Faking an orgasm in public and arriving at a 'fancy dress' party as a bunny girl, are just two memorable scenes from romantic comedies that surprise and entertain. Can you remember which movies those unforgettable scenes come from? Answer at the end of this article.
If you are a writer who enjoys films such as: You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Bridget Jones's Diary, Love Actually, [amongst many others], and wish to try your hand at writing the good old rom com, then you're already half way home.
ROM BEDS
** So what elements does the romantic comedy need?
When we read or watch a romantic comedy we know that our hero and heroine's worlds are about to collide, suffusing conflict along the way and finally allowing the pair to get it together at the end, realizing that they complete one another.
The most important thing to remember about a rom com is it's all about the journey. In a romantic comedy, we don't usually have a list of suspects and then have to decide who the murderer is. Rather, it's the journey the hero and heroine have to take that's crucial. There should be conflict along the way, that's a given, but there should be some laughs as well. By this, I don't mean that every page has to be rip-roaringly funny. It might just be something that makes the reader smile, a comic image perhaps.
** Don't turn all your characters into caricatures!
There is a danger when writing the romantic comedy to want to make all your characters funny! Don't. Think about it, when you watch a comedy show or movie, how many of the cast are actually playing for laughs? Not all of them, you can bet. Don't forget the straight guys.
There's also a tendency to turn funny characters into caricatures by stereotyping them. For example, in Britain there's a standing joke about the German on holiday in Spain, who gets up early to leave his towel on the sun bed to stake his claim! Or the Irishman who keeps saying things like: "Top of the morning!" or "Begorrah!" Not very true to life!
** Draw from real life
Sometimes I'll include funny things that have happened to me in real life. For example, in one of my books the heroine and her friend go out nightclubbing. The friend, on leaving the club, looks up at the sky and thinks she sees a square moon. This really happened to one of my inebriated friends. It turned out to be the neon sign on the top of a very large crane!
** Using real life characters
I have a confession to make, I draw some of my characters from real life as well. These usually end up being secondary characters. For example, in one of my romance novels, Fran Santini's father is a restaurant owner. A couple of years ago, I visited an Italian restaurant in Cardiff [I won't tell you which one it is] and the owner was such a character he inspired me to invent 'Ronaldo Santini'. As soon as my mother and I entered the restaurant, he greeted us. "Beautiful Ladies. Please sit here." He was so charming we ended up ordering a bottle of wine, staying for a full three course lunch and paying much more than we would normally do at a restaurant! I haven't been there since. It will be somewhere I'll go in future for a treat.
* * Inner Conflict
To up the ante, your protagonists need to have an inner conflict as well as external conflict that the story's romantic relationship confronts and ultimately resolves.
You'll probably gather by now that I eat out. A lot. I was inspired to invent 'The Usherwood Sisters' after seeing two elderly sisters who eat out every Saturday at the same restaurant in my hometown. They always appear to eat the same meal and finish it off with a coffee. I gave them some thought and guessed they were the sort of people who didn't like having their routines upset!
The main prerequisites for writing the romantic comedy are: having a sense of humour and drawing on everyday humorous incidents, the rest is down to good writing skills.
Answer from start of article: The scene at the deli in When Harry Met Sally and Bridget Jones's Diary [when Bridget turns up at a party finding out it is not fancy dress after all.]
Crafting the Romantic Comedy ROM BEDS
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