How to Structure a Romance Novel: Beyond the Beats
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Successful romance stories are based on a reliable plot structure that, although seems simple, is difficult to execute well.
Today, we’ll discuss how to outline a romance novel to hit the beats readers expect and talk about when and where those beats fall. But we’ll also look at character arcs, and themes because you really can’t talk about mapping a story without them!
Huge credit to John Truby’s The Anatomy of Genre: How Story Forms Explain the Way the World Works and Gwen Hayes’s Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels for informing this guide. Both books are excellent resources to help you understand and craft your romance story or subplot!
So, hang on to your heart as we dissect my all-time favorite romantic comedy, the 1989 movie Say Anything, starting John Cusack as Lloyd Dobler and Ione Skye as Diane Court.
Remember this one? A young (very young) Cusack, standing in front of his car holding a boombox over his head, playing the most romantic song of the 80s (or ever)?
Anyone? Just me? Ha!
No surprise and fair warning, this article contains ALL the spoilers for this movie. So, you may get more out of this if you hit pause, go watch it and then come back and read the article. 🙂
It’s cool. I’ll wait.
Say Anything tracks the post-high school graduation summer romance between Lloyd, a quirky and genuine optimist with an admirable stubborn streak and no plans for his future, and Diane, the class valedictorian with future plans for miles, who thinks trusting your head is better than your heart and that her father can do no wrong.
Meet the characters:
Lloyd is a steadfast character (flat arc) who isn’t afraid to follow his heart. His challenge is to remain true to his heart when the joy of love turns painful. (Spoiler: He does!)
Diane is a young woman who acts like she’s got it all together. Her future is set, but inside she’s uncertain, and her father is a major factor in her decision making. Diane believes in practicality and reason, trusting her father and her head over her heart. This is what she will overcome to be more whole as a person and to be in love.
Let’s track these characters and their arcs through four-act story structure, noting where all the major romantic beats land!
And remember, the only difference between four-act structure and three-act structure is that in four-act we divide the second act in two equal halves.
SAY ANYTHING Romantic Comedy Beat Sheet Framed with Four-Act Story Structure
ACT I 0-25%
SETTING UP THE LOVE STORY
THE HOOK AND MEETING THE MAIN CHARACTERS (series of scenes): This is where we meet our characters and learn about their external wants and a bit about their wounds and why love isn’t for them.
Lloyd announces to his friends he wants to ask Diane Court out on a date, and they of course tell him she’s out of his league. Brains stay with brains and that’s not Lloyd. So our HOOK is set: will the basic, quirky guy, get the brainy girl?
Next is a series of scenes showing what the characters are like, what they desire and what challenges them.
Lloyd lives with his sister while his parents are in Germany in the military. He’s a doting uncle to his little nephew, atypical in that most of his friends are girls. He marches to his own drumbeat and doesn’t have a ton of money.
Diane is the valedictorian of their graduating class, who’s landed a prestigious fellowship in the UK at the end of summer. Her future is bright and well planned as far as her father is concerned, and Diane wants to believe that too, but she feels kinda shaky and she admits in her graduation speech that she’s scared.
MEET CUTE (Inciting Incident): The lovers meet for the first time (at least in this story) and the story question of will they or won’t they get together kicks off for real!
This is usually a single scene, but in the movie we get two beats for the meet cute. The first is a phone call where Lloyd asks Diane to a graduation party. She reluctantly agrees, then looks at his picture in the year book and we see on her face that she regrets it.
Lloyd picks her up and we have THE TRUE MEET CUTE MOMENT/Accompanied with THE GAZE. Diane’s gorgeous and Lloyd feels the spark ignite.
RESISTANCE – THEY SAY NO WAY NO HOW TO LOVE:
The resistance beats are all from Diane in this story. Her first resistance beat is looking at the yearbook. (It’s fine if these are a bit out of order, just make sure they build in intensity as the story progresses.) We get another resistance beat when Diane catches Lloyd being goofy at the party and she's thinking, “No way, can I be with someone like that.” But then she softens as she sees he’s really a stand-up guy.
ADDING THE GLUE (also called ADHESION): Insert the PLOT. The reason the characters can’t walk away from each other, go deeper and give the characters a compelling reason they must stay in the game. Usually, one of them wants the other at this point and the chase is on, but not always. They both might be oblivious to the fact that they’re perfect for each other, but in the view of everyone else, it’s meant to be.
THE GLUE for sticking Diane and Lloyd together in the plot is the graduation party. On the way Diane asks if it would be okay if she wanted to leave early and Lloyd’s like sure. Then Lloyd gets tasked with being the “Keymaster,” so he’s stuck holding all partygoers' keys until the end of the night when he decides who is okay to drive home. Sorry, Diane, that means no one is leaving early.
ACT II: 25%-50%
FALLING IN LOVE PHASE FOR BOTH
SAYING NO TO LOVE: We might be thrown together, but I don’t have to like it, or you!
