Writing A Real Life Fairytale

I unashamedly admit I got up at 3:55 am on Friday to watch pre-show for the Royal Wedding. Then I had to go to work for one of the most important meetings of the year, and then come home and cook dinner for my in-laws (while attempting to be an entertaining host and brilliant conversationalist). Exhausted? You bet. I was mentally clocked out by 11 am. Big question - was it worth it? You bet.

Every little girl plays dress up and princess, and probably right around 5 or 6 imagines running off with Prince Charming to live in a castle. Sure, we may evolve from that into raging feminists, or anti-royalists, but the fairytale aspect still intrigues. And obviously, as romance writers, we think about fairytale endings all the time.

What struck me in particular was how I felt a really good writer engineered the whole thing. After all, if one of us wrote a royal love story, you'd need a few things to make it really believable and not saccharine sweet.

1. The fact Kate was a commoner, and not nobility. This is an enduring dream - that some random woman has the chance to be plucked out of a ho-hum every day life and become a princess. Classic plot basic!



2. They overcame hardship, i.e. their much ballyhooed breakup. Exactly the twist I would've written into the story about 2/3 of the way through.



3. The touching subplot of the close relationship of the brothers, and how they came full circle turning Westminster Abbey from the sad memory of a funeral into a building of joy for the wedding.



4. Most importantly, comic realism. And by this, I mean Princess Beatrice's hat. Honestly, if I'd written that....weird....thing into a book, I don't think anyone would've believed it. Too over the top, my crit partners would say. But her ridiculous hat, coupled with the just-rolled-out-of-bed hairdo of Prince Harry's date, were the perfect realistic touches to keep the whole thing from inducing a diabetic coma from sweetness.

They say life imitates fiction. Actually, fiction imitates life much of the time, too. Bottom line is that as royal weddings go, Charles and Diana was a writers nightmare. Virgin, only met 13 times prior to the wedding, he's in love with another woman...of course it didn't work! And no writer out there would've embarked upon such an unbelievable tale. But William and Kate followed all the standard plot rules, and thus I have no doubt they will live happily ever after.