The Debate Around Story Structure
June 4, 2022Beats Part II: When and How to Use Beats
July 29, 2022Stories are made up of character’s reactions to the outside world. They learn something new, they process that information, they react, and you’re off to the races! But writing that moment, that emotional transition where the character is processing new information, can be difficult. Quite often, they can be skipped over or stunted. Let’s take this example:
Lily followed the bouncer down the hall, stumbling here and there to complete the illusion of her drunkenness. When they reached the door to the office, the bouncer motioned her ahead of him. This was where things got dangerous. She stepped over the threshold and heard the latch click behind her.
There is an unmarked transition between the narration of the guy encouraging her to enter first, and her thoughts about how that could be potentially dangerous. This sort of transition is called a beat. This is where the character goes through an emotional transition as she realizes that from here on in, things are more dangerous.
Even though that moment—that beat—is present, the moment is hidden in the space between “the bouncer motioned her ahead of him,” and “this was where things got dangerous.” Because it is so small, readers might miss this important transition. Even if they don’t miss it, they certainly won’t feel the full weight of the moment or the MC’s fear.
So how can you emphasize that moment? How can you enunciate that beat?
How to Structure a Full Beat
There are several ways to do it, but the method I recommend is this.
Step 1. Use a physical action which reflects the emotional change. This makes sure the “camera” is on the character who’s thinking the next thoughts and helps eliminate confusion.
Ex 1: Lily hesitated.
Ex 2: Lily sucked air in between her teeth as she stared at the door.
If you don’t want to use a physical action, you can use a physical reaction.
Ex 3: The hair on Lily’s arms stood straight up.
And if a physical action or reaction doesn’t work for your situation, you can always show the environment acting on your main character. This is great for scenes where you’re struggling to articulate the environment your character is in, so it’s a little more of a double-whammy.
Ex 4: The air of the hallway tasted stale.
Step 2. Write out the thoughts which spurred the action.
This is where you get all the tension, all the explanation (and processing time) for the reader, and all the potential character development. This, right here, is where you make your reader care.
Transition away from the thoughts, back to the narrative.
You can do this several ways (including all the ways I mentioned in the first step). My favorite tends to be going back to a physical action from your POV character. That effectively un-zooms the camera, so the intrusion of the narrative isn’t jarring.
Ex: She stepped over the threshold and heard the latch click behind her.
When you put it all together, you get something like this:
Lily followed the bouncer down the hall, stumbling here and there to complete the illusion of her drunkenness. When they reached the door to the office, the bouncer motioned her ahead of him.
Lily sucked air in between her teeth as she stared at the door. If the bad guys knew she was wearing a wire, that door was the perfect place to jump and kill her. No time for back-up to come. No opportunity to dodge. Just dead. She stepped over the threshold and heard the latch click behind her.
See how much deeper into Lily’s emotions this goes? This moment is now a fully articulated beat.
Click here for Beats Part II: When and How to use Beats, where I cover the impact beats can have on the tension and pacing of your scene.
What’s your favorite way to use beats? Let me know in the comments!
