# Lecture --- Romantic beats %title Lecture - Romance Beats [TOC] ## Lecture notes * Craft book - [*Romancing the Beat* by Gwen Hayes](http://gwenhayes.com/free-stuff/) * Diagram to go through the beats * Can be used for friendships/ace/aro, but example is not * Theme comes ready made - love conquers all, just need the two+ examples * In romance, there are at least 2 heros * Character is king * full arc, all the beats * Thinking of each character as protagonist helps with other genres * All beats are mirrored * Industry standard terms (meet cute) plus some changes. * Tool that plays well with other tools * space with it by design, gives room for other elements, combine with 3-act structure, etc * Some are scenes, some are just sentences * Path: * Each character's intro: * need a clear idea of them, no vagueness * Hint at the hole in their heart, their wound (snake fangs biting) * Goal/Agenda * bonus if that goal/agenda is in conflict with each other's * Cross paths, they need friction for sparks. * Should still have something to do with wounds * Intro is when characters are as far apart as they will be in terms of distance (emotional/reality) * Meet cute: * Sparks will fly * Memorable * Slice of life with a hitch - not just like every other day, even if still slice of life * Involve the senses - setting readers' anticipations for the rest of the book * Rooted in the bodies, even if not planning on having explicit sex * The two heros are in a room together for the first time we know of, so the reader wants to be there with them * No Way!! #1: * Walking away thinking "hmm, hmm...but no" * Usually (almost always) a line "I don't believe in love/will never love again/don't deserve love because..." and then backstory * False relief * That was interesting, but want to get back on track * This will be the farthest away from each other they'll ever get again; there's been a change * Trouble come, trouble go - they think they've dealt with it. Hitch is over with (false relief) * If you make it explicit, enables you to use refrain, repetition with a bit of change - doesn't work if you only hint * Internal plot (revelations about emotions) more important than surprise * Back on track with my life... * Stuck together (adhesion): * Neither can walk away from each other * Literal (snowed in, locked in) or figurative (have to rebuild, volunteering in an event, presentation at work) * Where you get to bring in all of your tropes (they can come in before in lesser way e.g: sunshine vs grumpy) * Not just metaphors that become cliche, but a storytelling device/shortcut/convention, manage the reader's comfort and surprise in order to build anticipation * (That was first 25%) * External goal: * First trouble came and went, now complicate things * Emphasis was internal prior to this * Time for all the endearing shit, both for audience and characters * Shows that them interacting could (maybe already is) make them better * This is the two-step, gotta be fun to watch * If beta readers say they don't buy the I-love-yous, this is probably the part to revisit. Tweaking these will help. But fuck that, leave that for editing * No Way!! #2: * Revisit/stop and think about #1 * Maybe consider, but then!! "Eh, no way" * Really satisfying when it comes up * Should be mirrored, ideally for both people, or first No Way is for character A and this is character B (this loses the repetition, but this tool is made for a longer narrative, maybe not a short story where space is at a premium) * Smol but important: Inkling: * Both heroes witness something that happens which makes them wonder what being in love with this other person might be like * "I'm against the concept, but now that I've pictured it, oh shit" * They've said No Way!!, but it's too late, they've pictured it * Good place for callbacks * For real: * Slow slide towards bone town * Desire becoming specific * Offering glimpses of who the other is * Dripping out backstory (not everything) * Not necessarily wrong about you, but now I'm getting to know you * Starts to soften up the No Way!!s * Can't deny the other person is more than their internal arguments - not just arguing against yourself, arguing against evidence * Room for desire * Here is where the external can distract/interrupt them - bit cheap to do it before here, may distract too soon from backstory * But not too much because: * (first 50%) * Bone town: * Sex at 60 pages * Either first time they have sex or, if they've had sex before (sure, let them hook up!) this time is whoa different * Bonfire of intimacy * High high, such a high high that it is the false high of the story * The *intimacy* is not false, but this feels like the solution yay I'm fixed * The issue is that the gates of their hearts are open but the walls have to come down * Still defensive of their tender wounds * But because we are cruel gods... * Seed of doubt: * Just a small bit of real estate * A sucker punch and reminder of their wound (still there and painful) even though they're getting closer * Don't linger, it's quick * Hell, it can happen right there on the pillow * Dark vines of doubt (bummer vine): * Stretch out these No Way!!s, basically a big ol #3 * They're trying to make it seem like they're farther apart even though they've gotten close * The internal is intruding now, interrupting the narrative they think they're living: * Wallow #1: * Explicitly say it (to themselves or someone else) * Name the hole/fear/wound that's in their heart * Name it fully, explicitly, they can't ignore it anymore * "I knew better than to believe in love/love again/deserve love, because when I let my guard down, this happens" * Immediate retreat: * Stings really bad * Make the reader feel it * There's no more subtext because now we know the text of their backstory * They're not healed yet. They're stucked together or haven't expressed their doubts to each other * Love conquers all, but it's on the hero to heal themselves * The other person isn't going to fix the hole, love is * Choose fear: * I could choose love or fear, ding, gonna choose fear * This is the breakup, or if they've already broken up, this is