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  • Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes book cover
  • Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels by Gwen Hayes book cover
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Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels

by Gwen Hayes

A story-structure guide built around the romance arc

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A story-structure guide built around the romance arc

Gwen Hayes frames romance as a genre with structural needs of its own, explaining how its relationship arc can be connected with a novel’s external plot and themes. The guide organizes that approach into story beats and presents them as a flexible recipe, not a fixed formula. Its framework is intended to work at different stages of the writing process, whether a writer plans in advance or checks the beats during revision. The emphasis throughout is on understanding how romance structure functions within fiction, rather than applying a general-purpose plotting template unchanged.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Romance novelists seeking a genre-specific structure guide
  • Writers who prefer to discover a draft as they go, as well as those who outline
  • Writers revising a romance manuscript and looking to check its story beats

Themes

Romance story structureThe relationship arcPlot and themeOutlining and revision

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

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 can be read like you are 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 bestseller 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.

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