When Harry Met
Charlie
by Donna Costa
Genre: MM Romantic Comedy
Harry is a number-cruncher. Charlie is a people-person. One
is bubbly and optimistic, the other serious and pessimistic. With an endless
stream of verbal sparring and heated debates filling the car on their road trip
from Vancouver to Toronto, they arrive at the conclusion they are complete
opposites and go their separate ways.
When they meet years later – older, wiser, and love-worn –
will their sparring become a prelude to romance? An exciting turn on? Will they
be there for each other when it’s needed most?
Boys’ Love + Nora Ephron Fan Fiction = When Harry Met
Charlie
“Fun, funny and wonderfully delightful! Reminds you of
experiencing your first crush – I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!” –
Leeanne Whitehouse, Pure Country Morning Host
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Chapter
1
It’s 1977. Harry Burns
has just graduated from law school on the West Coast and is standing at the
window of his third-story dorm watching for the arrival of his ride to Toronto.
He crosses his arms and drums his fingers impatiently.
Behind him, Harry’s friend and dorm mate Rufus is
vigorously kissing his girlfriend, Sally. They’re sighing and murmuring to each
other. Oh, I’m going to miss you so much.
I love you. Will we ever see each other again? Kiss me again. Harry rolls
his eyes.
Out the window, Harry spots a VW Beetle pulling up to
the curb across the campus green. Rays from the rising sun glint off the car
roof. He pushes his glasses up his nose and shouts, “Ride’s here, Rufus.”
Harry slings his backpack over one shoulder and wedges
a heavy box of textbooks under his arm, then grabs his suitcase with his other
hand. Why couldn’t someone invent luggage
with wheels? Struggling to carry all his gear, Harry loses patience with
the couple’s sloppy sweet-nothings and shoves Rufus’ arm none too gently,
dislodging him from the embrace. “C’mon. Let’s go!”
“Bye, sweet-ums!” Rufus gives Sally one last smooch.
“I’ll call as soon as I get there.” He stares longingly into her eyes and blows
her a kiss, then snatches up his duffel and follows Harry down the stairs.
Harry stops as they reach the VW, taking in the
vomit-green color, which reminds him of the nauseating flight he took from
Toronto when he moved west to start university. He’s in no hurry to repeat that
experience. A two-day nonstop road trip is the lesser of two evils.
He eyes the car’s thick rust and immediately wonders
if the car will make it all the way across the country. With two unknowns—the
driver he’s never met and the state of the car—his anxiety increases. Why
hadn’t he been more prepared, done more research? Am I going to regret this?
A young man gets out of the VW, and Rufus, the common
denominator, makes the introductions.
“Charlie, this is Harry, my roommate here in Vancouver
and my pal growing up in small-town Ontario. Harry, meet Charlie, my friend
from karaoke. That’s where Charlie told me he was headed to Toronto, like you,
and why I suggested you ride together.”
I
don’t know what I was expecting, but it isn’t this. Shouldn’t
a future flight attendant be clean-cut and well groomed? Instead, Charlie
has the appearance of a furry teddy bear. Even his forearms, visible below the
short sleeves of his Oscar Wilde T-shirt, are bushy. His faded bellbottoms are
a little too tight. Is that the start of
a pot belly? Don’t flight attendants have weight restrictions? He extends
his hand to Charlie for a handshake.
As Charlie settles behind the wheel of the Beetle,
Harry places his suitcase and textbooks on the back floor behind the passenger
seat. A Coleman thermos and small picnic cooler already take up the floor space
on the driver’s side. Harry folds his long frame onto the rear seat beside
Charlie’s nineteen-inch Electrohome TV, complete with rabbit ears. The only
place for his feet is atop the box of his books. He squeezes his knees together
and holds his backpack on his lap. It’s
only a short drive to the airport. I
can manage.
Rufus jumps into the front passenger seat. The bud
vase on the dash holding a single daisy catches his attention, and he flashes a
peace sign at Charlie. “Cool!”
“I knew you’d like it,” Charlie says, beaming a
hundred-watt smile. He grabs an imaginary microphone. “Good morning, ladies,
ahem, gentlemen. Welcome aboard Flight 2B with service from Vancouver to
Toronto, with a short layover at the airport. We expect to be on the road for
approximately forty-eight hours. Please fasten your seatbelts and stow your
baggage. Please note there are two exits.” Charlie points at the car doors,
then adds, “Thank you for choosing Charlie’s VW Air.”
