Today, Fable and the Verbivore talk about meet cutes - the tropes we enjoy and books/movies that do them well.

As we prepare for next week’s book club episode on the romantic comedy Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters, we thought it would be fun for this week’s episode to look a little deeper at the concept of the meet cute.

Throughout this episode we dive into the four different types of meet cutes, how they can be used in stories to set up character relationship dynamics and create uncertainty or tension, and how focusing on character driven scenarios can help these scenes ring true. Also, we bring up some examples of favorite movie meet-ups that we feel create memorable connections (or disconnections) that move their plots forward while also telling us something about the characters personalities and the obstacles in their way.

Towards the end, we talk about avoiding cliches by focusing on the unique situations and settings that your characters would find themselves in and the ways in which they’ll interact going forward - be it a conflict driven, an attraction driven, or a more nervous/neutral first meeting. We also talk about subverting and twisting around some of the more common tropes to create something new.

We hope you enjoy listening this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

Fable references the origin of the term “Meet Cute”. Here is an article with more details:

• Studio Binder “What is a Meet Cute"?”

  • Types of Meet Cutes

• Pull / Pull — the characters are instantly and mutually attracted to each other

• Push / Push — the characters are instantly and mutually disinterested in each other

• Push / Pull — one character is instantly attracted but the other character is disinterested

• Neutral / Nervous — one character awkwardly tries to hide their attraction while the other character is oblivious to the situation

Books Mentioned:

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

• Caraval by Stephanie Garber

• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

• Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

Movies Mentioned:

• Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) - Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

• It Happened One Night (1934) - Directed by Frank Capra

• Pride and Prejudice (1995) - BBC Mini-Series

• Pride and Prejudice (2005) - Directed by Joe Wright

• Much Ado About Nothing (1993) - Directed by Kenneth Branagh

• Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2013) - Directed by Edgar Wright

• Romeo and Juliet (1996) - Directed by Baz Luhrmann

• Romeo and Juliet (1968) - Directed by Franco Zeffirelli

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - Directed by Joel Zwick

• Enchanted (2007) - Directed by Kevin Lima

• Bridgerton (2020) - Netflix Mini-Series

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)