Linz Loves Romance

This is a great almost-companion book to Save the Cat. There are lots and lots of books about plotting and narrative structure, but almost none of them cover romance novels. And, yes, while the big structure is the same, the fact that the romance is a major part of the story means it needs to be cooked into the structure. I read one book that talked about how a love story can be a subplot--which it totally can--but that's not how romance novels work. 

Anyway, Romancing the Beat is a great, short read. The tone is conversational and irreverent. Each chapter lists three songs from the 80s to highlight the "beat" of the story. This created instant ear worms, but was a great tool to get the tone of each beat.

I think RtB would work best for writers who are familiar with story structure. There's a lot of terminology that isn't explained. It worked for me because I was familiar with the concepts and could just zip along. I hope Hayes writes more books on craft for romance writers. This was apparently meant to be read in one sitting, but I would gladly read more. :)