Everyone talks about first kisses, but what about the nerve it takes for that first conversation? The choice to walk up and say hello somehow. To risk rejection before you even know if there’s chemistry on both ends. The courage it takes to just start a conversation, not just the butterflies of new love.

In romance, the meet-cute takes care of this moment without much fanfare. It happens early in the book, before you’re fully invested. By the time you care, you’re rooting for that first kiss. But some craft makes the first conversation, and the nerve it takes to give that a try, seem less emotional because it is more a part of world and character building than anything else setting up the book.

We get so caught up in the will-they-won’t-they, waiting for misunderstandings to resolve, that we overlook the original act of getting these characters to meet (each other or us) for the first time. But it takes a bold bravery to do it, doesn’t it? Even if it’s a liquid courage poorly flirted chat. Or a hey I bought you coffee, but you disappeared before I came back to officially meet cute with you. The humor tends to draw us in when we’re not ready for the vulnerability it takes to make those first moves. Not just the ones that make you a couple, but the ones that make you orbit each other in a book world you can’t put down.

Which moment takes more courage: the first conversation, or the first kiss?