Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels
How to Write Kissing Books, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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Natalie Duke
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By:
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Gwen Hayes
About this listen
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 HayesListeners also enjoyed...
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Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for 28 years - carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk - reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob. Bob is Paul's Book of Books, a journal that records every book she's ever read.
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Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress, and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese, and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives, and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience.
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Only 5 Chapters
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The Secret Life of the American Musical
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For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
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Great review lacked music
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Reading Like a Writer
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In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire listeners to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
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Practical, literate, generous
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The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, best-selling novels, and film adaptations.
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A Kingopedia: Books, Movies, Bio and Art
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Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story
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David Foster Wallace was the leading literary light of his generation, a man who not only captivated readers with his prose but also mesmerized them with his brilliant mind. In this, the first biography of the writer, D. T. Max sets out to chart Wallace’s tormented, anguished, and often triumphant battle to succeed as a novelist as he fights off depression and addiction to emerge with his masterpiece, Infinite Jest.
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Max avoids hagiography or a sycophant's biography
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Early in the history of English, glamour and grammar were the same word, linked to enchantment and magical spells. Now grammar brings to mind language bullies and bored-out-of-their-skulls students. Roy Peter Clark, one of America’s most influential writing teachers, wants to change that by putting the glamour back into grammar.
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Wasteful
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Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master
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You love Dungeons and Dragons. As an experienced dungeon master, you've run dozens, if not hundreds of games. You put a lot of work into making your games great. What if there's another way to look at how you prepare your game? What if it turned out you could spend less time and less energy and have a better game as a result? It's time to unleash the Lazy Dungeon Master.
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Helpful tips for Dungeon Masters
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Slayers & Vampires
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Two decades after its groundbreaking debut, millions of fans worldwide remain enthralled with the incredible exploits of Joss Whedon's Buffy Summers as well as Angel. Now, go behind the scenes of these legendary series that ushered in the new Golden Age of Television, with the candid recollections of writers, creators, executives, programmers, critics, and cast members. Together they unveil the oftentimes shocking true story of how a failed motion picture became an acclaimed cult television series.
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Too much Joss schmoozing, too little new info
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Significant Zero
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When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer - he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry - Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia, among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls.
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it's a bad autobiography not what the title says
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The Memoir Project
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Whether or not one has lived an exceptional or dramatic life, we inherently understand that writing memoir—whether it’s a book, blog, or just a letter to a child - is the single greatest portal to self-examination. Stop treading water in writing exercises or hiding behind “writer’s block” and learn how to write with intent. Marion Roach Smith’s disarmingly frank but wildly fun tactics offer you simple and effective guidelines that work. Your legacy beings now.
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amazing what you can learn from brevity
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What listeners say about Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- pdxBooks
- 11-28-19
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.
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- Eva
- 09-28-22
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.
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- The Jolly Zebra
- 05-10-23
Interesting Advice to Novice Writers
A pleasingly unbiased presentation of the author's personal approach to writing. Should be very helpful to aspiring authors.
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- CM
- 02-28-20
very helpful book
I really found this book helpful and am excited to go through my manuscript and check for all the beats!
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- Haley P Law
- 10-13-20
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!
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- MariaIsoldde
- 03-01-24
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.
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- Voracious Reader
- 06-24-17
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.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-24-23
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.
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- LS
- 01-09-20
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.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-19-20
Loved this book
Very good and informative book about romance writing. And the audio book tone is amazing!
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