Beat Sheets

Handy things those beat sheets.

The awesome of clip art

Before I jump headfirst into revisions of Ondine 4, I used the 'Save The Cat' Beat Sheet created by the very talented and dearly missed Blake Snyder.

As structure is my friend (as it is yours) the structure can show a writer (i.e., ME) where I'm hitting my marks and where I'm way off.

Snyder has a sensationally useful beat sheet for film scripts.

Novels are a little different in that you aren't restricted to 110 pages, so with added waffle and whacky magic, my beat sheet looks like this:

Act One:
Opening Image
Theme Stated
Introduce the "Six things that need Fixing" (sprinkled throughout Act 1 and beginning of Act 2)
Hero/Heroine's Goals - state them up front so the reader knows where we're going.
Set up
Catalyst
Debate (should I do this or not? Obviously, the character has to do it, or there is no story)
Break into Act 2.

Act 2: (which is broken into two parts)
B Story
Increase in Tension
"Fun & Games" in which you deliver on the "Promise of the Premise". (ie, if you're at a wizard school, show some wizarding. Like, mebbe a game of quiddich!)
Midpoint - where it all becomes very real and there's no going back.

Act 2 Part 2:
Chase Scene
Bad Guys Close in
"The Shopping Montage" which may or may not involve shopping. Mine is a street riot, involving a chase over rooftops. Each to their own.
All is lost
"Dark Night of the Soul"
Break into Act 3

Act 3:
Finale/ resolution
Final image

This book will have an epilogue, because the emotions need an 'aaaahhhhhh' moment to make sure that all is in fact right with the world.

I love Snyder's "Six Things That Need Fixing" (I broke this rule and I'm up to seven, but hey ho.)

The things that need fixing need to be fixed by the end of the book. I like to introduce them fairly early on - but not all lumped in together. If they are introduced too late, it feels like 'and another thing, and this thing' and it makes me feel like the story is never going to take off. But that's just me.

So, introduce all your 'fixer uppers' early on and then have some payoffs along the way. Don't wait until the very end for everything to pay off, or it will feel contrived.