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Write On: Story Beats and Story Arcs [1]

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Date: 2022-10-20

When one is learning to draw or to paint, there are a lot of new terms (or old terms with new definitions), and they never seem to be satisfactorily explained. At least, not for me. But the accumulation of examples eventually gave a sense of what some of them meant (e.g. line of action, gesture, form vs. shape). Sometimes it came with someone having a really, really good explanation, sometimes it came from an epiphany when I caught the pattern of usage.

Beats are like that for me.

I think of them as a story unit, but what a story unit means depends on what level of story I’m looking at. For instance, if I’m looking at plot development, a beat is going to be a key point that has to be present for the plot to work. But if I’m looking at a relationship arc, it’s a piece that has to be there for the relationship to work. Or a character arc, it’s… you get the idea.

(Since it’s affected by the lens through which I’m looking at a story, I was tempted to make a joke about an observer effect on the story quantum a beat is, but I’ll resist.)

The best visual for it I’ve found is a bezier curve in software. If you’ve ever worked with vector graphics in a visual form, or adjusted a color curve in software, or done anything similar (e.g. a bevel profile curve), you’ve seen one.

An example in Illustrator (from stackexchange)

I think of the story beat as the point on the curve, and the purpose of the beat is expressed by the handle. If the arc is unchanged, you (probably) don’t need a beat, but if there’s an inflection point, you do.

So if one sees an arc as the shape of the story, and a beat as the control points on that arc, what beats do you need to make a satisfactory story?

Well, that’s what beat sheets are for. If you’ve delved into any story prep in the past, you’ve heard of beat sheets. For instance, the Save the Cat beat sheet is popular. Or the (fairly similar) Hero’s Journey beat sheet. For romance writers, Gwen Hayes did an excellent Romancing The Beat beat sheet. (explored in detail in her book). Story Grid and the Snowflake Method both rely on beats.

But the thing is, I can tell you what a beat is, but I can’t tell you what beats you need any more than I can tell you what landmarks you need to draw a character.

Also, which beats matter is going to depend on the level you’re looking at the story. If you’re looking at the whole story, the classic Save the Cat is probably a good starting point. But if you’re looking at a specific character’s journey, it may not help — especially if it’s not the main character. In a scene, the beats are going to be much more focused.

The word “beat” also resonates in other contexts, such as a music beat, or a heartbeat.

If we take a “beat” as the necessary story elements, the inflection points in the story or scene (not just “this happens, this happens, this happens”), then the frequency of those key beats will affect the story’s pacing. Like a racing heartbeat. If lots of key moments occur in sequence, each changing the story, it’s suddenly very thriller paced. If there’s plenty of time to experience the world and characters in between these key moments, it’s more languid. Changing up the distance between the beats is a handy tool for changing the feel of the story.

One of the issues I had with my primary WIP’s story (which is a multi-book story) is that I had several characters on the same arc: join the group, accept a role, grow into the role, reach fruition in that role. They form the core of the crew, they’re the main characters. As I wrote zero drafts of the later books, I realized the parallel arcs were boring. Instead, I changed it so each of them had a different arc — and went back and found key moments to demonstrate the differences. For instance, the captain’s beats in the series are: dilettante, acceptance, competence, hubris. The first mate’s are: competence, overshadowed, disillusionment, abandonment. The security chief’s are: competent advisor, acceptance, competence, competence (a deliberately flat arc to contrast). The second mate’s are novice, promotion, acceptance, competence (with an eye toward becoming a captain in her own right, should the series continue).

Those are the beats at a series level. Within, say, the first book, the captain’s are: designating a ship’s master, watching, realizing he needs to learn, failure, accepting his role (crew still suspicious), showing he’s filling his role. At two different levels, what constitutes a beat differs.

What complicates discussing “beats” is that the beats for this story (or this character) are not necessarily the ones for that story — even stories by the same author, much less stories from two different authors. Which is why “beat” is both a useful term and a fuzzy concept.

And, on a final note, I wanted to work “necessary but not sufficient” into the definition, but I think a discussion can be saved for a later day. Instead, I’ll just say that a beat sheet (or a description of the arc and the beats that make it up) are the key points. There’s still plenty of room for stuff in between the beats. And perhaps that’s why some fiction feels more “paint-by-numbers” — it’s just the beats, colored in by the author, and nothing more.

Your turn! Do you use beat differently? Do you have a different view?

Happy writing!

Exercise: You, the author, are struggling with a beat sheet. What does that look like? Be sure to hit (at least) three beats: initial confrontation, losing the confrontation, finding the strength to overcome and achieve victory in the confrontation.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/20/2118634/-Write-On-Story-Beats-and-Story-Arcs

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