I was in Morrison’s earlier. (Rock and Roll!)
I picked up a box-set of Clint Eastwood DVDs. It included a film I remember from the early seventies. Breezy.
The blurb described a young woman, on the run from a sleazy guy who had given her a lift, taking refuge with an older man.
So... she’s the free spirit. He’s a realter, a member of the establishment. Two different characters, unexpectedly flung together. And held together, initially, by some outside force or danger.
Look out for that technique, you will see it time and time again. It’s the equivalent of the two strangers stuck in a broken lift.
But there needs to be something more than just the immediate problem if they are to really bond. Some common experience or shared value has to be discovered or uncovered if there is to be any hope of the viewer getting their happy ever after. And, in this instance, it’s an injured dog.
The dog is the reminder that they are more than just their immediate needs and interests. For them to have any hope of staying together despite their differences, they need something in common important enough to overcome them. And, until they can grow their own common experiences, that something is the dog.
If that sounds too corny for words –
Many years ago, when I was much more foolish, I was walking out of my marriage. Julie followed me, trying to talk me into coming back, but nothing she said was working. I thought we were too different. I was about to walk away. Then this emaciated (and, as it turned out, blind and deaf) dog appeared. It began walking, step after painful step, up the hill to where we were standing. Then it sprawled out on the pavement between us. Working as a team to help keep it alive and get it back to its home was what brought us back together.
We called it our angel-dog.
The angel-dog in your story can be anything you like, so long as it challenges your characters and changes their priorities.
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