A series in which I oversimplify one concept from a work of literature to make you a better writer.
When I came up with the idea to do a romance for this series, I was tempted to pick a modern romance novel, but thousands come out each year. Even looking at some “best of” lists, I couldn’t find anything I thought most people would have read.
I was then tempted to do the classic Pride and Prejudice. But there’s already a lot of writing on that book. So, unfortunately, I’m back to a movie.
There’s obviously a lot of pieces that make a romance work.
Chemistry between the love interests keeps the story moving. There’s usually a conflict to keep them apart. And so on.
Proof of Love
But really, there’s only one thing that has to be done properly in a romance: the proof of love.
One character, traditionally the man (though this has obviously changed in the last few decades with m/m or f/f or role reversal setups, etc), must demonstrate convincingly how much they love the other character through a true sacrifice.
The more the character sacrifices to show this, the more emotional charge the scene will have.
It’s why people cry when watching or reading romances. The main way romances fail is that all the other pieces are disconnected from the proof of love. The chemistry and characterization and conflict should all develop toward this ending payoff.
This is why writing a good romance is harder than most people think. If you just plug into the formula, it will feel…formulaic, and the characters will feel like one-dimensional tropes fixated on the one defining feature that makes the end work.
Summary
If you somehow haven’t seen it, here’s a brief summary of You’ve Got Mail (obviously including the ending).
Kathleen owns a small bookshop focused on customers and reading to children and things like that. Joe owns a mega bookstore, portrayed as a profit-focused heartless entity. The mega bookstore is going to put the small one out of business.
The movie is a sequence of bad interactions between these characters in real life. This puts the movie in the romance subgenre of “enemies to lovers.”
The chemistry comes from the friction and conflict. The two characters accidentally hit it off online under anonymous screen names.
From the premise alone, we already know how the movie must end.
Kathleen will have to demonstrate a proof of love by overcoming the real-life prejudice she has against Joe for the person he is inside that she’s come to love through the online correspondence.
I know, it’s very Pride and Prejudice, and the movie even makes this Kathleen’s favorite book to spell out the connection.
Why it Works
So why does the movie work?
Every scene contributes something to the proof of love payoff. The real-life conflict ratchets up each time they meet. Writers who don’t keep their eye on the ending can accidentally let the characters start to fall in love outside of the email exchanges.
This would totally spoil the ending!
Some might say this is the difference between a “love story” and a “romance.”
A great romance doesn’t let up on whatever has to be sacrificed until the proof of love. Many lesser romances would just have the characters run into each other’s arms as if nothing was going on under the surface for the ending.
Meg Ryan understands the character, and she actually cries in the final scene.
There’s a ton going on internally that she has to show for the proof of love. This is the man she hates, but she also loves him.
Audience Panic
She has to overcome that, and just running into each other’s arms would trivialize the built-up tension of the movie. For the briefest moment, we, as the audience, should believe there’s a chance she’ll just slap him for lying and walk away.
Once you come to understand this technique, it can be quite fun to read well-done romances.
They are almost like little puzzles. You can look for all the ways the writer drops hints about the proof of love scene. It’s also an effective technique to use, even if the romance subplot of your fantasy novel is minimal.
