Preptober: Gwen Hayes’ Romancing the Beat

A series on structure

We talked about Save the Cat last, and while I find it great for writing external plots, I noted one of its deficits was how it handles the emotional story. In Save the Cat, we have one beat that says “by the way you should have another storyline.” This is one of the reasons I think Gwen Hayes’ Romancing the Beat is so helpful.

Unless otherwise linked, the information below is all summarized from Hayes’ work.

The beat sheet below was designed for category romances. It follows a specific formula because genre romance, by definition, is a story that follows these beats. However, I find it’s a great scaffolding to add to the plot to ensure the character arc is paced well, too.

The Beats

Meet the Love Interests

In a dual point of view book, this will be two separate beats, one for each love interest. We meet them one at a time, learn who they are and what makes them compelling, what they want, and how there’s a problem in their life right now.

The Meet Cute

At this beat, the two characters meet for the first time. Lindsay Elizabeth notes a few types of meet cutes: love at first sight, enemies at first sight, one-sided attraction, and an awkward meeting. The last three have inherent conflict. If you use some variation on insta-love/attraction, there needs to be some kind of conflict keeping the characters apart, or else the story would be over.

Note that this beat is important outside of romance novels, too. The Script Lab has a great article on how the meet cute works in a buddy-cop story.

No Way

At this beat, your character voices why they absolutely will not, under any circumstances, fall in love (with the love interest, at least). Like Theme Stated in Save the Cat, this beat sets up the lesson our character needs to learn, and proves they aren’t ready to learn it.

Plot Thrust

Since Romancing the Beat is in many ways the inverse of a beat sheet like Save the Cat, instead of one beat about the relationship, Romancing the Beat provides one beat about the non-relationship plot. In this case, it occurs at about Break into 2/Plot Point 1/25% into the story.

One of the main things that differentiates this beat from the Break into 2 beat is its focus on relationship: the plot in a romance should force the characters together in some way, and they should be stuck interacting until they see the plot through.

No Way (Reprise)

The plot is moving forward, but the character remains convinced love is not for them. In this beat, the argument against love (for the love interest) is restated. Basically your character is doubling down.

Inkling

That doubling down beat is important because next there should be a moment where they see that maybe, just maybe, they were wrong. Your enemies-to-lovers stop bickering long enough to team up on the same side and realize that actually it’s pretty fun to work together. The character who isn’t attracted in a one-sided attraction sees something in the other that makes them wonder a bit.

Deepening Desire

Not only are the characters starting to be interested in one another, but they open up about who they really are and realize — if subconsciously — they like who the other person is.

Maybe This Could Work

As their desire deepens, they realize they want this, even if part of them still believes their reasons it won’t work. What if they gave in?

Midpoint

In most romance books, the midpoint is a false high. The characters kiss — or more, in a more erotic book, or less, in a regency romance — and have a moment where it seems that yes, they could be together. We get a preview of their happily ever after. However, they haven’t yet addressed their inner issues.

Inkling Doubt

Because they haven’t yet addressed their inner issues, after their false high of getting together temporarily, doubt sinks in. They remember the reasons they committed to not being in love. The love interest will do something out of their own doubt that preys on the doubt in the main character, and the false high is shattered.

Deepening Doubt

The characters are still together — or moving that direction — on the surface, but beneath that, they can’t shake the belief this is wrong, or it won’t pan out. Whatever their hang-up is about love, it’s blaring in their minds now and coloring every interaction they have.

Retreat

Until this point, all the doubt has been subtext or narrative. But now, subtext goes out the window. The characters say, often out loud but at least in internal dialogue that’s honest with themselves, why this relationship will never work, what they fear, and that they’re choosing to protect their hearts instead.

Shields Up

In the No Way beat, they said, “I can’t love because X will happen.” In this beat, X happens. If they’re scared of cheating, the love interest will (at least appear to) cheat. If they’re scared of being second-best, the love interest will choose someone or something else over them. Their worst fear is now a reality. or at least, they think it is.

Break Up

In romances there is often a break-up. This should happen because your character gave in to their fear instead of opening their hearts. Maybe the Shields Up beat was a misunderstanding, but instead of communicating their fear and hurt, they back away completely, have the fight, end the relationship.

Dark Night

Just like the Dark Night in Save the Cat, this is the moment your character wallows. In a romance, they’re likely to think they should feel better at this point. They kept their worst fear from happening, so why are they reminiscing about the Falling in Love montage from earlier?

Wake Up

Correlating to Break into 3, something happens that makes the character choose love over fear. They need to figure out how to fix the mess they got themselves into with this relationship.

Grand Gesture

Instead of a dramatic action sequence, the finale in a romance is dependent on figuring out how to get back into the good graces of the love interest. They have to put it all on the line, and likely directly go against their No Way to do it. Don’t like giving in to love because they fear embarrassment? Time for David to sing to Patrick.

Whole-Hearted

Let’s see that happily ever after moment. You’ve put your characters through so much. Now show us why it was worth it. How are they better together? How are the holes in their hearts addressed by the other person?

Epilogue

In most romance novels, we get a quick glimpse into their future, putting a bow on the previous moment and proving the “ever after” part.

When Should You Use This Beat Sheet?

As I talked about in the introduction, this beat sheet was designed for category romance. But that isn’t the only place it can be useful. Buddy cop stories often follow a romance beat sheet, and many stories that are otherwise in other genres have romantic subplots that can benefit from being structured this way. However, outside of category romance in particular, this beat sheet will probably be inadequate.

Which is why I combine beat sheets.

Combining Beat Sheets

My Scrivener file for my NaNo book has index cards for the Save the Cat beats, the Romancing the Beat beats, and a few bonuses like Weiland’s Pinch Points. There are, of course, places these beats overlap, like the dark night, and the breaks between acts. In these cases, I include reminders about what should be happening both externally (via Save the Cat) and relationally (via Romancing the Beat).

Beat sheets are tools, and the goal is to make them work for you, and to help you write the best story you can. It’s up to you to find which framework — or which hodgepodge of several — fits your book.

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