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INTRODUCTION
Hallmark has been creating movies since 1951. However, the Hallmark Channel didn’t launch until 2001, followed by the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel in 2004. That makes the soft romance movies, we typically see around Christmas, very young.
I admit, the only time I watch Hallmark movies is on vacation. My little family was recently in Duluth, Minnesota, a gorgeous city by Lake Superior. There, I watched these sweet, sappy movies back in our hotel, which was a much different pace from educational shows like Blippi and Ms. Rachel.
Not only did the Hallmark Channel give me something else to watch, it gave me study material to improve my writing. (Always a life-long learner here.) I began focusing on the method used to create scripts for the movies.
This method can easily be applied to fiction writing, especially if one wants to write a romance novel. And this method could produce your next manuscript, ready for publication.
THE HALLMARK MOVIE METHOD
- Introduction to Character A’s (A) World and Their Problem
- Introduction to Character B’s (B)
- A and B Interact and Their Worlds Intertwine
- Insert a Threat
- A Realizes They’re in Love with B
- The Reveal of a Secret
- A and B Split Ways, Only to Come Back Together
- Happily Ever After Ending
- Introduction to Character A’s (A) World and Their Problem
Character A is the hero of the movie or novel. They’re young and beautiful yet flawed. Beautifully flawed.
This character could be a struggling business person, writer, baker, etc. And most importantly, their love life is in jeopardy. They may be with the same person for too long (not a good sign for any woman), recently dumped, a divorcee, or have never experienced love before.
- Introduction to Character B’s (B)
Character B is the sidekick. B is handsome and also beautifully flawed. This chef, cowboy, boy-next-door, etc. magically appears when needed in the storyline.
B comes along and supports A. And most importantly, they kickstart the first conflict in the story. This conflict is just their meeting “by chance”* (see Note), changing the routine in A’s world.
- A and B Interact and Their Worlds Intertwine
Now that the hero and sidekick have made their acquaintances, they begin interacting more and more. They may be physically stuck together, due to their current circumstances, or they coincidentally start bumping into each other more and more, now that they’re aware of one another’s presence.
The more time they spend together, the more their relationship develops. Unbeknownst to A and B, they begin to bond romantically and enjoy one another’s company.
- Insert a Threat
Just when A and B are growing fond of one another, a threat comes along. This threat is another conflict that shifts the direction of our hero and sidekick’s story.
This threat could be an old love-interest, a new love-interest, an ailing parent, a child’s dilemma, and so forth. The threat is meant to interject into the lives of A and B and make them question whether or not they should continue to interact.
- A Realizes They’re in Love with B
Only once the threat has come along does A realize they’re in love with B. They struggle with themselves, and with the threat. They try to hide their feelings, even running away if possible. But then they finally confess their love to B.
- The Reveal of a Secret
As much as B is in love with A, they also have a confession to make. Their secret is yet another conflict in the storyline, and is actually the climax of the story. At the point, neither characters can go back to the life they knew prior to one another, and everything A has been searching for either ends in a success or failure here.
Sadly, B’s secret is not good news for A. Character B may admit that their first meeting with A was not by chance, they’re actually not the person they’ve been portraying themselves to be, or they’re still in love with their previous love interest, to name a few secrets.
- A and B Split Ways, Only to Come Back Together
With the secret out in the open, A and B must now face the consequences. It’s mostly awkwardness and regrets. Character A feels stupid for making their confession, even for falling in love in the first place; B feels bad for trailing A along.
Both characters split ways because they don’t know how else to resolve their problem—the fact that they’re in love with one another and possibly in denial.
After feeling lost, alone, and confused, they realize they actually need the other person. So they come back together. They apologize, forgive, and reconcile.
And they kiss.
- Happily Ever After Ending
Characters A and B are happily together. They may be married and living where they have always dreamed of living.
They have also succeeded in their individual pursuits. If A was struggling with writer’s block, they have now published their most recent work; if B was a struggling chef, their restaurant is now booming.
It’s a happy ending for our couple.
CONCLUSION
Hallmark has been making sweet, sappy movies for decades. The method they use to write their movie scripts can also be applied to fiction writing, if one wants to write a romance novel. Just follow the steps above and you could have yourself a manuscript ready to be published.
If you need writing ideas, especially AI generated ones, to help you get your story written, try Writesonic. Or grab my FREE Writing Prompts today.
Note:
Character B doesn’t necessarily bump into A randomly. Sometimes, B could have known about A and made their first meeting an “accident”.
