Karen here. I’m excited to introduce you to Grace Hitchcock. Graces writes super fun historical romances, and her latest features a Phantom of the Opera twist!
Take it away, Grace!
Crafting a Great First Date for Your Hero and Heroine
Early in my writing career, before my first story was published, I read a blog post about how you should give your characters first dates, planning them with the precision of a real first date. The idea stopped me in my tracks. I began to think of all the interactions of my heroines with the heroes in my works in progress. I realized that I was letting them fall into the habit of seeing one another, become friends and then, of course, discover they want to be more. While it does seem natural, sometimes the heroine and hero just need to have an intentional first date to get the relationship moving forward.
3 Tips
1. Make it fun, romantic, and memorable. When my husband, Dakota, planned our first date way back in the day, he had us do something fun and a little bit crazy. To begin our date, we visited a 4-story treehouse in New Orleans built out of debris from Hurricane Katrina by some nature lovers. Turns out, it was a slightly dangerous creation in an abandoned lot, but it gave him, a guy I barely knew, the perfect excuse to hold my hand “for protection.”
While there may not be any rickety treehouses for your heroine to visit, try to make the outing/location unique and romantic. Make her heart flutter for her new love interest and you will get your reader’s heart fluttering too!
2. It has to move your story along. Dates are about learning more about the other person. Have your hero and heroine bond through not only sharing a romantic and fun day, but also throw in some deeper conversation. Or, maybe it is light hearted conversation the heroine is needing to distract her from another situation. The point is that the characters have to grow along with your story.
Dakota discovered during our wobbly treehouse adventure that although I love rock climbing, I’m scared to death of climbing 4-stories high without some kind of safety harness. So, it was fun and romantic, but I had to be honest about my fears to someone I was trying to impress and risk sounding like a scaredy cat.
3. And finally, ask yourself if the date captured your heroine’s attention? This first date will make or break your heroine’s decision if there will be a date two. If she decides on not seeing him again, the reasoning has to move the plot forward. Sure, her love life is now digressing as she has to start from scratch on another first date, but maybe this date helped her to know what she doesn’t want in a man.
In Dakota’s case, he captured my heart and we were engaged 7 months later and ten years into marriage, we have three little ones running about J which is the power of a memorable first date with a hero.
While in my latest novel, His Delightful Lady Delia, does in fact not have an intentional first date, as it did not work for the story, I instead gave the hero quite the memorable first meeting with the heroine—a meeting that does not go well and takes a great deal of work to get back into Lady Delia’s good opinion, which includes a series of delightful dates to woo his lady love!
So, even if your hero does not have an intentional first date, he can create a memorable second chance date, which can be just as moving for the plot and even more fun for the reader.
Happy Reading, friends!
For a chance to win an autographed paperback of His Delightful Lady Delia, comment below and tell me about the most memorable date you’ve ever been on!
Grace’s Bio:
Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives in the New Orleans area with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter. Connect with her online at GraceHitchcock.com.
Latest posts by Karen Witemeyer (see all)
- Wedding Joy - November 21, 2024
- How Faith Meets Dreams - November 7, 2024
- Giveaways Gallore! - October 17, 2024
So lovely to have you here, Grace! This book looks like so much fun. I can’t wait to read it! My husband and I transitioned from friends to dating, so it’s hard to capture a “first” date when I look back. We met at church while in college and one Sunday, my husband was leading singing and I just happened to be sitting next to him in the pew filled with other college students. After the service, an elderly man came up to shake Wes’s hand then asked to be introduced to his wife – indicating me! That started a running joke between us including celebrating pretend anniversaries, until one day Wes admitted he really did have feelings for me and that faux relationship turned into a real one. 🙂
Thank you so much for having me, Karen! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Your first date sounds like it could be straight from one of your novels, faux relationship to true love! Such a sweet story 🙂 I met my husband at my college church too! We always tease one another that he came for the free lunch at church and got himself a bride too.
The second date I had with my husband of 43 years he took me out for steak. Next week he took me out for my first Oriental. We were married 3 months later.
So romantic to have met and married in 3 months!!
Oh my goodness Karen! Such an adorable story!I can see this joke in some of your future stories. ☺️💚
First of all, your real life hero even has a great name! 🙂 I loved your tips for making writing dates more real for the reader. Really helpful. Lastly, I cannot share a most memorable date because I’ve never been on one. I’m 47 and still waiting. (I don’t write it for pity, but to be entered to win! 😉 The Lord knows I’m still waiting and one day maybe He’ll let me know why!)
Thank you, Vickie!! The crazy thing about Dakota’s name is that it is my favorite hero’s name from Lori Wick’s A Texas Sky, a dreamy story I have read countless time since I was a teen 🙂
I’m sure that dreamy first date will be well worth the wait!
Thanks for joining us here on the blog today, Grace!
Thank you for having me, Becky!
I love the ideas you have in this post! I haven’t really had any memorable dates so far, but I’ve seen some wonderfully romantic sounding ones in movies. I think its the nicest when the guy plans something that’s a little outside of your comfort zone but helps you both to open up to each more.
Thank you so much, Megan!! I love getting romantic date ideas from movies, especially Hallmark during Christmas 🙂 I agree and it makes it all the more special with the thought he put into it!
All of the dates I have been on were pretty typical, dinner, movies or hanging out with friends. Nothing very adventurous. My first actual date with my now husband of almost 30 years was shortly after Christmas. I had two small children from my first marriage. My “date” had bought us Christmas gifts. He gave my daughter a Mickey Mouse coloring book and a few other small things. She fell in love with him that night, even wanting him to tuck her into bed at my mom’s house before our date. I don’t remember what we did on the date, but I will never forget how happy he made my little girl.
