I've struggled to find a beat sheet for writing romance, especially a free one. I'm not sure why because it seems to me that romance is often very cookie cutter. Perhaps people feel like they don't need to create a beat sheet because it's so cookie cutter or maybe everyone simply wants to make some money off their creation. There aren't a ton of romance beat sheets you can buy, either. But for some reason, I found it very difficult to find one. This book solves that problem.

Note that I listened to this book via audible instead of reading it. It's a little under 100 pages or a little over an hour, but it took me much longer to get through it because I was constantly having to stop the audio to take notes. In fact, I refused to listen to it on my commute because I couldn't take notes. While I'm not convinced that my romance will easily fit into this mold, it does seem like a great beat sheet to help you create a fun and interesting story or novel.

She's very clear on the beats and gives several examples of them. She also includes examples from movies to help ensure you get the full picture. As an added bonus, since I know some people like to listen to music to get them into the writing mood for whatever type of scene they are writing, she actually lists some '80's songs to suit the mood of each beat. What a fun idea! She ends the book with an example of a 15k word story she wrote and she shows us all the beats. (She doesn't read the whole story, but she tells us the story bits and how the beats play out within the story.)

Writers wanting to hone their romance craft, including just adding more romance to their stories. It's also good for those who like a sneak peek behind the curtain of some of their favorite storylines.

That she gave examples for each to help ensure we fully understand what she means. I don't listen to music much these days, but it was fun that she included some listening examples for each beat as well.

The audio book didn't come with a downloadable PDF of her beat sheet. But it's okay. I took plenty of notes! I also don't like that my story doesn't fit her beat sheet as well as I want. It leads me to question if my story isn't as much about romance as it is about something else I haven't yet discovered or if there are simply several different styles of romance beat sheets and this isn't the one that fits my book plans.

Create my outline for my book. I found this very inspiring!

Like I could actually write a romance, despite the fact that I don't really like to read it.

This author seems like a fun person to hang out with. Her book was light, enjoyable, and fun to listen to. I was disappointed when I looked at my phone and saw there was only 8 minutes left of the audio recording.

It helps you learn to write romance. Most writers will have some romance in at least a few of their pieces. This helps amp up the action, even if it isn't a romance you are writing. Honing every character's storyline helps create a more exciting world.

I wish this book was longer, thus the 4/5 rating for that.

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Created Feb 15, 2022 at 9:02am • Submit your own review...