when we feel it * Wallow #2: * (colors go from sexy sunset to dark skies) * Long dark night of the soul * Rock bottom * They made the choice, they each have to feel it * Now they have to understand what they did * Have to say out loud "I hecked up, that was a mistake" * Good place to say it to others because this is when they're willing to listen to advice * Won't solve everything, they have to heal themselves * You've already created all of these footholds to get out of the wallow-pit: all of the endearing shit from earlier * Callbacks are key, offer opportunities to drag themselves out * Take an ax to the vines, and... * I choose love: * A second choice: this time choose love * Realization and exhilaration: oh my god, I love Josh, 100% butt crazy in love * Sets up all the nervous risk * Internal, but explicit, no prevarications * Gotta do something about it, has to be a sentence * Helpful to connect an internal decision to something external/concreate (e.g: they were fighting over the last book in a store, "I'll give you the book because it's more important that you have it", signifies their internal choice) * Very last far point, planning and risking: * They're all in! * They've chosen love * May not be together on the page * There has to be risk - they don't know if it will work, the cost will be big * Both of them are doing this (maybe not at the same time) * Grand gesture: * Never been kissed, asks #1 to kiss #2, risk of rejection * Trying to tell the person they're in love with "I value you, I love you, most importantly I see you and am putting myself on the line for you" * Could be one for each: * One could be qualified yes could lead to a second gesture - "Yes but I'm not ready" "yes but there's still a problem" * happens at the same time * One big moment that ends in... * YES: * YES * Payoff: * Shows what the relationship would be like * A snapshot of life of them together * A freeze-frame of them being together * I'm proving that I'm going to work on my wound so that you can work on yours * Epilogue/hope: * *always* in romance as a genre * Payoff was what happens after the YES * Happily ever after or at least happily for now * Hope for the future. The spark lives on * Not perfect, but they can grow together - sparks still require friction * Reward for all the angst you've put the reader through * Big parts are the nodes where they come together, but don't forget the space apart * Need to have really good wounds for both protagonists because that's how they land * Courtesy of treating each character as a protagonist - character is king * A model like this frees you up to focus on the character, adds richness * Repetitions add emphasis/discovery/depth make it feel less clunky * Indulge in the rigidity of the tool to play with it - two characters bound to each other through all stages of growth * Works for friends, anyone bound together * Use it to start from scratch, or maybe you already have a draft and need some help shoring it up * Consider with multiple partners, all of the different shapes! Could have a braid shape or a spiral shape or argyle * Start in any direction, hop on at any node and work backwards or forwards ## Additional notes * Gives you ideas for shorter narratives: show a chunk of the caduceus in a short story: * some sections more satisfying (if you end on the wallow, that's mean or not a romance) * from meet cute to first trouble come/go * stuck together to bone town * stuck together to I choose love so long as you imply what it might be) * For crush: * The author knows, but maybe the character doesn't * Audience might pick up some of the mirroring, wonder if it's as unrequited as it seems * Rejection? Maybe, or could just end earlier like Choose Love * Reader may not see other character, but author knows to generate angst * Stretch out timing for the spaces (stuck together, but takes foreeeever to get to bone town) * Character that feels their love is unrequited, but ends in intimacy and truth * Oh...we know each other, uh...okaaaay let's go from here * Allowed to keep secrets from the reader for hero #2, but when they're shown, they have to be there, #1 can miss them * The grand gesture for poly romance: * Fiction and real life not exactly the same thing * Some sort of public action (maybe not hyperpublic, but witnessed) because there's no going back * You're saying "I'm willing to risk myself for you because I'm seeing you fully and I love it" * Maybe coming out and saying these are my boyfriends is maybe not the best because that's kind of a coming out story * Each character gets a snake * Don't have to dive super into every character's path, but author has to know * Has have to tailor to a basic structure (e.g: plan is everyone huge dinner at big restaurant with something everyone loves; all going to LARP and they all have feelings) * Some members of the relationship team up for the final grand gesture to get the last person in * Celebrate the complexity * What if the snakes are couples (e.g: one person trying to come in and the couple trying to bring them in) * Caduceus connecting to another snake part way through, or two caduceuses connecting, intersecting at the seed of doubt leading to stuck together * Maybe there's another wound there if you go into a second book? Past or new trauma - maybe we only got to bone town and are just realizing that * romantic tragedy, caduceus joining with another going in the opposite direction, break-up and new relationship at the same time * Specialized form of a very generalized character arc - this one is just fitted to romance, the beats in that order: * "Limerent Object" - that's a breakup story, so plotting a caduceus in reverse might help restructure the story * Same could be done for a character and a job or character and city, and the job/city are essentially personified * If you break the tool, it's still super useful, you just may not be writing a romance. Just using it to make the characters the most important part of the story by giving them stages to grow through ## Assets * Romance Caduceus * [Romancing the Beat (free)](http://gwenhayes.com/books/romancing-the-beat/)