The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 4 February 2009

Beating Plots into Stories

Writer's Digest, July 2005, in the column on niches on pages 53 and 57, talks about screenwriting. Aury Wallington describes a beat sheet, and how the TV industry beats out a script. It's a little different approach to the question of how to put your story together, and I think any of us might find it useful.

First, there's some terminology. Apparently in the TV industry, "beating out a script" is the phrase that used to describe breaking a story into individual story points -- step by step, what will happen next? Each beat is one unit of action. A beat sheet is "a chronological list of all the story beats they're going to use in their script." So beats are little chunks of action, and you put them together to make a scene. Scenes of course form acts, which are the script. "The best way to approach a new script is to be out of each story line individually, then decide how best to combine them to tell your story." TV scripts have 5 to 7 beats per act for the main ("A") story line, 3 to 5 beats per act for the "B" storyline, and one or two beats per act for any other subplots.

So how do you work out the beats? First, decide what the individual storyline is going to be about. Then consider -- a three-act script has about 20 beats to tell the story. Try writing up a list of the possible actions for the "A" line. Don't make them too detailed -- you don't want to get stuck in second-by-second stuff, but you do need to know what is going to happen at each step. Then look at the "B" line, and figure out those beats. Somewhere around 12 beats for that storyline. And then tackle any subplots.

Once you have the beats for each story line individually, you can start moving them to the final combined beat sheet. Look for places where two or more beats can be combined into one scene, and for spots where the sweep of the action moves from one beat to the next without pause. Also, watch for the beats that require time passing. Weave the bits and pieces from the individual storylines together.

Most of the time, you'll be putting "A" and "B" lines together. Try to balance the acts, so that all the main characters get some time on the stage. Juxtaposition beats -- indoors and outdoors, funny and dramatic, etc. Don't forget to work the subplots in, too.

The key here is that your finished script includes beats from all your plots, woven together into a cohesive script.

Exercise? Take the work in progress, and make up individual beat sheets for the main lines. Then create the combined one. And use that as a part of the framework for putting the tale together.

Or, if you prefer, take a story, novel, TV show, or whatever that you enjoy. Now take it apart. First make a draft of the combined beat sheet. Then tear that apart and make up the individual beat sheets. Then think a little about how you might have created those plot lines and wove the whole thing together.

Kind of kewl. Weaving plot lines 101 for writers? Knit one, purl two . . .