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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18288
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I don't read romance novels, but I've seen a few romance movies. It seems to me that finding some odd way to get the characters together is pretty typical of such movies. Having two people meet through a dating service is fairly boring.

So neither of your characters is outgoing enough to initiate a romance, maybe not even outgoing enough to initiate a conversation. So great. Kick around ideas for how two such people could be forced by circumstances to talk to each other and do something together.

I think this is actually pretty common in romance stories. Two people are trapped together in a malfunctioning elevator or locked in a room; two people have to work together on a project for their jobs; two people are forced together by some emergency, big or small, like both being victims of a crime, or both having their dogs get loose in a park. Come up with a reason why they would just have to talk to each other about something totally non-romantic, something very matter of fact, some common problem that they have to work on.

Original score: 2