So, they’re stuck together at the party. Diane mingles and avoids Lloyd at first, but then she gradually starts to see him in a different light.
They have a great time and through a series of moments Diane realizes Lloyd makes her laugh and he’s genuinely a great person. This is reaffirmed by subplots involving Lloyd’s allies.
INKLING OF DESIRE: The characters are coming together a tiny bit, and maybe rethinking their initial feelings of hesitation. Characters are communicating and starting to find a common ground.
Diane and Lloyd don’t get much of chance to be together at the party due to progressive complications: It’s loud, the chicken mascot, the crowd of people, and at the very end, just when Lloyd thinks his duties are over and he and Diane might have a chance to talk, there’s a single set of keys left at the bottom of the bag. They wind up driving around for hours until they find this person is already home. So, despite what Lloyd wants, to spend time with Diane, he does the right thing because that is just who he is and Diane sees this.
There’s a moment when they’re walking back to Diane’s house and Lloyd warns her about glass on the street. He moves it out of the way for her. A few minutes later, she’s agreed to a second date.
PINCH POINT 1: Antagonist force of the story makes some noise.
The pinch point here is two-fold: one for the romance and one for Diane's character arc.
Second date: Lloyd joins Diane's family and friends for dinner and is questioned about his plans for the future. He’s undecided with the exception of spending time with Diane over the summer and it’s clear this isn’t okay with Diane’s dad. There’s an additional plot complication to help with Diane's arc of change: The IRS shows up at dinner to inform Dad that he’s under investigation for Medicare fraud. Diane doesn’t believe he’s capable of such a thing and there has been a mistake.
DESIRE DEEPENS: Each character begins showing each other glimpses of who they really are underneath.
Diane and Lloyd begin to spend more time together, but she sets the terms: “We’re friends.” giving us another beat of resistance. “Friends with potential,” Lloyd, ever the optimist, replies.
And over the course of multiple scenes, we see them growing closer. Lloyd visits Diane’s world (she works at the rest home her father runs) and they laugh and enjoy each other’s company.
MAYBE THIS COULD WORK: Characters are tempted for more from each other and questioning their reasons for not taking the relationship deeper.
Another series of scenes leads us to the moment of the first kiss, when Lloyd is teaching Diane how to drive a stick shift. It’s cute. He’s so patient and she’s happy. They kiss. It’s a surprise, and from there romance is in full swing: Multiple long walks and passionate kisses in the rain, leading to ….
50% (ISH)
MIDPOINT OF LOVE- False High A moment of high intensity intimacy. This can be about sex, but doesn’t have to be. It does have to feel vulnerable and real. The lovers could have everything they want–each other, but they still trust their false beliefs more than they trust each other (this must be true for at least one of the characters).
The height of intimacy between Diane and Lloyd. They spend the night together. It’s raw, sweet and perfect as we all hope first love would be. Cue song “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. Swoon.
ACT III 50% - 75%ish
RETREATING FROM LOVE PHASE
INKLING OF DOUBT: Doubts from one or both of the characters from the first time they said NO WAY come back into play.
After that intimate high there are instantly problems on Diane’s front while Lloyd’s on cloud nine. She gets in trouble for being out all night and not calling her dad. She admits to her father she slept with Lloyd, and her dad is perplexed, to say the least. Shortly after, Diane starts questioning if she should take the fellowship, which kicks her father into action. He puts pressure on her to focus on her future.
Meanwhile, Lloyd has sent her a sweet letter saying he’ll always be there for her.
DOUBT DEEPENS: The couple may still be intimate or going deeper into their relationship, but inside they are starting to pull away.
A heated discussion with her father results in Dianne admitting that she loves Lloyd, but her father implores her to think of her future and break up with him. He delivers a perfectly sculpted narcissistic guilt trip and the scene amounts to Diane believing she can’t trust her heart over her head. A few scenes later, Diane is trying to decide what to do about Lloyd and her father gives her an ink pen and says, “Give this to Lloyd, tell him to write you.”
RETREAT FROM LOVE (Pinch Point 2): At least one of the characters says what they fear most to someone (or someone says it to them) and then suspicions or worries are confirmed.
Diane is between a rock and a hard place. Her father wants what’s best for her and he’s always been right. She’s always trusted him, plus she can’t disappoint him. She decides to go to Europe and thinks she can't have both her future in England and Lloyd.
She’s got to give him up.
SHIELDS UP: The reason they resisted and said no to love in the first place is the justification the character(s) use to turn away from love.
Lloyd is still riding high, and admits to Diane he loves her. It’s an awkward moment. She didn’t want him to say it because she’s about to break it off. A second later, she says they should go back to being friends, and not go out on dates.
BREAK UP – AKA THE BLACK MOMENT (All is Lost): Characters choose to hold on to false beliefs and old ways of thinking. They believe the worst about themselves or their lovers. They refuse to be vulnerable and open their hearts.
Diane leans back hard on her false belief: She can’t trust her heart over her head.
