It’s snowing in Idaho today, which is very appropriate for the release of A Christmas Romance Collection. The book set offers six romance novels that take place during the holidays, including my novel optioned for film, Finding Love in Big Sky, or, as the producer renamed it, Starlight Christmas. My book is also being recorded for audible, so I’m currently listening to it, and as I do so, I wonder, does it have what it takes to become a Hallmark Christmas movie? I started looking up formulas for Hallmark to find out.
First, I found A Christmas for Christmas YouTube spoof. Him: I had a crush on you in high school. Her: Yeah, but now you are good looking.
There’s the classic faux promo from Saturday Night Live with James Franco. “It’s quantity over quality, people.”
And my agent sent me this one from a TikTok star. “I don’t have time for love. I do working.”
Those all gave me a good laugh, but I wanted to know what viewers really think. I asked my Facebook friends how they would describe the formula for a Hallmark movie.
Luella: Business woman goes home to her small town. Reconnects with high school sweetheart. Falls in love. Gives up promotion. Stays with high school sweetheart, lives happily ever after.
Let’s see if my story fits her formula…
Business woman goes home. (I have a businessman. We’ll call that close enough.) Check.
Small town. (Montana ski resort town.) Check
Reconnects with high school sweetheart. Check
Falls in love. Check
Gives up promotion. (My businessman does.) Check
Stays with high school sweetheart. Check
Cate: Boy meets girl, with a kid, a pet, a snowball fight, loses girl, epiphany and gets girl back.
We already know a boy meets a girl in my book. Do I have a kid? No. (I have two old ladies who run a coffee shop. I feel like this should be an acceptable alternative, but I’ll play by Cate’s rules and not check it off.)
Pet. The horses are the same breed as Sitron in Frozen. Check.
A Snowball fight. Check
Loses girl. Check.
Epiphany and gets girl back. (She has the epiphany, not him, but that’s basically the same thing.) Check.
And of course Rachel McMillan, author of A Very Merry Holiday Movie Guide, chimed in: They love to recycle enemies to lovers and second chance romance high school boyfriend ( my least fav trope)
Enemies to lovers. Check
Second chance high school romance. Check.
As Rachel said, these are her least favorite tropes, so I’m glad her book came out before my movie. But I’m still hoping the director and actors do a good enough job to be worthy of a Rachel Gush.
Obviously, Hallmark movies are formulaic, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. People watch these movies because they know what they’re going to get. The audience knows they’ll feel good in the end, and they know it offers holiday magic to put them in a festive spirit.
A friend of mine was working on a script for a producer, and the producer kept having her take out conflict and complications. It frustrated my friend, but the producer explained that women watch Hallmark movies while baking cookies and wrapping presents. The stories need to be simple enough to follow along with while viewers are engaged in their own Christmas activities. And this formula is working for them.
I’m not personally big on formulas, but they force a writer to get creative within the box. I had to ask myself, “How can I make this formulaic story unique and feel real?” So I’ll leave you with my hero’s backstory, which actually comes from a true life event.
When my dad was a kid, he asked for a horse for Christmas. He woke up Christmas morning to find a horse on his front lawn. He was thrilled, but his parents were not. This was someone else’s horse that had gotten loose and had to be returned. In that moment Dad, and my hero, stopped believing in Santa.
(As for the Santa and Mrs. Claus pictured above, that’s my husband and I. When a child asked if he was really Santa, I said, “Well, he is my husband.)
I hope you still believe in magic this holiday season. And I hope you find the beauty in it all, including Hallmark Christmas movies.
Share your own Hallmark Christmas formula for a chance to win an audible download of Finding Love in Big Sky.
Angela Ruth Strong survived breast cancer, works as a flight attendant, and uses her own crazy life experiences as inspiration for the stories she writes. Her books have earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been nominated for a Christy, won the Cascade Award, and become Amazon bestsellers. She and her husband also got to play extras when her novel Finding Love in Big Sky was adapted for film. To help aspiring authors, Angela started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho.
This was cute! I don’t watch Hallmark movies, since I only have basic cable where I live. However, I do watch a few Christmas movies on ION, and I think they’d be the same thing as Hallmark movies. I have to say, I don’t watch them that much, either, as “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” and I’m just not into that. I’d much rather just listen to my Christmas CD’s, where it’s about the real meaning of Christmas. I like finding Christian movies at Christmas, or watching the old movies like White Christmas, Holiday Inn, and Miracle on 34th Street (the original only). I admit, I’m picky!!
Ahhh, don’t tell anyone, but I not a fan of Hallmark movies 😣. Now I will watch one if it is a book I have already read and loved!
