Arsthbt

I have two characters, the male being sort of a jerk, but lightening up later in the story, and the female is...very hateful. But a person who read the first chapter asked me if they were going to get together. I mean, I planned that for way later, but I want to be able to hide that better. How do I go about making the two characters seem less likely to be together?

You cannot prevent that suspicion altogether; especially because that is your plan. Which means your two characters are heterosexual; so you can't really use homosexuality as a show-stopper.

I would suggest you make it clear that one of them is already in love, and the other one knows it. If your guy is a jerk, that may be because he is unhappy, the woman he loves is not really in love with him, and he needs to learn in the course of the book that what he was feeling isn't really love at all.

If your girl is is hateful; same thing, and same lesson: Maybe she is hateful because the guy she loves is a player, using her, and she has mistaken something else for "love". Something like dependency, or the lies of a player that convinced her they were in love but just uses her for sex.

Other than sociopaths (which cannot fall in love) people are not jerks, or hateful, for nothing. Those traits grow out of psychic trauma of some sort. Start them out in the midst of their respective traumas, already clearly thinking they are in love, and it may defeat the reader's instinct to ship them.

But you cannot prevent shipping altogether, Even Batman and Robin have been shipped!

It is possible that this reader is one of thse who likes to pair characters in relationships that need not even be telegraphed.

There are several ways to do this. Introduce other potential love interests as red herrings. Man dates a couple of them, coming to realize that the first woman is really a better match for him. She has been checking out the cute bartender and dating him. Timing is off, but she sees ex-Jerk and reconsiders.

One or both are focusing on careers. No time for socializing except with colleagues - which they are not.

A cousin of mine who is reading my piece asked me if my MC and Secondary Protagonist were going to fall in love. I told her that MC thinks any woman worth knowing except for those he works with (who are off limits as colleagues) would run for the hills. Secondary Protagonist likes to dominate her SOs, which she cannot do with the MC, so for them to get together, she has to either grow up or let go of this control issue she has.

You could give one or both of your characters personal issues they must resolve before they can connect. Perhaps he wants a wife who will be traditional and realizes that HW will never be that. Later, he sees her as a perfect partner and reassesses his priorities.

Maybe one travels and is out of touch. Perhaps HW is pursuing an advanced degree and will not entertain the idea of dating until she has her PHD. Too many old jokes about the MRS degree for her to even let the thought cross her mind.