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When it comes to difficult scenes to write, some might assume it’s the love scenes, but actually those are often the most fun to write. Or perhaps you might think it’s dark scenes like murder or on-the-run scenes, but those are super fun too. No, for me the hardest scenes to write are the love declaration scenes. It’s so hard to get those right. To have the exact payoff your readers have been waiting for. When it’s done right, they’re often the very best scenes in the book, but they can also be rushed and melodramatic. The writers in Hollywood get it right a lot because there are a lot of movies and TV shows that do this particularly well.
Here are some of my favorites.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY: “I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: “You must know… surely, you must know it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night, and it has taught me to hope as I’d scarcely allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.”
FRIENDS:
Monica: You wanted it to be a surprise.
Chandler: Oh, my God.
Monica: Chandler, in all my life I never thought I would be so lucky as to fall in love with my best, my best…
[crying]
Monica: There’s a reason why girls don’t do this.
Chandler: Okay, okay I’ll do it. I thought, wait I can do this, I thought that it mattered what I said or where I said it. Then I realized the only thing that matters is that you, that you make me happier than I ever thought I could be and if you let me I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way. Monica, will you marry me?
Monica: Yes.
CASTLE
Rick: “Because I love you. But you already know that, don’t you?”
[later in the episode]
Kate: “He got away, and I didn’t care. I almost died, and all I could think about was you. I just want you.”
WHERE THE HEART IS (the movie)
Novalee: It’s too late, isn’t it, Forney?
Forney Hull: Too late for what?
Novalee: I lied to you, when you asked me if I loved you, and I said no. Remember?
Forney: Yes.
Novalee: I lied. It wasn’t true, I-I love you. It’s just I lied because I thought you deserved something better.
Forney: Something better than you? Novalee, there isn’t anything better than you.
THE WEDDING PLANNER: “I barely know you. I don’t know your dad’s first name, I don’t know if you ever wore braces, or contacts, or glasses and I have no idea how you came to be a wedding planner, Mary. But I do know the curves of your face. And I know every fleck of gold in your eyes. I know that the night at the park was the best time I’ve ever had.”
Just writing this post, looking up the quotes, had me back in those moments, feeling those *sigh* emotions all over again. Words are powerful, aren’t they?
So how about you? What are some of your favorite declarations of love, in books, movies or on TV?
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Sep 25th
2012
1:11 am
Katherine Garbera Said:
Robyn; This is a hard one. I don’t remember all the details the way that you do, I do love When Harry Met Sally. That’s such a great line. I kind of like the ‘you complete me’ from Jerry Maguire and she says shut up,you had from hello. It kind of demonstrates how sometimes one person is already there but has to wait for the one they love.
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Sep 25th
2012
5:35 am
Natalija Said:
My favorite scene is from Lorraine Heath’s book “Texas Destiny”:
“He took the hand that wasn’t holding the bouquet of wildflowers and stared at it, holding it so tightly that she thought he might crack her bones. Then his hold gentled. He slipped a gold ring onto her finger and lifted his gaze to hers.
“I’m not a brave man; I’ll never be a hero, but I love you more than life itself, and I will until the day I die. With you by my side, I’m a better man than I’ve ever been alone. I’m scared to death that I’ll let you down, but I won’t run this time. I’ll stand firm and face the challenge and work hard to see that you never have any regrets. You told me once that you wanted to share a corner of my dream. Without you, Amelia, I have no dream. With you, I have everything I could ever dream of wanting.”
Tears burned her eyes as he glanced back at the preacher. “I’m done.”
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Sep 25th
2012
6:24 am
Emily McKay Said:
Oh, great movie quotes!
You know, one of the funniest things that Scrubs ever did was when Carla and Turk got married and someone set up Turk by offering to write his vows for him and wrote out the speech from When Harry Met Sally. It was hysterical, watching him give this famous speech, that we all know and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing. It was great.