I laughed SO HARD at that Holderness Family “Every Hallmark Movie Ever” when I came across it a few days ago. I can’t get Hallmark here, either, but I usually fit in 1-2 feel-good cheesy Christmas movies from Netflix. I guess I should start watching for recommendations from friends…
I love Hallmark’s Christmas movies! One of my favorite Hallmark tropes is the co-workers who hate each other being forced to work together and than they fall in love, of course :) . I agree with you, I’m not usually big on formulaic movies and such, but I enjoy Hallmark because they have some wonderful actor/actresses and you know it’ll always be a happy ending.
I’m not a huge fan of Hallmark movies & now I know why. From your explanation, they take out most of the conflict and complications….those propel me to want to keep watching (or reading in the case of a book). Thinking about it, Hallmark movies are simplistic. But at the same token, I do watch two or three just because I need something mindless to watch where I know there will be that promised happily-ever-after! The one I really enjoy, is based on a Denise Hunter book (which I read years ago) called “A December Bride”. It’s about the hero & heroine pretending to be engaged. You also see Denise & her husband on one of the ending scenes. :-) That’s about the only one that I do try to catch on TV because I love it so much.
I love a good friends-to-more or a reunion troupe in a book!
P.S. Don’t enter me for your book since I already have it Angela :-)
Congratulations Angela! Your anthology story sounds very good and all your other books sound like very good must reads! I Love everything Christmas! Your book covers are beautiful , I love them! Have a Great week and stay safe. God Bless you and your family.
I don’t watch Hallmark movies…but I love Christmas stories, and all of them sound wonderful :)
White Christmas is one of the best, as for the Christmas story, I’m curious how much they will leave in my movie because the Christmas star is a big part of it.
I do that too. I think the last one I watched was December Bride because I read the book.
Yes, I enjoy watching them with my daughters. <3
Yes. It’s nice when you need a feel-good escape!
I read the book and watched that one too. It’s fun to see authors I know in their movies. Hoping I’ll get a chance to be an extra.
Thank you, Alicia. I wish you well, too.
Yes! This collection offers historical Christmas stories too, which I don’t think Hallmark does.
I like the friends to more Christmas movies. Ones with a cozy fireplace and snowfall scenes.
That just sounds inviting.
I love Hallmark movies.
Girl moves home because she inherited her family’s business.
Law professor finds her intriguing, so he has her help plan a party for him.
Small town.
Snow, Christmas trees, glittery star ornaments, etc…
a misunderstanding almost ends it all, forgiveness, and a proposal
HEA!
I wrote it and it won some awards.
I had seen the You tube spoof so funny.
We don’t have the Hallmark channel but do get some of the movies around Christmas time as for Christmas in July (we seem to get repeats of repeats and rarely get new ones) They do seem to have a similar thread and it always includes snow.
I do like Christmas books partly because here Christmas can be so hot and snow seems so different and magical. In saying this I read a book where they went the Jamaica for a Christmas vacation and it was fun. I would love to see a Christmas movie set in Hawaii. I wouldn’t mind seeing a few set in Australia but I know America won’t do that.
Hallmark formula (with apologies to MadLibs)
[Gen1] comes to [Place] because of [Reason]. [Gen2] [Response1] [Gen1]. [Gen1] helps [Gen2] [solution1]. [Gen2] [Response2]. [Gen1] and [Gen2] finally get to [solution2] and live happily ever after.
[Gen1]/[Gen2]
He/She
She/He
[Place]
the big city
the small midwestern town
the coastal resort town
[Reason]
to find work
to receive an inheritance
to visit family
to escape a bad relationship
to buy take out
to get a nice quality fish tank
[Response1]
likes
hates
is intrigued by
is embarrassed in front of
is condescending to
[Solution1]
find a job
find new courage
take the toilet paper off their shoe
make their first million
get a fish
get a puppy
[Response2]
flies off the handle
gets the giggles
swoons
pets the puppy
says Thank You
promises never to do that again
pets the fish
[Solution2]
see from the other’s perspective
paper train the puppy
work together
trust each other
look longingly in each other’s eyes
go on entire date without an argument
clean the fish tank
Random combinations of the above options may not make sense but then the Hallmark movies don’t always reach that goal either.
There it is! What’s the title?
I love that idea! And I thought the same thing when I went to Arizona for Christmas one year.
I want to watch the fishtank/toilet paper one. And I absolutely love this formula.
Christmas Miracle on Oyster Bay. It’s a short story in an anthology.
These examples are so fun! I love A Christmas for Christmas.