Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels

How to Write Kissing Books, Book 1

De: Gwen Hayes

Narrado por: Natalie Duke

What makes a romance novel a romance? How do you write a kissing book?

Writing a well-structured romance isn't the same as writing any other genre - something the popular novel and screenwriting guides don't address. The romance arc is made up of its own story beats, and the external plot and theme need to be braided to the romance arc - not the other way around.

Told in conversational (and often irreverent) prose, Romancing the Beat is like sitting down to coffee with romance editor and author Gwen Hayes while she explains story structure - the way she does with her clients, some of whom are regular inhabitants of the New York Times and USA Today best-seller lists.

Romancing the Beat is a recipe, not a rigid system. The beats don't care if you plot or outline before you write, or if you pants your way through the drafts and do a "beat check" when you're revising. Pantsers and plotters are both welcome. So sit down, grab a cuppa, and let's talk about kissing books.

©2016 Gwen Hayes (P)2017 Gwen Hayes

Good Outline

Author Gwen Hayes presents a solid basic outline for writing a romance novel. I could do without the lists of songs at the start of each chapter, but I get the intention she had in including them.

keep coming back

this short but to the point book is an alternative glance at story beats. i would recommend to start with save the cat for general view on beats, but if you are a romance writer, read this book next. it's a filter that magnifies the romance structure of a book, and interlaced with other more genre-agnotsic ones, will help with the romance arc. i keep re-reading it each time before i start planning for a new book. each refresher helps me identify new points and get a better feel for my romance arc. highly recommend.

Interesting Advice to Novice Writers

A pleasingly unbiased presentation of the author's personal approach to writing. Should be very helpful to aspiring authors.

very helpful book

I really found this book helpful and am excited to go through my manuscript and check for all the beats!

Helpful and entertaining

This book is a great, to the point, and succinct explanation of the beats that a romance writer must hit to keep readers engaged, and satisfied.

The quick read is entertaining and the narrative reads with perfect humor in her tone.

Great resource!

Essential for writing kissing books

Honestly I feel that this book covers everything that you could ever need to write a romance novels, short story or novella. Regardless if it is paranormal, erotic, clean Etc. It covers everything that you'll need when it comes to the Beats specifically for kissing book. When I write I always have this book at arm's length for reference. It is completely essential for when I write.

short but full of great information

This book was surprisingly short for what I had expected. But the information was presented in such a way, almost like an outline, with some great examples, so it didn't need to be longer than it is.

Very helpful guideline

Great book for anyone interested in writing a romance novel. The structure is laid out clearly for the reader and the book is an effortless read.

Get this. Just get this.

This book broke down a "formula" so to speak of what makes the bones of a good romance novel (or most novels for that matter would appreciate this structure). Shorter but no less helpful than Save the Cat Writes a Novel, this does have a few added value items.

First, everything makes sense, and approximate ranges for where readers want to see a certain kind of story element. Example: the grand gesture moment readers live for should be in the last 10% of the book. Sounds simple, but a great reminder.

Second, the references are HILARIOUS. Gwen has a complimentary play list of 80s songs to set the mood and feel of each section. Love it!

Third, but in no way least, she has instructions on how to download the beat sheet with the 4 main components and their subsequent beats. Each beat has a brief description to remind you what it should cover to jog your memory.

This is one of the best craft books I've found, and even if you only want to read/hear about the craft of writing as a consumer, it's still informative and light hearted enough to give you an insight on why certain books resonate to you. Loved it.

Loved this book

Very good and informative book about romance writing. And the audio book tone is amazing!