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Sep 25th
2012
8:55 am
Shana Said:
Sigh. I love all of those. Thanks for the Tuesday pick-me up. And you’re right. Those scenes are hard to write. It’s a balance between poignant and cheesy.
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Sep 25th
2012
9:33 am
Laurie G Said:
Pretty Woman at the end on the fire escape-
” Edward Lewis: So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back.”
Phantom of the Opera
Christine Daaé: [sung] Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade; they have their season, so do we… But please promise me that sometimes, you will think… of me!
The Phantom: You alone can make my song take flight. Help me make the music of the night..
The Phantom: Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world! Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before! Let your soul take you where you long to be! Only then can you belong to me…
The Phantom: But Christine – fear can turn to love. You’ll learn to see, to find the man behind the monster, this… repulsive carcass who seems a beast but secretly dreams of beauty secretly… secretly. Oh, Christine.
Christine Daaé: Past the point of no return – no going back now. Our passion play has now at last begun. Past all thought of right or wrong. One final question: how long should we two wait, before we’re one? When will the blood begin to race? The sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames, at last, consume us?
Raoul: No more talk of darkness. Forget these wide-eyed fears, I’m here. Nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom. Let daylight dry your tears. I’m here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you.
Christine: Say you love me every waking moment. Turn my head with talk of summertime. Say you need me with you now and always. Promise me that all you say is true. That’s all I ask of you.
CHEERS
[to Diane in court]
Sam: To me, our relationship makes perfect sense. You want me to propose to you, I propose to you. You say no, I say fine, I never wanna see you again. You drive me nuts telling me you want me to propose again, I do, you turn me down. Next thing I know I’m in a court of law where I’ve got to propose to you or go to jail. It’s the classic American love story.
Sam: And while you’re up there floating around, remember the day I said this: you are the nuttiest, the stupidest, the phoniest fruitcake I ever met.
Diane: You, Sam Malone, are the most arrogant, self-centered son of a…
Sam: SHUT UP. Shut your fat mouth.
Diane: Make me.
Sam: Make you? My God, I’m gonna… I’m gonna… I’m gonna bounce you off every wall of this office.
Diane: Try it and you’ll be walking funny tomorrow. Or should I say funnier.
Dirty Dancing-
Johnny: I’ll never be sorry.
Baby: Neither will I.
Man From Snowy River
Jessica Harrison: [viewing from horseback, after Jim saves Jessica and they kiss, a change coming in the Aussie mountain weather] It changes so suddenly. One moment it’s paradise, the next it’s trying to kill you.
Jim Craig: Yep, that’s how it can be up here. If it was easy to get to know it, it would be not challenging. You’ve got to treat the mountains like a high-spirited horse; never take it for granted.
Jessica Harrison: It’s the same with people, too.
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French Kiss
Kate: So you’d risk everything for this?
Luc: Oui.
Kate: Do anything to have it?
Luc: Oui.
Kate: Get down on your knees and beg?
[pause]
Luc: [with feeling] Oui.
Kate: Then what makes you so different from me?
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Sep 25th
2012
12:23 pm
catslady Said:
I’m horrible at remembering anything but the last thing I saw or read lol so I am going with Castle – of course they made it look like next week is controversy again (sigh).
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Sep 25th
2012
3:10 pm
Danielle Gorman Said:
*sigh* That scene from P+P gets me every time. I watch it on Youtube all the time.
I know there are many more that I love but now that I’m thinking about that scene that’s all I can think about.
And yes, that scene from Where The Heart Is is so good too.
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Sep 25th
2012
10:08 pm
Nancy Robards Thompson Said:
I have such a bad memory. It’s hard to remember specifics, but you did a great job picking out some classics.
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Sep 26th
2012
9:34 pm
Lily Said:
Jane Austen’s Persuasion…
In a letter written by Captain Wentworth to Anne while she’s in the room and slipped to her in secret:
“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W. I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look will be enough to decide whether I enter your father’s house this evening or never.”
The 1995 BBC version with Ciaran Hinds is scrumptious. I wold positively swoon if a man told me I pierced his soul…
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