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Romance beat sheet template

A romance beat sheet follows the relationship, not the plot around it. It runs in four movements: two separate lives, falling in love, retreating from it, and fighting for it, with sixteen beats from the first meeting to a gesture that proves the change.

A florist and a man share a bouquet of white lilies at a flower stall.

When to use it

  • The relationship is the plot, and readers expect the arc in a set order.
  • Your breakup feels arbitrary. The doubt beats earn it before it happens.
  • You write contemporary, historical, or small-town romance to genre length.

Romance writers have worked from beat sheets for decades; Gwen Hayes's 2016 book set out one of the most used. These beats are named in our own words.

The 4 acts

  • Act One: Setup. Two people with separate lives, and the reason they will not work.
  • Act Two: Falling in Love. Everything pulling them together, against their own better judgment.
  • Act Three: Retreating from Love. Everything pulling them apart, and why it is their own doing.
  • Act Four: Fighting for Love. Choosing it anyway, having understood the cost.

The 16 beats at 80,000 words

The marks assume 80,000 words, because contemporary romance usually runs 70,000 to 90,000 words. Each beat keeps its percentage at any length, so scale the marks to your own. The story structure calculator works them out for any length.

  1. Separate Lives 2% · word 1,500 Each of them alone, and what each is missing without knowing it.
  2. They Meet 8% · word 6,500 The first time they are in the same room. It should be difficult.
  3. First Refusal 12% · word 9,500 The reason this cannot happen — stated plainly, and believed by both.
  4. Thrown Together 16% · word 13,000 Circumstance forces them together and keeps them there.
  5. First Attraction 22% · word 17,500 The first moment either of them wants it, before either admits it.
  6. Attraction Deepens 30% · word 24,000 They start choosing each other in small ways.
  7. This Might Work 38% · word 30,500 A glimpse of the life they could have. Let the reader want it too.
  8. Midpoint of Love 50% · word 40,000 The high point of the romance, and the last uncomplicated one.
  9. First Doubt 56% · word 45,000 The first crack — usually the original objection, returning with evidence.
  10. Doubt Deepens 64% · word 51,000 The crack widens. Old fears do the talking.
  11. Pulling Away 70% · word 56,000 One of them protects themselves by withdrawing.
  12. The Break 76% · word 61,000 It ends. Both believe it, and so should the reader.
  13. The Long Night 82% · word 65,500 Apart, and forced to sit with what they actually want.
  14. Facing the Truth 88% · word 70,500 The flaw is named and owned. Without this the ending is not earned.
  15. The Gesture 94% · word 75,000 A public, costly act that proves the change. Risk something real.
  16. Together 99% · word 79,000 Together, on terms neither could have accepted at the start.

A worked example

Wren runs a flower stall; Callum is the new funeral director who keeps ordering white lilies.

  1. Separate Lives. Wren sells wedding bouquets and avoids funerals. Callum buried his father last spring and runs his business.
  2. They Meet. He orders two hundred lilies for Saturday. She has forty.
  3. First Refusal. She doesn't date men who smell of embalming fluid. He doesn't date anyone.
  4. Thrown Together. The town's florist retires, and Wren becomes his only supplier.
  5. First Attraction. She watches him comfort a widow and forgets to charge him.
  6. Attraction Deepens. He starts ordering flowers she likes, not flowers funerals need.
  7. This Might Work. They spend a Sunday arranging a funeral that feels like a party.
  8. Midpoint of Love. He tells her about his father. She stays the night.
  9. First Doubt. A client mistakes her for his late wife's sister.
  10. Doubt Deepens. She finds his wedding ring in a drawer.
  11. Pulling Away. She stops delivering and sends her nephew instead.
  12. The Break. He asks why. She says she won't be anyone's second arrangement.
  13. The Long Night. Alone at the stall, she realizes she has never let anyone see her grieve.
  14. Facing the Truth. Her fear was never his wife. It was being left.
  15. The Gesture. She brings lilies to his father's grave, in public, on the anniversary.
  16. Together. Their wedding flowers are white lilies, and the whole town laughs.

Open this template in Tabularia

Tabularia opens a new Book on the Romance Beat Sheet shape: its acts and a chapter for each beat, named for it, with each note pinned beside the chapter it belongs to. The book's word goal is set to 80,000 words. You name the Book before anything is created.

Open in Tabularia

Or take it away

The Word file has every beat with its note and mark, a line under each for your own plan, and the example above. It opens in Word, Google Docs, Pages, and LibreOffice.

Download for Word