That is so sweet, Connie!! What a wonderful first date!
Sooo…when I first met my significant other, I could tell within the first week that he liked me and I, though shy and awkward about talking about such subjects, didn’t want to feel like I was leading him on in any way, so when an opportunity arose in a totally unrelated lighthearted conversation (through text, I should add, as there’s no way I could’ve brought it up in actual conversation😓), I asked “What, you think you can read minds and know what I’m thinking?” He replied in the affirmative (self-confident man🙄), to which I did a 180 on him and said I bet I was a better mind reader and could tell him exactly what he was thinking. His reply was that he bet I probably could.
By that, I knew that we each knew exactly what the other was talking about without actually coming out and saying it. So here came the hard part that had my stomach churning (mind you, I’d never had someone even like me in a “relationship” kinda way before that, so this was all new ground for me😬) and I told him that he probably wouldn’t want to read my mind because he wouldn’t like the answer he found there. I felt so terrible!😭 But I knew I didn’t want to leave him thinking there was hope in that way of thinking when I was so far from even considering it.
His reply was that he was sorry, but he’d never developed a crush on somebody so quickly in his life. Which, you know, being shy and also one of six sisters, kinda flustered me because I was usually able to blend in and be one of the crowd. And he’d met a couple of my sisters alongside me (they’d introduced me as the one who was shy and probably wouldn’t talk to him…thanks guys🤦♀️), so I was actually feeling really confused and couldn’t understand why on earth he liked me and was singling me out😅
So, long conversation short, he said we could just be friends…and then promptly proceeded to ask me to be his girlfriend at least every week for several months after, as we became really close friends. I even tried to scare him off by listing all of the reasons why he shouldn’t like me and all of the things that I knew would be issues between us in the long run if we were in a relationship. I told him that there would be no difference between just remaining friends and being boyfriend/girlfriend, so I didn’t understand why it mattered to him. His reply? “Sure there is. Then I’d be able to call you babe.”🤦♀️
*ahem*
So, lol, I’m not sure how or when it happened, but I realized one day that I’d not actually wanted to deny him for quite awhile by that point, but had been doing so habitually and not even considering accepting. When I realized that, I didn’t even wait the few days until he inevitably would’ve asked again, lol, I just texted him “Hey, I’ve got something to tell you.” He called immediately and all I said was “Yes.”
There was silence and then he asked “Yes what?”
He knew exactly what I was talking about🧐, so I asked “What?”
And he (infuriating man that he is) replied “I want you to say it. Tell me exactly what you’re saying yes to.”🤨
Lol, we did eventually get through that conversation, which included a verbal “contract” made on my part that, when in doubt, he is always right (which he refers to on a regular basis still, all these years later, whenever we’re arguing about something🙄)
All this to say that when we were watching a movie the next day (which we’d already planned to do before any of this came about), just before it started he said “Wait! Before it starts, will you go on a date with me?”
I was thinking ‘Huh? We’re already here, the movie’s starting, we’ve done this a hundred times…’, so I kinda laughingly asked “What?”
But I guess he was very serious and wanted this to be his official asking me out on a “first date”, so he just very gravely repeated the question. Not gonna lie, my lightheartedness sank away so quickly when I realized how much this meant to him and it made my heart and stomach do funny things I didn’t know they could do.
So yeah, my first date was kinda backwards, lol. Turned out, we planned it and began it before he even asked me to go on it with him😂
And yes, when he said there would be a difference between being just friends and being more, I’m not ashamed to admit: He was right. (It IS in the contract, after all😉)
I love your friends to more than friends first date, Elly!! How sweet that your best friend became your boyfriend! 🙂
I have never been on a date, but the best date is probable from a book. I love it when they have a dinner with light hearted conversation and a good deal of teasing.
I absolutely love when the hero and heroine banter!!
I met my husband at a church game night. He was in the Air Force and wad kinda depressed that he was missing his brother’s high school graduation. I was an only child and hated it. He was from a large family. He reminded me of John boy Walton. He asked me to go out with the group to Shoney’s afterwards and we’ve been together for 44 years.
That is so sweet, Brenda! And how romantic to be married for 44 years 🙂
Congratulations go to Jane Squires! Jane – You’ve won a copy of His Delightful Lady Delia. Be looking for an email from Grace with instructions on how to claim your prize. You’re in for a “delightful” read. 🙂
So excited to meet you Grace! I’m listening to the audiobook version of “My Dear Miss Dupre” & loving it.
Can’t wait to read “His Delightful Lady Delia”
Is Jen Turano an author your influenced by because I see some similar humor in your books as well.
Never been married…was engaged, been on handful of 1st dates…I feel like my dates are romantic they are more humorous or awkward. (Maybe it’s me 😂)
When I was fresh out of college- a girl that worked at the blood bank where I donated blood wanted to set me up with her husband’s best friend…I went on a double date with her & her husband & her husband’s best friend- I’m 5’2” & my date was 6’4” he was so nice, but there was no chemistry.
So nice to meet you as well, Emilee! I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying Willow’s journey to finding love and I hope you like Delia’s as well! I loooovvvve Jen’s works and automatically order them the moment they hit pre-order so I don’t have to wait a moment longer than necessary to read them 🙂
Awkward and humorous dates always make for fun stories and I’m sure when your Mr. Right arrives, he will take you on the most romantic date!