Lloyd’s bubble bursts. He realizes what’s happening. She just broke up with him. He’s devastated. She gave him the pen her father gave to her, leading to his iconic line in the dark night of the soul: (honestly, there are just too many of them to count in this movie) “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”
ACT IV 75%-100%
FIGHTING FOR LOVE PHASE:
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (The Wallow): Several scenes where both characters think they should feel good for being apart, but they are mourning the loss of their love. Sometimes they try to go back to how life was before they met their lover, but find it’s empty and hollow. They can’t go back. Too much has changed for them to ever be happy.
We see several heartbreaking scenes from Lloyd who is struggling with his feelings. He goes from wrecked and heart broken, to trying to convince himself to forget about her. All the while, he tries to get her to share the real reason why she broke up with him. His nature prevents him from truly giving up. She resists taking his calls, but is equally wrecked about it, while her father holds the line, telling her “think of your future.”
THE WAKE UP: Something happens to make them choose love vs. the fear that pulled them apart.
The Big Wake Up moment in this movie belongs to Diane, but Lloyd has one of his own. He’s claiming to his friends how done he is with Diane. It’s a lie and they see right through him. They give advice. Talk to her. Call her. And he says I can’t do that. I draw the line at seven unreturned phone calls. His friends ask why not try one more time. Lloyd replies because “I’m a guy!” And his best friend lands another iconic line, “No you’re not…” “Don’t be a guy. The world is full of guys. Be a man.”
Essentially telling him yeah it sucks, but fight for what you want. Fight for her. He does with an eighth (unanswered) phone call, but goes one more step and plays “their song” loud from the street on his boombox.
Diane’s Wake Up Moment occurs a scene or so later when discovers the truth about her father. He’s guilty of fraud. He lied to her and stole money from the residents of his care home. She is devastated. She has lost the idea of her father and sees how listening only to her head, ignoring her heart, was a mistake.
She goes to Lloyd, catching him in a kick-boxing sparring session. Her presence distracts him and his opponent lands a kick to the face. He goes down.
GRAND GESTURE OR PROOF OF LOVE (Climax): The truest moment of intimacy and the height of all the romantic tension in the story. Remember, Intimacy = In-To-Me-I-Let-You-See. This is where the characters (at least one of them, but often both) put it all on the line, risk their hearts, lives and whatever else for the other knowing full well they might not get anything in return. And BECAUSE they are willing to lose it all, they gain everything. The story question of will they or won’t they is answered.
Bleeding from a kick to the face, just as he’s been bleeding internally, Lloyd hears Diane’s plight. Her father is guilty. She needs him. She loves him, she wants him back. This is her GRAND GESTURE, though I kinda think it’s a weak one because it comes from a back against the wall place, but she risks it all here, too. Lloyd could say no.
This is the best part of the movie to me: Lloyd makes his Grand Gesture. It’s a tiny moment that you could easily miss on analysis, but it makes you feel so deeply.
Lloyd has a second where he hesitates. Diane is in front of him pleading and he sees what could be his demise. He asks “Are you here because you need someone, or are you here because you need me?” A breath later, not waiting for her to answer he says, “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.” They kiss.
It’s a grand gesture on Lloyd’s part because he moves forward on faith, into uncertain territory where he could get crushed again, but he’s willing to take the risk. Swoon.
The weakness of Diane's original grand gesture is shored up for me when she visits her father in prison and gives him back the pen he intended for her to use on Lloyd, and her father learns she’s headed to England with Lloyd!
TOGETHER AT LAST OR AT LEAST THERE IS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: In this parting shot we see the characters together, having faced their false beliefs, or in Lloyd’s case, having stayed true to his character, and they are better off as people and whole or closer to whole in their relationship with each other.
Last moment of the movie is Lloyd and Diane on the plane headed to England. She’s terrified of flying, mind reeling and he’s comforting her in his quirky, Lloyd way. She says “Everyone thinks we’re crazy. They think we’ll fail.” To which Lloyd replies, “You just described every great success story.”
Aw.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY – LOVE CONQUERS WHAT THE CHARACTER’S FEARED.
Love conquered Diane’s fear of letting her emotions lead her and of disappointing her dad. Lloyd’s steadfast arc proved that you don’t have to know everything, the future can be uncertain, and that can still be okay so long as you follow your heart.
Double Aw.
Wrapping it up with cupid’s bow.
So, now you’ve seen all the beats, the character arcs, the major theme and takeaway of Say Anything nestled into the four-act story structure. And by now, given that I clearly know this movie by heart, you know what a softie I am for romance!
Outlining a romance novel can feel a bit like trying to juggle flaming torches – tricky but totally doable, and it’s made way easier if you have a solid outline–kind of like having a GPS for your love story! Do you have to follow these beats to the letter? NO!
But it’s a great guide. Just remember to use the beats as you see fit to build the romantic tension up to a peak at the middle, then drop it like a hot rock and build it back up again to the climax.
Here is a story structure/romance beat sheet guide for you to download.
