Lecture: The Beats of Romance

Introduction

• The focus of today's class is on creating romance stories through plot beats.
• A story beat is an individual unit of plot essential for story progression.
• Missing beats can make a story drag or change its genre.

Understanding Story Beats

• Definition: A beat is a building block of plot; essential events that must happen to progress the story.
• Examples:
  • Aladdin getting caught in the cave is a beat.
  • Events that don't progress the plot directly aren't beats (e.g., a neighbor's dog barking).
• Purpose: To prevent the story from dragging or changing genres.

Romance Beats

• Romance novels are about overcoming obstacles keeping characters apart, not just about falling in love.
• All beats and plot points are viewed through what keeps the protagonists apart.

Examples from Movies

• Never Been Kissed: Characters can't engage romantically due to one posing as a student.
• Win a Date with Tad Hamilton: Fear of expressing feelings keeps protagonists apart.
• Kate and Leopold: Time travel and disbelief keep characters apart.

Creating Conflict

• Characters often have external goals that conflict, creating further opposition.
• Layer conflicts: multiple reasons for characters to stay apart enhance the plot.

Structuring Romance Through Beats

• Romance is a dance of advancing and retreating: two steps forward, one step back.
• Act Structure:
  • Act 1: Introduce characters, goals, conflicts, and set up romance beats.
  • Act 2: Build conflict, force interaction, increase attraction.
  • Midpoint: Change in relationship dynamics.
  • Act 3: Resolve conflicts, climax, reconciliation.

Key Components of Romance Beats

• Act 1: Set up characters, goals, inciting incident, and the lie they believe.
• Act 2: Force interactions, build attraction, and dance of romance.
• Midpoint: A significant plot shift affecting character relationships.
• Act 3: Dark moment leads to realization and change, climax with reconciliation.

Importance of Conflict

• Conflict is central to romance; lack of conflict can lead to unsatisfying stories.
• Focus on internal and external conflicts that prevent the characters from being together.

Q&A Highlights

• Romance beats are guides, not strict rules, for both indie and traditional publishing.
• Timelines in romance can be flexible, provided beats are included.
• Common issues include lack of conflict and insufficient focus on character dynamics.
• Third Act Breakups: Some contemporary authors choose to skip these, but they traditionally help build tension.

Conclusion

• Offering a free month for the Writing Gals Academy to explore more on writing techniques.
• Encouragement to structure romance stories using beats for effective storytelling.

This guide provides a structured template to approach writing romance, emphasizing the importance of plot beats and conflict. Understanding these can enhance both storytelling and reader engagement.