Lost Your Pants? The Impatient Writer's Guide to Plotting a Story by Jami Gold -- http://jamigold.

com

Story Planning for Pantsers Romance Beat Sheet

Working Project Title: Story Title here
Basic Logline or Premise: Logline goes here Word Count (update this & ACTS & BEATS Act One
rest will auto-calculate):

50,000 PAGE
(approx.)

Page Count (assumes Times New Roman): 182 DESCRIPTION WORD COUNT 1 1 1

Introduce protagonists, hook the reader, and setup the romance conflict (foreshadowing, establishing stakes) Opening Image/ Opening scene or sequence of story; create empathy with characters by showing how they lack for something Hook Give a glimpse of how right the characters could be for Inciting Incident each other (Essence), but they're not ready yet (Identity) External Relationship Arc: What happens that forces the characters to spend time together? End of the Beginning Internal Relationship Arc: What decision do the characters make that reflects their desire for each other? The protagonists react to the new desire, but suffer from Act Two one step forward and two steps back Pinch Point #1 How does the Pinch Point affect their relationship? External Relationship Arc: What visible sign of commitment do the characters make to each other? Internal Relationship Arc: How are the characters still in their Identity (and thus doomed to fail)? How does the Pinch Point affect their relationship? External Relationship Arc: What triggers the characters' fear about their relationship (& their retreat to Identity)? Internal Relationship Arc: How do the characters realize the relationship can't succeed (at least with Identity)? The protagonists summon the courage to overcome inner obstacles and remove their emotional armor w/the other External Relationship Arc: How does fear threaten the potential of the relationship one last time? Internal Relationship Arc: How do the characters prove they don't want to continue without the other anymore? Show how the characters are now fully in their Essence and perfect for each other

1 1 1

45 5 36

36

45

10000

46

136 68

0 18750

Midpoint

91

25000

Pinch Point #2

114

31250

Crisis

124 136

34125

Act Three

137 182

37500

Climax

137 180

37500

Final Image/ Resolution

181 182

49550

All Material Copyright Jami Gold All Rights Reserved. Last updated on 12/6/2012 For more helpful writing information, check out http://jamigold.com/for-writers/

Lost Your Pants? The Impatient Writer's Guide to Plotting a Story by Jami Gold -- http://jamigold.com

ORD COUNT 12500 1250 9875

12500

37500 18750

25000

31250

37500

50000

49550

50000 All Material Copyright Jami Gold All Rights Reserved. Last updated on 12/6/2012 For more helpful writing information, check out http://jamigold.com/for-writers/