by Elizabeth Holcombe Fedorko

You know who you are. You’re like me. You leave the husband home in front of Game Four Hundred Eighty Seven of the World Series and go off to see a “chick-flick"—*gasp*—alone! You take your seat in the theater away from any happy loving couples and, as the coming attractions roll, out comes your (with respect to Blue’s Clues) “handy dandy notebook.”

I have spent more time writing illegibly in the dark than I can recall. I go to those romantic “chick flicks” more for inspiration than entertainment. Don’t you?

Come on. Admit it.

Like all of you, I saw Notting Hill. And like you, I picked it apart from a romantic perspective. First we had a hero (shy English shopkeeper) and a heroine (glamorous movie star). These two are, by virtue of social circumstance, doomed. We have conflict: the “there’s no way someone like her would be interested in someone like me,” and the “you are interesting and attractive but you could never understand my hectic movie star life.” We have sexual tension. We have an appealing setting. We, I mean they, make love. Then, as expected, the “dark moment” after the lovemaking, the “you betrayed me” scenario, and so on and so on until we have the happy “The End.”

Do you do this? Pick apart romantic movies? Then save that ticket stub. It’s research. It’s tax-deductible.

I find romantic movies particularly useful when I’m at loggerheads over which way to proceed with my story. Take The English Patient. Okay, I heard that collective groan—face it, it’s because you didn’t get to see Ralph Fiennes’s naked backside, rather than the fact that everything is doomed in this romance. I learned something from that flick: sexual tension can get really intense if you place the hero and heroine in a very public social situation. These lovers danced together at a lavish pre-Nazi invasion party, met in a Cairo market, and really got down to matters with about five hundred British soldiers just outside singing “Silent Night.” It gave me the idea to heighten the sexual tension in my story by placing my hero and heroine in a very public arena and seeing what happens. Inspiration. I scribbled a lot of notes in the dark.

Here’s another one, if you’ll indulge me. You’ve Got Mail. After getting over the fact that Tom Hanks has, um, filled out and there’s little likelihood of seeing his backside in this film, I allowed myself to be inspired. Out came the notebook and the next thing I knew, I was filling pages with ideas on how to finish a scene in my story. My hero started out as a jerk toward my heroine. I wanted to make him, well, less jerk-y. In You’ve Got Mail, Tom Hanks is a ruthless businessman with a heart. We see that side of him when he easily escorts two kids about town, and he gets to see Meg Ryan in her “own habitat.” Her natural way of putting those around her at ease really shines out to him. He begins thinking of her as a person and not a competitor, little realizing she’s the one he’s been sending those heartfelt e-mails to every day. Does love survive when cyberspace is no longer a barrier? They kiss and walk off into the moment with his dog, so I guess it must.

So I hope you get my meaning. Let those movies inspire you. Don’t go with the thought they’ll solve your story’s ills. Just take your notebook, in case the Muse taps you on the shoulder. My muse looks like Ewan McGregor. How ‘bout yours?


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In her ongoing attempts to keep her life safe from too many hours of televised sports, Beth also keeps her eye on Liam Neeson. She was last seen in full “Braveheart” fighting form at the Retreat.