How to Outline A Romance Novel
Romancing the Beat Book Overview
I’ve been thinking about writing a romance novel for a while. I have characters and plot points running around in my head just begging to be written down. I need to stop procrastinating and start writing.
I love the idea of having a road map planned out for how the story should go before I start writing. It feels like a great way to take the pressure off. When you already know what is going to happen, you can just immerse yourself in the story, follow the characters around, and write about what they do.
To learn more about how to outline a romance novel, I read the book Romancing the Beat, Story Structure for Romance Novels, by Gwen Hayes. If you’ve ever read Save the Cat writes a Novel, this book is very similar but more specific to the romance genre.
A romance novel has 4 phases and each phase has 5 beats.
1. Set-Up (the first 20–25% of the book)
Intro Hero 1
The first chapter is where we meet the main character and get a look at what her daily life is before she falls for Hero 2. The reader should also have an idea of what Hero 1’s external goal is. Show the reader that something is missing in Hero 1’s life that Hero 2 can remedy.
