Translation help- which word あまり is effecting and general implication of the word 方向


> あんまり恋愛方向に持って行きたくない

So, context: an author's reply to someone asking whether a character of his
would have a romance or not. Said character had a few hints of a possible
romantic interest in someone and did end up getting married to them in the
epilogue of the work, but never had an outright romance with them. This reply
was from a Q&A with the author that took place a few years _before_ said
epilogue.

I'm not sure, taking context and hindsight into consideration, whether the
anmari here is affecting "恋愛方向" or "たくない".

I mean, I feel like it should mean _"don't want to take [this character]
towards much romance"_ rather than _"don't really want to take [this
character] in the direction of romance"_ , since the former statement is
contradictory in hindsight. But I don't know if that's grammatically correct.

Of course, I could be overlooking the implications of the word '方向'. If the
correct translation is "don't really want to take this character in the
direction of romance" with the implication that "direction of romance" means a
_focus_ on romance, then it makes sense. Since, like I mentioned in the
context paragraph, there were only a few hints of romantic intentions and it
only got outright stated in the epilogue, when they were already married.
Thus, the character never really went 'in the direction of romance'. Plus the
author themselves has stated how they don't feel there's any "romance" in
their work, despite hints and married characters in the epilogue.

Apologies if I've rambled. Some clarity and advice on how to correctly
translate this would be greatly appreciated.




The ～方向に持って行く is metaphorizing something which can be taken in the direction
of romance. In this case it's either "the two's relationship" or "the novel in
general".

> この場合は「笑い話」ということなので「会話」を物にたとえて「持って行く」と表現しています
> <http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1049626510>

The あんまり effects the 持って行きたくない, ie. the author doesn't really want to take the
book in that direction. あんまり is an adverb, and so it's going to modify a verb.
The only verb here is 持って行く.

I _think_ [if] it was going to be "the author doesn't want to excessively take
the book in the romance direction", it would be "あんまり恋愛方向に持って行くのはしたくない”.




The ～方向に持って行く is metaphorizing something which can be taken in the direction
of romance. In this case it's either "the two's relationship" or "the novel in
general".

> この場合は「笑い話」ということなので「会話」を物にたとえて「持って行く」と表現しています
> <http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1049626510>

The あんまり effects the 持って行きたくない, ie. the author doesn't really want to take the
book in that direction. あんまり is an adverb, and so it's going to modify a verb.
The only verb here is 持って行く.

I _think_ [if] it was going to be "the author doesn't want to excessively take
the book in the romance direction", it would be "あんまり恋愛方向に持って行くのはしたくない”.

