Hi writing friends,
I’m a sucker for a memorable meet-cute moment in any story! The meet-cute is the first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them. It doesn’t have to be “cute.” It can be an awkward circumstance or the result of a disagreement. It’s “cute” because readers know that these two will fall in love…eventually.
One of my recent favorites is in the novel Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez. Briana is an ER physician and she’s being considered for a promotion to chief of emergency medicine. Jacob, also an ER physician, has transferred to the same hospital. He is being considered for the same position, even though he is new to this hospital. When they meet, sparks fly! (Note the conflict inherent in the set-up.)
💘 Whether your story is in the romance genre or you’re featuring a romance as a subplot, how you bring your characters together sets the tone for their relationship.
💘 It sets the tone for their relationship and is often a big moment in the story. The goal is to get readers invested in the relationship between these characters. Let’s make it memorable to create a lasting impression filled with chemistry.
Meet-Cute Tips
💘 Start with conflict. Maybe there is a miscommunication, petty disagreement, clumsy bungle or bad first impression. The conflict in the meet-cute scene doesn’t have to drive the conflict in their romance…it can, but it doesn’t have to.
💘 Consider what happens when this moment ends. Do your characters have unrequited interest? Are they head-over-heels? Does one of them have interest and the other doesn’t?
💘 Elevate the banter. As the meet-cute unfolds, allow both characters the opportunity to speak, and try to give them equal page time. This is a great opportunity to show their chemistry on the page. Let them engage in a conversation so we can see their personalities.
💘 Surprise the reader. Think about including details that are unusual or vivid or catchy. Maybe two characters are wearing the same ugly Christmas sweater to a holiday party. Maybe they are guests at a wedding in Hawaii. Maybe they’re both competitors at a hot dog eating contest. The possibilities are endless!
💘 Create a meaningful interaction. The meet-cute should have your love interests connecting, rather than seeing each other across a crowded room. If it makes sense for your story, give them decision-making power about their next steps.
What is your favorite meet-cute moment in novels or movies? Questions and comments are open to all.
Community Write-Ins
Our nearly daily writing meet ups are a wonderful way to help you meet your writing goals. The Write-In is a Zoom get-together for paying subscribers. We say hello and have a brief chat, then write together in companionable silence for fifty minutes. It’s a small act of writerly solidarity, an opportunity to get to know other writers, and a lovely way to fuel your creative life. I’ve added new dates to our calendar here. Hope to see you soon!
Upcoming Classes
Pitch Perfect: Write a Query Letter That Gets Noticed
February 28, 7-8:30p.m. Eastern (Zoom)
If you’ve written your novel or memoir and now you're ready to wow a literary agent, you know you need to write a killer query letter. But how do you do that?
Writing a great query letter can be challenging and frustrating because it has one purpose, and one purpose only: to get an agent to request your manuscript. This requires you to think about your book in a different way. My workshop will demystify the process of writing a query letter.
In my 90-minute workshop, I'll share...
the five essential elements every query letter should have
the secret to the all-important pitch paragraph
how to distill your 300-page manuscript into 400 words
dos and don'ts for finding comp titles
how to reduce overwhelm and build confidence as you send your work into the world
Best of all, you'll have the opportunity to send me a draft of your query letter for direct one-on-one feedback.
The Art of Backstory (3 spots left)
Saturday, March 23, 10:30am - 1:30pm Eastern (Zoom)
Backstory has gotten a bad reputation for good reason: by definition backstory takes your story backward in time, potentially stalling momentum and tension. But your characters have a past and that past affects who they are and what they want.
This workshop will offer tools designed to help you incorporate backstory subtly and effectively, including in-class writing prompts, and will help you learn more about your protagonist’s relationships with other characters and how they inform backstory. By the end, you will be able to use your characters’ past to provide context to their present, understand your protagonist's internal and external motivation, and increase suspense by using past events to create expectations of future developments.
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