Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels Paperback – April 2, 2016

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, 2017Romancing 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 WhyWhat 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 DownGwen 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 LineA solid resource that you’ll find yourself referring to over and over.

This book is a how to outline/ plot book for romance writers. It combines the wisdom of Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" book and outlining method with a romance twist. The book was short, sweet, and simple, and I found it quite helpful. The author shows you how to write romance novels using four phases, with five "beats" or elements to make sure to include in each phase. I made an Excel spreadsheet with one tab for each phase, to be used in plotting my story.The book is essentially what I already knew from Save the Cat concepts except that it kind of drags them out longer for the push- and- pull of a romance book, and the focus on the two characters and their romance instead of the external arc/story. The author's tone is light and humorous. The one thing I disliked about the book was that there weren't many examples given (whereas Save the Cat is full of examples the whole way through.) The author does give a sample outline of one of her own romance novels at the end, but I think it would be more helpful broken down throughout the book as she shows the individual beats and how they turned out with her own outline/story.Overall I liked this book. It was a quick read, quite helpful to have in my repository of outlining/plotting books, and I'd recommend it to any aspiring or current romance writer.