Romance novels are the most popular genre worldwide, with an estimated 100 million romance books sold annually in the USA alone. The genre is particularly dominant in the ebook market, where it represents over 50% of all ebooks sold!
Romance is also a genre that blends seamlessly with nearly every other genre. That’s how we get historical romance, paranormal romance, erotic romance, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, and the mega-popular romantasy.
That’s why it’s valuable for every writer to become familiar with the genre, especially its macro-level story structures.
So buckle up, my romantic friends—writing coach Kevin T. Johns is here to take you on a tour of some of the best romance story structures out there.
Starting Simple: The Four-Beat Romance Subplot
If you are using romance for a subplot in. your book, you can probably get away with just four key structural beats:
1. The Meet Cute – The characters need to meet each other if they’re going to fall in love.
2. Falling in Love – Despite all obstacles, attraction deepens and bonds form.
3. The Break Up – A misunderstanding, external forces, or internal fears push the couple apart.
4. The Reunion – The characters reunite, strong and more in love than before. Cue the happy ending!
Simple, classic, and effective. This structure works great for novels where romance isn’t the main plot but still plays a key emotional role.
Erin Kinsella’s 10-Part Romance Structure
Author and Youtuber Erin Kinsella offers a more nuanced 10-beat structure:
1. Meet Cute
2. Relationship Rejection
3. Consider the Relationship
4. Intimate Panic
5. Vulnerable Reconciliation
6. Acknowledgement and Collapse
7. The Break-Up
8. Emotional Triumph
9. Declaration of Love
10. Happily Ever After
Most of these beats are self-explanatory. The trickiest one might be #6: “Acknowledgement and Collapse,” which typically happens around the three-quarter mark. It’s the “all is lost” moment—when characters recognize how far things have come… before everything crumbles, leading to the break-up.
Shaw Coyne’s Six Obligatory Scenes
In his exploration of the romance genre, Shawn Coyne, author of The Story Grid, identifies what he calls six “obligatory scenes” that every love story needs:
These are the six scenes Coyne identifies as being essential to the romance genre:
1. The Lovers Meet
2. First Kiss or Intimate Connection
3. Confession of Love
4. Lovers Break-Up
5. Proof of Love
6. Lovers Unite
This is a clear, genre-savvy list you really can’t go wrong with.
Gwen Hayes’s Romancing the Beat
Finally, let’s look at Gwen Hayes’s highly detailed structure from her book Romancing the Beat. It uses a four-act framework and is great for writing look to go deep on romance.
Act I: Set-Up
- Intro H1
- Intro H2
- Meet Cute
- No Way 1
- Adhesion
- Plot Thrust
Act II: Falling in Love
- No Way 2
- Inkling This Could Work
- Deepening Desire
- Maybe This Will Work
- Mid-Point of Love / Plot Thrust
Act III: Retreating from Love
- Inkling of a Doubt
- Deepening Doubt
- Retreat
- Shields-Up
- Break-Up
Act IV
- Dark Night of the Soul
- Wake Up/Catharsis
- Grand Gesture
- What Whole Hearted Looks Like
- Epilogue
While overly prescriptive story structure can sometimes feel confining, I find Haye’s use of a four-act model to be insightful and resonant, especially for authors tackling full-length romance novels.
Final Thoughts
There you have it: a variety of romance structures, story beats, and obligatory scenes you can use to craft a compelling love story—whether it’s your main plot or a secondary storyline.
As you’ve probably noticed, there’s a lot of overlap in terminology and progression. What Coyne calls “The Lovers Meet,” others call “The Meet Cute.” But no matter which structure you choose, the key is to serve your characters, your story, and your readers with authenticity, emotional payoff, and, of course, a happy ending!
Download the FREE Scene Alchemy Essentials Checklist Now!
