Is this a thing? Google says it is, but in a way that’s different from where I was going to go with it. Maybe I should instead call this the meet-tense. The meet-bad?

Well, whatever. We’re doing the scene where the main character and the bad guy first meet.

I’m thinking it probably has a lot of the same elements as a meet-cute:

• It’s memorable. Maybe not to the character, but to the reader.
• It at least hints at the main conflict. Again, maybe not for the main character, but for the reader. If it’s the kind of story where the conflict is overt, feel free to show it. If it’s the kind of story where the bad guy’s identity is concealed throughout, then just give us a hint, something where, on re-read, we’ll think, Oh, it was there all along. Clever.
• It demonstrates theme in some way. Perhaps in the sense of the antagonist being, in some fashion, a clone of the protagonist. Or perhaps the antagonist prompts the main character to argue against change. Lots of options here.

One thing that’s different, I think, maybe, probably (I’m feeling this one out as I type) is that the meet-tense (I think I like this phrasing best) probably doesn’t necessarily have to be the scene where the characters first really see each other (although it could be–this is just a prompt). I’m thinking, instead, that it’s the scene where the reader begins to really see the bad guy vis-a-vis the main character.

Yeah?

Anyhoo . . . the meet-tense. Write the scene. Have fun.

That’s it for me

What about you? What would you call it? Do you agree about the elements of a meet-tense? Do you even think it’s a thing? Tell us in the comments.

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