1. Elements of the Romantic Comedy

2. The romantic comedy is about being able to laugh at ourselves.
Falling in love is a challenge, it does not go smoothly in a rom com. What other movies can you think of? Let’s discuss what happens in some of these movie below!
Bridget Jones’s Diary
The Wedding Planner
Love Actually
Just Friends
He’s Just Not That Into You
You’ve Got Mail
When Harry Met Sally

3. The Heroine: female lead
Must have a goal readers can sympathize with or understand
She must be likeable, credible, believable, and complex.
The typical romance heroine is independent and perhaps a little unconventional.
She is decided in her nature/set in her ways
She CANNOT be too vulnerable and helpless
The Heroine must be able to handle “torture by love”
What female heroes can you think of who fit this criteria?

4. The audience must fall in love with the characters
The audience must fall in love with the characters. You want your reader to care about the characters.

5. The Hero Must be the type of man your readers can really fall for
It isn’t always about being good looking. Sometimes the most endearing characters are the “Average Joes”
He does not need to be instantly appealing to the heroine
He must be believable, credible and complex
Readers should sympathize with his goal
Do NOT make your hero look ridiculous or stupid
Romantic humor should be sassy, funny, smart and over the top- but NEVER cruel.

6. Typical Situation Comedy Sources
The “fish out of water”- Ex: the city girl in the country, the cowboy in the city, the odd couple (Pretty Woman), the criminal and the cop etc.
The “impossible ask” situations- the football coach leading a brownie troop, the chorus girl who coaches a football team, a socialite who joins the army: These are modern day versions of “slaying the dragon”.

7. Comic devices- The element of surprise. The running gag.
Puns. Plays on words, repetitions. (use sparingly)
Slapstick antics. (Think the macho competition in The Wedding Planner).
All sorts of misunderstandings.
Exaggeration and absurdity. Push the absurdity to the extreme that is still funny yet still recognizably true.
Witty/Snappy dialogue.

8. More comic devices: Internal dialogue/Monologue.
The comic twist. (Think of the Friends episode when Ross gets a spray tan)
Black comedy. Comedy based on really dark subjects like death, or tragic situations. It’s a risk but sometimes it works.
Using a character’s frame of reference. All characters bring with a them a set of experiences, expectations, assumptions about the world. Often, the gap between the different characters’ expectations will add comedy.

9. Minor characters
Though your hero and heroine will have the main focus, your minor characters are really important.
They might be the foil to provide commentary outside the protagonists’ point of view.
List THREE examples of memorable “minor” characters in a romantic comedy. What role did each one play in the romantic comedy story?

10. “Fish out of Water”
1. With a partner, write down the name of a very distinct character from a movie, TV show, or book. Making a list, describe some traits of this character briefly using examples.
2. Place that character in a situation where he/she feels totally out of place. Ex- Snow White finds herself on a dude ranch cleaning up horse manure. Briefly describe the “fish out of water” scenario. You may list your ideas. Think of several silly, ridiculous, or awkward things that could happen leading up to your character meeting his/her love interest. (It can be ANY love interest…go against the real plot and be creative)

11. 3. Journal: Write the beginning of a story where your character meets a love interest in this awkward setting. Show me what happens! Remember to use humor, awkward tension, and ridiculous antics in your story. This character should be totally out of place and out of their comfort zone, so anything is possible!!! The crazier the better. Try to use some witty dialogue.

12. Dating Disaster Story
In almost every Rom Com, there is a dating disaster story that allows you to sympathize with one of the characters, and also laugh at their unfortunate plight.
Tell the story of a horrible, embarrassing, and just plain funny date gone bad! Convey the characters’ actions and behavior. Show me what happens and play up the comedic elements! Have fun and let the chaos and hilarity play out.

13. Sympathetic Protagonist Diary
Write a diary entry (story) from the perspective of a WELL-KNOWN FICTIONAL CHARACTER from a movie, tv show, or novel. The topic of your story is “Unlucky in Love”. Show me the character’s frustrations after a bad dating or romance experience.
*Show me the characters’ feelings about love and its difficulties.
I should feel sympathy for your character, but don’t make the character seem whiney/annoying!
Play into the elements of humor too and try to sound like the character!!! Use witty, sassy dialogue

14. Unlikely Love & Humor!
A love potion spread around the world, causing almost everybody to fall in love, whether they want to or not! What would happen if two very unlikely characters were to fall in love?
Choose two well-known characters (total opposites) who would never fall in love under normal circumstances. Then develop a story where one of them is head over heals in love, but the other is repulsed by the sight of the other.
Use third person narration and describe what is happening, how the characters feel, and what they say to each other in conversation.
*Use dialogue- always indent it to avoid confusion!

15. Crazy Love Story
Your parents have sat you and your siblings down to tell you the real, no-holds barred story of how they got together. Hold onto your hats, this is a doozy. Make up the wildest situation possible that your parents could have gotten into, mixing fact with fiction to show how they ended up together.
* You can make the couple another romantic pair that you know if you’d like! Your grandparents, aunt/uncle, cousins, friends, etc. Base it on someone you know!

16. Body Language & Dating Scenario
Pretend you are people-watching with friends at a bar or restaurant. Write a descriptive paragraph focusing on body language and gestures about ONE of the following prompts:
a. A confident couple on a successful first date where lots of chemistry is evident
b. A couple that is on the verge of breaking up
c. A guy/girl approaching a person at a bar whom he/she has never met before (he could be confident, or completely unsure of himself- your choice)
d. A person sitting alone at a bar after getting dumped.