I didn’t do a post for Valentine’s Day (book deadline!) but here’s one for you romance writers, for Leap Day! And this is not just for romance writers. Every writer in every genre should be familiar with the MAGICAL DAY story.
A few weeks ago I posted about Groundhog Day, which is one of the best examples I know of a MAGICAL DAY story pattern: The idea that there is a day, or hour, or place, that will lead magically to true love and/or marriage.
The pitch perfect and highly bingeable new romance series One Day, adapted from the book by David Nicholls, is just the latest example of the popularity and marketability of this high concept trope. (NO SPOILERS for One Day, please - I just started it, book and show, and do not want to know!)
The Magical Day, or Magical Holiday trope is one of the most popular story patterns of all time—and not just for romance! I’ve used Easter (The Price) Thanksgiving (The Harrowing) and full moon nights (the entire Huntress Moon series) in my books.
These categories are not only useful for plotting and writing your book or script; I think that done well, they add an extra mystical resonance to the story.
In One Day, it’s St. Swithin’s Day- (July 15, the pagan day that predicts the next 40 days of weather) — which sets up the star-crossed lovers theme and the quirkiness of this achingly romantic story, with a clear nod to Groundhog Day, another anti-romance romance! Also, I love that double entendre of the title…
Leap Year, on the other hand, is not a great movie. At all. Although there is a pretty nice Midpoint kiss, and it gets points for being shot in Ireland, with Irishmen. I would five million times rather binge One Day. So why am I not analyzing One Day instead?
Well, as much as I could binge it, I actually can’t, because writing. And I very rarely do detailed breakdowns of TV shows because as I am always saying— it is far, far easier and faster for writers to learn story structure from movies than from TV shows.
Leap Year hits so many typical romance points that it’s kind of a Cliff’s Notes version of a romantic comedy, and it also combines several story patterns (the KIND of story) that are useful for our love story vocabulary. And who doesn’t have a love story in their story?
In Leap Year we have a typical Hallmark/Lifetime pairing of an uptight, overcontrolling city woman thrown together with a rugged, rustic man in a fantasy vacation setting. But as mediocre as it is, Leap Year is still miles above the typical Hallmark/Lifetime offering in quality, a much better teaching movie for you than those more overprocessed versions. As well as being a magical day story, it’s also a Road Trip story and a Forced Pairing (what I think of as a Couple Handcuffed Together) story.
It’s also, I hope, a good reminder that it takes more than hitting all the beats to create a great story. But since it actually hits most of those elements, it’s useful to look at.
Getting familiar with tropes is a vital part of your writing education and also incredibly handy for marketing— as many readers are familiar with these tropes and will seek out their favorites by searching social media hashtags and Amazon categories.
So yes, binge your heart out on One Day, but use the hell out of Leap Year to improve your craft!
Go to website for full post: Leap Year, Act I.
Read more on Story Patterns:
Working with Story Structure Patterns: What KIND of Story is It?
Another magical day movie: The Holiday
Stealing Hollywood Chapter 4 and throughout, especially the Story Breakdowns
Writing Love Chapter 4 and throughout, especially the Story Breakdowns
Let’s hear it! Are you watching/reading One Day? Did you see the Anne Hathaway film version? What do you think of Leap Year?
Alex
And come on, Spring!! Here’s another video from our art trip to London:
I’ve read the novel and seen the movie with Hathaway, but I remember almost nothing about it. And I’m watching the series (not entirely sure I’ll finish it). I think I prefer the book, it had so much more depth to the characters (and the series oddly loses most of the 90’s taste, even though it has some good 90’s music, but honestly it could be set almost decade?). But I like the series casting.