Harry rolls his eyes and wonders if he’ll have to put
up with aviation demonstrations every time Charlie takes the wheel.
Maybe
flying would have been a better option?
Too late now.
Donna Costa draws on her love of romance, both novels and
movies, plus her years in the aviation industry for When Harry Met Charlie. She
writes in a variety of genres including YA, memoir, romance, and historical
fiction. She lives in London, Ontario.
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GUEST POST
Whether to Write for an Audience or One’s Self
Do you write to deliver to readers what they want or do you write for yourself?
I’ve been asked this question from time to time. Quite simply, I write for myself. To be more specific, I often write for the characters that present themselves and talk to me in my head. I give them a voice.
With my first book, Breathing With Trees, the voice of the protagonist, Lucy, spoke to me and I simply began writing her story. At first, I thought I was working on a blog, until it got so long I had to wonder if it was something else. I had no audience in mind because I didn’t even know it was a book.
My memoir, If I Could Remember: Brains & Bears & Caring for My Mother, began when I was caregiving for my mother who had Alzheimer’s. Expressing emotions on the page was a therapeutic release. When I began weaving in stories of teddy bears who had Alzheimer’s, the creativity of that process took me out of myself and also helped reduce stress. I was definitely writing for myself and my health, not for an imagined audience.
When Harry Met Charlie actually began with two teddy bear characters from that memoir. (Spoiler Alert: One of them develops Alzheimer’s.) When I decided to write a prequel to their life before Alzheimer’s, I wasn’t thinking about the audience. I was simply having fun creating the backstory of Harry and Charlie.
However, once I decided on the title, I began to presume that the audience might be fans of Nora Ephron movies (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail) and other rom-coms starring Meg Ryan (French Kiss). There are some dialogue scenes in the first part of the book where I had that audience in mind.
My Writing Process
Writers use the terms “plotter” and “pantser” to refer to different writing styles.
A plotter (sometimes called plotser) creates a very detailed outline before starting to write any words to a manuscript. The approach is a methodical, organized, and logical.
A pantser prefers to write “by the seat of her pants,” tapping into intuition, listening to the characters speak and allowing the story to unfold as she types, rather than having a preconceived idea of how the story will move. This approach is spontaneous and instinctive.
Truthfully, authors use both writing styles, but to varying degrees. A writer will typically lead with one approach, but finish with the other style. My process usually is pantser:plotter in a 60:40 ratio.
With my first two books, I “downloaded” the story from the characters speaking in my head. But once that first draft was finished, I needed to revisit the story and edit, edit, edit. Adding description, rearranging scenes, and looking for plot holes. In short, becoming more methodical and logical in analyzing the story à la plotter style.
For When Harry Met Charlie, I led with plotter style since my story was patterned after the original screenplay of When Harry Met Sally. I followed Nora Ephron’s timeline—opening scenes in 1977, followed by a meetup five years later, then again five years after that. Once that outline was loosely written on paper, I reverted to pantser style to get a feel for the characters and let their repartee lead the scenes.
My Reading Habits
Authors read as a form of studying technique. This observing of pacing, tension and plots of other writers helps build our own skills. But writers do also read simply for pleasure.
I enjoy a variety of genres. I’ll go through a period of picking books from literary award lists like Booker Prize, Giller Prize or Canada Reads list. Then I’ll have a period of reading cozy mysteries like the Merry Muffin Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton or the Dr. Bannerman Vet Mystery series by Philipp Schott. I might switch over to regency romance for a time, then memoir, local authors, or books on spirituality, before cycling back to literary fiction.
My appetite is eclectic. I always have at least one book open on my cell phone so I can read while waiting for appointments or riding in the car. Likely there’s a paperback on my bedside table and often a third book in the livingroom that I pick up periodically. It might be a How To book, for instance, on gardening or writing. Plus I keep issues of a certain health journal in the bathroom to read one article at a time. (Maybe I shouldn’t admit that reading locale in public…Oops, too late.)
And one final reading habit of mine—I read when I’m eating alone. I’m told this is a bad habit that leads to mindless overeating, but I think of reading as having a conversation with a friend and where better to do that than over some tasty food.
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