stereotypical sense (she’s pragmatic, isolated, unfussy), but her romantic storyline with Aster Flores is deeply immersed in feminine-coded intellectual intimacy: letters, film references, a shared love of old paintings. The "girl-very girl" element comes from Aster herself, who performs high-femme perfection while secretly starving for Ellie’s messy, word-drunk devotion.
The best writers will push further. Imagine a girl-very girl very horror romance, where feminine rituals (braiding hair, applying perfume) become the tools of survival against a supernatural threat. Imagine a historical setting where two Victorian ladies express their love entirely through the language of flower arrangements and embroidery patterns. Imagine a sci-fi where "girl-very girl" is an alien species’ understanding of human gender, leading to beautiful misunderstandings. In a media landscape that often equates female strength with masculinity (tough, stoic, violent), "girl-very girl very relationships and romantic storylines" offer a radical alternative. They say: Strength can be soft. Love can be gentle. And two people who have been taught to perform femininity can, through romance, transform that performance into something real.
