In today’s workshop, we identified and played with a few conventions of romance writing:
1. Romance is the meat and potatoes
· Your story should center on the growing relationship between your main characters. While it may include other elements (i.e. mystery, fantasy), the main focus should be moving this relationship towards an emotionally satisfying ending (whatever that looks like to you!)
2. You need obstacles!
· To keep your readers hooked, your characters should face challenges to their "happily ever after." These may include love triangles, secrets, external complications or personal traits that complicate things.
3. Integrate intimacy rituals
· These might be inside jokes, shared traditions, meaningful gestures, private languages -- things that only they do together. The way these rituals change show growth in your characters - because to fall in love requires self-reflection.
Most importantly, your interpretation of romance should be unique to your characters!
Most romantic relationships begin with a memorable meeting!
SPARK - A classic meet-cute with an instant attraction!
OR
SNARK - It's not love at first sight - but that doesn't mean there's no emotion there!
Prompt: Start a scene with “We were the only two people who took the words “costume party” seriously.” Think about how your characters’ personalities can be expressed through concrete details.
Another convention of romance as a genre is the use of adaptations (retellings of classic stories – with a twist!). Adaptation allow us to:
- Play with tropes of the genre
- Write in characters who have been traditionally excluded
- Create twists on classic characters and storylines
- Engage with old and new audiences!
Reading: Excerpt from Ayesha at Last, by Uzma Jalaluddin - modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice
https://ew.com/books/2018/11/14/ayesha-at-last-first-look-uzma-jalaluddin/
He wondered if he would see her today. Khalid Mirza sat at the breakfast bar of his light-filled kitchen, long legs almost reaching the floor. It was seven in the morning, and his eyes were trained on the window, the one with the best view of the townhouse complex across the street.
His patience was rewarded.
A young woman wearing a purple hijab, blue button-down shirt, blazer and black pants ran down the steps of the middle townhouse, balancing a red ceramic travel mug and canvas satchel. She stumbled but caught herself, skidding to a stop in front of an aging sedan. She put the mug on the hood of the car and unlocked the door.
Khalid had seen her several times since he had moved into the neighbourhood two months ago, always with her red ceramic mug, always in a hurry. She was a petite woman with a round face and dreamy smile, skin a golden burnished copper that glowed in the sullen March morning.
It is not appropriate to stare at women, no matter how interesting their purple hijabs, Khalid reminded himself.
Yet his eyes returned for a second, wistful look. She was so beautiful.
The sound of Bollywood music blaring from a car speaker made the young woman freeze. She peered around her Toyota Corolla to see a red Mercedes SLK convertible zoom into her driveway. Khalid watched as the young woman dropped to a crouch behind her car. Who was she hiding from? He leaned forward for a better look.
“What are you looking at, Khalid?” asked his mother, Farzana. “Nothing, Ammi,” Khalid said, and took a bite of the clammy scrambled eggs Farzana had prepared for breakfast. When he looked up again, the young woman and her canvas satchel were inside the Toyota.
Her red travel mug was not.
It flew off the roof of her car as she sped away, smashing into a hundred pieces and narrowly missing the red Mercedes.
Khalid laughed out loud. When he looked up, he caught his mother’s stern gaze.
“It’s such a lovely day outside,” Farzana said, giving her son a hard look. “I can see why your eyes are drawn to the view.”
Khalid flushed at her words. Ammi had been dropping hints lately. She thought it was time for him to marry. He had a steady job, and twenty-six was a good age to settle down. Their family was wealthy and could easily pay for the large wedding his mother wanted.
“I was going to tell you after I’d made a few choices, but it appears you are ready to hear the news. I have begun the search for your wife,” Farzana announced, and her tone brooked no opposition. “Love comes after marriage, not before.”
Prompt: Write a short "adaptation" of a love story using a modern form of communication!
A few examples:
• A declaration of romance left on a voicemail
• A love story foretold in a character's horoscope
• A love story told through a Kijiji ad
• A love story told in a Tweet (280 characters or less!)
• A first date recapped in an Ask Me Anything post
• A love story told through an advice column
• The story of a wedding told through a Yelp review (with a rating!)
• A declaration of love delivered over text (with emojis)
Please share your memorable meetings and adaptations in the comments section below!
You can also check out the PowerPoint video for the workshop here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCPdmSPhhRs&feature=youtu.be