Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels

This guide is kinda short, but it does what it says on the tin and describes the structure of a romance novel. Note there is only one structure, not more than one, and she doesn't go into what would happen if you deviate from the specified structure. Still, it's a great guide. Hayes writes in a very personable way, full of pop culture references and humor. It may be a hit or miss in that regard. I personally wasn't a big fan of her style, but the information provided was still a gold mine. I'm used to reading writing guides that explain the structure of novels in general. But romance novels are slightly different from that mold and having her point out those differences was really helpful to me. Overall, I reccomend this book for people who want a concise guide to writing romance novels. I don't recommend it for veterans of the genre because it would pretty much explain the basics without going into much detail.

Original review posted on the Wordy Speculations blog (https://speculationsediting.com/archives/book-review-romancing-beat-gwen-hayes/) on September 5, 2017 Romancing the Beat is a concise book on story structure for the romance novel by author and editor Gwen Hayes, who herself confesses to loving "kissing books." As an editor, I read a lot about writing, so when I picked up Romancing the Beat, I sat down with paper and pen, ready to take notes. What I did not expect to find was a funny little book that made me laugh out loud while still actually learning something. I Loved It, and Here's Why What I love about Hayes’s book is that she distills the elements of romantic story structure down to their very bones and gives the reader/writer specific advice for creating the plot of a romance novel in a book you can finish in one evening. Romance novels, unlike most other genre novels, have a pretty specific formula. Now, don’t shoot me for saying that, but it’s true, and maybe that’s why romance novels are so successful. Readers expect certain things to happen, and when they happen, they’re happy. Without those things, readers are unhappy. They will be quick to tell you that what you have written is not a romance novel and shouldn’t be marketed as such. For example, if your lovers are cheating, you haven’t written a romance novel. If your lovers don’t get their happily ever after or at least happy for now, you also haven’t written a romance novel. Hayes doesn’t give you tips on crafting sentences. She doesn’t give you ideas for external plot lines. She doesn’t tell you how to create the perfect hero or heroine. She focuses on one element of the craft in one genre. Romantic story structure is all this book covers, but it covers it extremely well. Breaking It Down Gwen Hayes breaks down romantic story structure into bite-sized chunks: four phases, each with five beats. I won’t tell you what they are—you’ll have to read the book for that—but she goes through each phase and beat in its own mini-chapter. Then, at the back of the book, she provides an entire outline with these beats from one of her own stories. To be honest, I flipped to the end first and read this outline. Good, complete examples are often missing in writing books. You can call beats or moments in the story anything you want, but unless the reader knows what you’re talking about and can apply it to his or her own writing, it’s all sort of abstract, hard to pinpoint, and thus, useless. After reading Romancing the Beat, I honestly feel I could sit down and use it write an outline within an hour or so for a romance novel that would fit reader expectations. And with Hayes’s approach, it would probably be a lot of fun. In the meantime, this book is going to serve as an important resource any time I sit down to edit a romance novel, and I’ll have no compunctions about recommending it to my writer clients and friends. Go read it yourself.

One of the panels I virtually attended at RWA this year recommended ROMANCING THE BEAT. I’m a devoted plotter, so I wanted to see how best to weave the romance beats into the greater story beats. Hayes’s book is short and sweet. She lays out the beats, where they fall in the three-act structure, and gives a brief description of what each one needs to accomplish. Because it’s so short, you can read it easily in one sitting and be ready to plot or revise your next romance novel. However, because it’s such a quick read, it’s short on details that would have been nice. Whether you’re new to writing romance or have been at it for awhile, there are some great tidbits in here for every romance writer. Bottom Line A solid resource that you’ll find yourself referring to over and over.

I already read Save a Cat! Writes a Novel so this book, Romancing the Beat, was a perfect additional since I'm focused on writing in the romance genre. I ready it in about an hour, so it's a quick easy ready and I felt motivated to work on my story right away. Definitely a good book to add to your craft material!

