(If this post sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve adapted it from one written in 2013. My daughter is now a freshman in high school and no longer watches Tangled obsessively. Thank you in advance for offering your condolences.)

I love the movie Tangled, so it was very exciting to me when my daughter—who’s tenderhearted and gets a wee bit emotional about movies—finally felt brave enough to watch it. The result is I’ve now seen Tangled about five times in the last month because it’s her favorite movie.

Something that story does incredibly well is develop the relationship between Rapunzel and Flynn, two characters who have never met. If you’ve ever tried to have two characters meet on the page and grow in their friendship or romantic interest in each other, you know the pacing is super tricky. Too slow and you bore the reader. Too fast and it feels unrealistic and forced.

So when we watched Tangled last week for McKenna’s birthday, I paid close attention to how the writers built the relationship. (In Tangled, it’s a romantic relationship, but this list could be adapted for a story of friendship as well.)

1. We see the characters in their comfortable home worlds.

Rapunzel is in her tower dreaming of seeing floating lanterns and Flynn is on the run from the law. (And loving it. “Oh, the things we’ve seen, and it’s only eight in the morning!”) We get a glimpse of who they are as individuals—their strengths, dreams, and needs.

Like a traditional romance, we get to see the story from both the hero and heroine points of view (POV). If you’re only telling your story from one POV, you still want to show your reader some kind of starting point/home world for the non-POV character.

2. The characters’ worlds collide.

Flynn stumbles upon Rapunzel’s tower. Rapunzel smacks him in the face with a frying pan. 

If you have a story that involves two characters meeting on the page, you want to give a lot of thought to the when, how, where, and why of that scene.

In Me, Just Different, Skylar meets Connor right after she’s had a traumatic experience that has left her with a distrust of all guys.

In This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen, Remy meets Dexter when she’s up to her eyeballs in details for planning yet another wedding for her mother. We’ve just gotten a glimpse of Remy’s skepticism that real love exists in the world when Dexter approaches her.

In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is extremely rude to Lizzy and refers to her as “barely tolerable.”

3. Their paths merge and they are forced to stick together.

In Tangled, Rapunzel formulates a plan to have Flynn take her to see the floating lanterns. The stakes are high for her because she has always wanted to see the lanterns and she literally knows nobody except her mother.

The stakes are high for Flynn because Rapunzel has hidden the crown he stole. In his heart, he’s a good guy (and it’s a Disney movie!) so rather than hurt or intimidate Rapunzel, he chooses to take 24 hours to help her on this adventure.

Those stakes are really important for a quest style novel. If you’re not writing a quest novel, then the stakes don’t need to be high like that, but they do need to make sense. You never want your reader thinking, “Why don’t they just NOT hang out with that person?”

In Twilight, Bella and Edward are partnered in science class. In Me, Just Different Connor is dating Skylar’s best friend, so the two of them are forced to spend time together. In Eleanor and Park, they ride the bus together everyday. In The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are the two tributes from their district and train together.

4. The pair is put through a test. 

They must stick together to survive this obstacle that’s come their way, and they typically learn something about the other.

In Tangled, while at a pub, Flynn is recognized by the thugs and they want to turn him into the authorities. Rapunzel goes out on a limb and reveals her desperation and her dream to the group in an effort to save Flynn.

During this test, Flynn learns that Rapunzel has more strength than he thought and that she’s dreamed of the lanterns her entire life. Rapunzel learns that Flynn is a wanted man and that he’s driven by a desire for riches.

5. The action slows long enough for the pair to process what happened.

This is a really important step that I often forget in my first drafts. The reader needs to see that the pair has gelled, that they trust each other a bit deeper because of the test they just survived. (You’ll often hear this referred to as scene and sequel. You can read more about that here.)

In Tangled, this moment comes in the tunnel after the pair has escaped the Snuggly Duckling. Flynn expresses admiration for how Rapunzel won over the thugs and got them out of a tight situation. He’s more interested in who she is than he was before.

This scene is critical to the pacing of developing the relationship because it helps to reveal the change that is taking place inside the characters. In the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which also has a quest and relationships that deepen because of it) these scenes often take place when the group is making camp for the night or stopping for a meal. The story would lose relational depth if those moments had been left out.

6. The pair is put through another test, one that is more intense than the previous.

This might even be your midpoint scene, and should hopefully involve some kind of turning point or revelation.

In the next test, Rapunzel and Flynn are trapped in a cave that’s filling with water. Thinking they’re about to die, Rapunzel and Flynn reveal secrets about themselves. Flynn shares his real name and Rapunzel admits that she has magic hair that glows when she sings. This is a moment of clarity in the relationship where your character thinks some version of, “Oh, that’s who they are. Now I understand.”

7. Again, the action slows long enough for the pair to process the test they went through.

This allows for a moment of vulnerability. Rapunzel makes herself vulnerable by using her magic hair to heal Flynn and revealing this is the first time she’s been away from home. Flynn shares about his sad childhood and how he became who he is. And because of what they just went through together, we can understand why they’re revealing these secrets to each other.

