Story Structure for Romance Novels (How to Write Kissing Books) (Volume 1)

Fabulous book! The structure is clear and the writing is witty. I love the fact that there are matching templates available for download.

I'd recommend buying the digital version since there are embedded links that don't work well if you're reading the hard copy.

This book is A MUST BUY for everyone plotting romance. Or any novel of any sort, really. The beats can easily be adapted for other genres. Super helpful, well-written, easy to understand, and funny. Highly recommend!

Although quite short, I know I'll be referencing this book when I work on writing new romances! It would also be useful for any fiction writer writing a novel with a romantic plot or sub-plot. Recommended!

Very helpful, short read. (Took me about 45 minutes to flip through while taking notes, the book is largely few-paragraph explanations of each beat in a 20-beat outline.) I have been working on a romance novel for a few weeks now, and was pleased to find that my story mostly fit the beats! Where it didn't, though, I found Gwen Hayes' advice very useful. Still working on fleshing everything out, but I trust that this book has helped my writing. Thanks, Gwen!

Honestly, I was surprised. When I received the "little book," I was not sure I would gain a single bit of knowledge. They say, you should never judge a book by it's cover. Don't. This one was pretty good. Told in a manner that was easy to digest and made me think about my writing in a new way.

This book is amazing! It's short, concise, and quite funny. I love the '80's soundtrack almost as much as the breakdown of the beats. I'm not sure how I've been writing kissing books without this reference. Why haven't you purchased your copy already? And pick one up for each of your write friends while you're at it. Also be sure to visit the author's website when you're finished for the Scrivener template or the Beat PDF.

Fast and smart writing, without being too chatty.
Appreciate the walk thru of beats and several illustrations.
A.lot.
Plan to write plots going thru the book more slowly.
Gotta get writing!

This is a fabulous resource on romance novel story structure! The author explains the romance arc concisely and in a way that set off a lot of light bulb moments for me. For years, I've been a huge fan of Larry Brooks' story engineering, but have often wondered how to blend the romance story arc into the story structure he lays out. This book perfectly bridges that gap for me. I will keep this book close by going forward!

This is the first book that presented a concise outline of what a typical romance should look like. I discovered, in an hour, the information that I've sought while reading hundreds of hours worth of theory. Thank you for getting straight to the point.

On the plus side, this book breaks down romance in a simple way. I look forward to giving this outlining process a try.

As for why I rated 3 stars. Unfortunately, the supposed "humor" in the book falls flat for me and seems forced. I was an 80's teen, but a lot of the song references went over my head. More importantly, the sample story at the end was not what I expected...it's boy meets boy. If the author likes to write that kind of romance, it's their choice. For a sample, however, it was too confusing. I wasn't sure which male protagonist was being referred to. Also, the entire book until the sample referred to heterosexual romance...so for me, the sample completely blindsided and jarred me.