I love the movie Tangled, so it was very exciting to me when my daughter—who's very tenderhearted and gets a wee bit emotional about movies—was finally feeling brave enough to watch it. The result is I've now seen Tangled about five times in the last few months because it's become her favorite movie.
Something that story does incredibly well is develop the relationship between Rapunzel and Flynn, two characters who have never met. If you've ever tried to have two characters meet on the page and grow in their friendship or romantic interest of each other, you know the pacing is super tricky. Too slow and you bore the reader. Too fast and it feels unrealistic and forced.
So when we watched Tangled last week for McKenna's birthday, I tried to analyze how the writers built the relationship. (InTangled, it's a romantic relationship, but this list could be adapted for a story of friendship as well.)
1. We see the characters in their comfortable home worlds.
Rapunzel is in her tower dreaming of seeing floating lanterns and Flynn is on the run from the law. (And loving it. "Oh, the things we've seen, and it's only eight in the morning!") We get a glimpse of who they are as individuals—their strengths, dreams, and needs.
The traditional romance has at least two point of view (POV) characters, the heroine and the hero. Some also have one or two other POVs sprinkled in. If you're only telling your story from one POV, you at least want to know about your other character's starting place or home world.
2. The characters' worlds collide.
Flynn stumbles upon Rapunzel's tower. Rapunzel smacks him in the face with a frying pan.
If you have a story that involves two characters meeting on the page, you want to give a lot of thought to the when, how, where, and why of the scene where they meet.
3. Their paths merge and they are forced to stick together.
In Tangled, Rapunzel formulates a plan to have Flynn take her to see the floating lanterns. The stakes are high for her because she has always wanted to see the lanterns and she literally knows nobody except her mother. The stakes are high for Flynn because Rapunzel has hidden the crown he stole. In his heart, he's a good guy, so rather than hurt or intimidate Rapunzel, he chooses to take 24 hours to help her on this adventure.
Those stakes are really important for a quest style novel. If you're not writing a quest novel, then the stakes don't need to be high like that, they just need to make sense. In Twilight, Bella and Edward are partnered in science class. In Me, Just Different Connor is dating Skylar's best friend, so the two of them are forced to spend time together.
4. The pair is put through a test.
They must stick together to survive it. During this test, information about the other comes out.
In Tangled, while at a pub, Flynn is recognized by the thugs and they want to turn him into the authorities. Rapunzel goes out on a limb and reveals her desperation and her dream to the group in an effort to save Flynn.
During this test, Flynn learns that Rapunzel has more strength than he thought and that she's dreamed of the lanterns her entire life. Rapunzel learns that Flynn is a wanted man and that he's driven by a desire for riches.
5. The action slows long enough for the pair to process what happened.
This is a really important step that I often forget in my first drafts. The reader needs to see that the pair has gelled, that they trust each other a bit deeper because of the test they just survived.
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My Writing Guide
RandomWriting guidelines I found on different sites compiled by me.
