A Woman’s Guide to Romance Novels

Holly M. Brinkman—The Rachel Browne Theatre

My partner published a book a few years ago about how to write a mystery novel. After I (proof)read it, I realised how formulaic mystery novels and movies are. Now, every time I watch or read a mystery, I see the recurring components emerge.

Holly Brinkman’s show essentially does the same thing, but swaps out the genre “mystery” for “romance.”

The four components are:
1. Meet cute
2. Development (middle)
3. Crisis
4. Happily against all odds

Brinkman goes through each of the components and creates amusing story samples during the process.

I saw her show last year and had lots of fun with how she wove through the plots. This year feels a little more fragmented than in past but it doesn’t diminish the fun of the outing. Curiously, Brinkman uses a laptop and gadgets to control her music and screens, which contributes to the fragmentation and fracturing of the continuity. I’m curious as to why she wouldn’t let the Tech see to all these aspects.

Ray Yuen