The book was released for publication in 2016 and was apparently intended to be a series, because it is listed as book one. Her style is conversational and sort-of off the cuff, such as a conversation with a friend over lunch. She is a little off-beat which makes her book fun to read. At the time of this review, the book is listed at #8 in Writing Skill, #10 in Authorship. As someone who has read and owns about 70 writing how-to books, I found this book delightful. A refreshing change from the general millieu of writing books, most of which are not useful when writing romance fiction. After all, it isn’t really a hero’s quest and the adversarial forces are probably not villain It is fairly quick-paced so it’s important to focus on the ideas and content. The set up is simple. There is the introduction of each main character, their meet cute, and the reveling of why it can never be between them, although it absolutely must be. The set up makes up the first 25% of the story leading to the first plot point as in other novels. The story arc is a little bit more nuanced then other writings, since there might not be the same antagonist forces at work here. Still, there are many complications surrounding the relationships in the romance story. The relationship then begins and despite some complications, the characters arrive at the midpoint having formed some kind of bond, maybe having had the first date. In the third section, it all falls apart, and in the final quarter of the book, the couple fights to save the relationship. Ultimately there are seven key points in the romance story. The introduction of each main character is followed by the meet cute. After establishing that the couple belongs together, it is vital to reveal why it can never be, though, in fact, it also must be. As the plot points works to further the story and the budding relationship, there are pinch points at every turn that pull the couple apart over and again. The couple often has aspirations separate from the relationship and these will further work against the relationship as each seeks to achieve a goal that is sure to come between them. During the third act, when facing the darkest moment, the pair finally realizes that they can and must find a compromise that allows then to achieve most of their goals while protecting the thing they now realize they cannot be without- each other.

I am so glad I found this book! I had an idea for a romance novel in my head, but had a difficult time structuring it...especially that pesky, saggy, daunting middle part. I checked out some resources online for structuring a fiction novel (storygrid, story circle, save the cat, etc.) but nothing quite clicked for me. I stumbled on this book and bought it on a whim, and I am so glad I did! The book is a quick read; I read it twice in about an hour. As I was reading about each beat, I found myself easily mapping out my story in my head. It was like all the obstacles and roadblocks that kept me from creating my story just melted away. Once I had my high-level beats created for the story I had in mind, I got hit with inspiration for two more stories I can write in the future. They were both high-level plots I had kicking around in my head for awhile but had no idea how to move forward; after reading this book, I was able to fill in many the beats for each of those stories without even really trying. I will say that the author provides a free cheat sheet for this method that you can get in PDF form from the book's website. I went ahead and downloaded it to use as a guide but I am still glad I bought the book because each chapter expands on the brief notes in the free template. The book also contains a sample beat sheet at the end so you can see how the beats can be split up or merged and how a story flows through each of the beats. I also wanted to address some of the criticisms of the book that other reviews have brought up. First off, yes it's pricier than you'd expect for such a short book. However, keep in mind that this is a system that you can reuse over and over again if you plan on churning out multiple romance novels. As I mentioned above, this not only helped me map out one story but got me started on two others that I'd never been able to articulate in detail before. I enjoy writing and would like to write multiple romance novels, and I know this book (and the free cheat sheet) will be a resource I'll keep referencing many times as I write stories. When you look at it that way, I think it's a pretty good deal. I also believe that while it's a guidebook, it's not prescriptive. The author makes many suggestions throughout the book, but constantly reminds you that YOU are the writer and you can do whatever you want. In my opinion, the beats are narrow enough to help you keep the ups and downs of your story in mind, but broad enough that you can be creative and break the mold when you really want to. In other words...it's not a box into which you have to force your story to fit; rather, it's a framework on which you can build the story you want.

This book is short and simple, straight to the point! And an example was given at the end on how to use all the information given in the book! This broke things down into manageable chunks which helped clear a lot of things up for me. I definitely recommend this book and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned.

I'm not sure this should actually be called a book. More like a big pamphlet. It's tiny and tries to force some good simple information, pictures, and a TON of jokes in about 85 tiny cut pages so you feel like you bought a "book". The author jokes at lot - which starts off as funny but really is just trying to fill the gaps so this can actually be called a book. You may end up skimming the jokes towards the end because it's overdone. And mostly because you bought it for something else. I'm giving the book four stars because I do feel the author is genuine, but the information on here could literally be a pamphlet. It could be completely sufficient as a one paged blog - without missing $10 from your wallet. Please don't think I'm giving any grief to the author - hence the four stars. There's good information. Just not a book worth by any stretch. I'd say you can condense it to four solid half pages, and you've got all the information you need.