8. One of them is offered a chance to leave this path, but they choose to stay on it.

Around this time Mother Gothel arrives and encourages Rapunzel to leave and come home with her. Originally when Rapunzel set out, all she cared about was seeing the floating lights. Flynn was to act as her guide, to take her to see the lights and to return her to her tower.

But now Rapunzel has been through a couple of tests and done well. On top of that, she feels something for Flynn, and her experience makes her brave. This is a moment where we get to see Rapunzel’s increased confidence in herself.

This “option to leave the path but ultimately stick to it” can be a really satisfying moment in a story, and a great chance to show your readers how much your character is growing. This is a story beat that’s most effective in the second half of the book.

9. A glimpse of the happily ever after.

For a romance thread, this is a necessary building block for making your reader root for these two to be together.

In Tangled, it’s Flynn and Rapunzel enjoying the festivities and setting out on the boat to watch the lanterns. In The Hunger Games, it’s Katniss nursing Peeta back to health in the cave. In Pride and Prejudice, it’s when Elizabeth tours Mr. Darcy’s house, ends up spending time with him, and we see that they could be good together.

This scene is very effectively followed with:

10. The couple is ripped apart.

This is a third test for Rapunzel and Flynn, and it’s one that tests them as individuals. Often in a romance, scenarios like this arise where one (or both) of them doesn’t have the whole story, and that’s used against them. This works best when it brings the lesson your character needs to learn to the forefront.

In Tangled, the Stabbington brothers make it look like Flynn took the crown and abandoned Rapunzel. Now she wonders if she ever really knew him. Now she feels like she really can’t handle herself in the world, just like her mother has always said.

In Pride and Prejudice, Lizzy has to abruptly leave when it’s uncovered that her sister has run away with Mr. Wickham. She thought Mr. Darcy was being so proud when he talked about the inferiority of her family, and now the dysfunction of her family is staring her right in the face.

11. Each character is pushed back into their old world.

I really love the “return to the home world” element in stories, and it’s done very well in Tangled. Not every story lends itself to a full return to home, but I think it makes the happy ending resonate much stronger when you can at least have some kind of scene that expresses “the old ways don’t work anymore.”

Rapunzel is taken back to the tower and shrivels under the overbearing watch of Mother Gothel.

Flynn is in jail, but we see that instead of worrying for himself, he worries for Rapunzel. His old ways of just looking out for himself no longer work.

12. A rescue mission and final test.

I like how in Tangled, Rapunzel and Flynn take turns rescuing each other. He comes to her tower, but then he gets fatally wounded. She makes a deal to save him, and then he sacrifices himself to give her ultimate freedom.

Or in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy rescues the entire Bennett family by convincing Mr. Wickham to marry Lydia instead of just tarnishing her reputation, and also by encouraging Mr. Bingley to try again with Jane.

If the idea of one character “rescuing” another gives you the heebie-jeebies, try thinking about it from a sacrifice standpoint. What could one character sacrifice for the sake of the other?

13. The black moment.

This is where it looks like the odds might be too stacked against the couple for them to survive. Like when Flynn dies and Rapunzel’s magic hair is gone. There’s no chance now for them to have a happily ever after, is there?

Or in The Hunger Games, when it’s announced that two people from the same district can’t win, that there has to be one winner. Now, Katniss will have to kill Peeta. There’s no possible way they can both survive this, is there?

14. Surprise!

It’s a Disney movie, so we get that lovely, creative surprise of Rapunzel weeping magical tears. Hooray!

In The Hunger Games, Katniss beats the game by threatening to leave the Capitol with no winner. Quickly, the rule that was just reversed is now unreversed.

15. Togetherness achieved

In Tangled, we get to see Rapunzel and Flynn living happily ever after as well as Rapunzel reunited with her parents. This scene is a wonderful denouement that honors the characters and the journey they’ve been on. The reader (or viewer in this case) needs that glimpse of the happily ever after to leave them feeling like the journey was worth it. 

In a book that has a sequel, like The Hunger Games, that final scene between the couple can also set the stage for the next book. We get to see Katniss and Peeta going back home to district 12, but Katniss also makes it clear that she did what she had to in order to survive. We as readers know that she felt real things for Peeta, but stubborn Katniss doesn’t communicate that of course. This tone fits the series and that’s really important. You don’t want your denouement to strike a totally different tone than the rest of the book!

Do your books typically have romance in them or no?

Stephanie Morrill writes books about girls who are on an adventure to discover their unique place in the world. She is the author of several contemporary young adult series, as well as two historical young adult novels, The Lost Girl of Astor Street and Within These Lines. Within These Lines was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection, as well as a YALSA 2020 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Since 2010, Stephanie has been encouraging the next generation of writers at her website, GoTeenWriters.com, which has been on the Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list since 2017. She lives in the Kansas City area, where she loves plotting big and small adventures to enjoy with her husband and three children. You can connect with Stephanie and learn more about her books at StephanieMorrill.com, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.