Action Beats
“Action beats are short descriptions that come before, between or just after dialogue. Here’s how to use them in your fiction writing.” (Harnby)
Story Beats
Story beats are “the basic units of a plot, which are often called plot points or story beats. Beats are the events that move the character through the story.” (McCowan) A plot is a series of connected events—not all of these events are plot points, only pivotal events affecting the main character.
“Storytellers have come up with several sets of story beats that are flexible enough to accommodate different stories but specific enough to effectively push the protagonist to transform.” (McCowan)
Thoughts on story beats range from a simple three-act structure with two plot points to multiple points measured at specific word counts. For example: Beginning, Middle, End (Aristotle), Set Up, Confrontation, Resolution, and Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Conclusion.
Here is a collection of some of the more complicated story beat charts:
Joseph Campbell. 1949. The Hero with a Thousand Faces: Departure, Initiation, Return. https://www.jcf.org/about-joseph-campbell/ and https://heroinejourneys.com/joseph-campbells-heros-journey-arc/
Christopher Vogler. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. 12 plot points of the Hero’s Journey. https://heroinejourneys.com/christopher-voglers-heros-journey-arc/
Maureen Murdock. The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness. 10 stages. https://maureenmurdock.com/ and https://www.shambhala.com/the-heroine-s-journey-734.html and https://heroinejourneys.com/heroines-journey/
Victoria Lynn Schmidt. 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters. 9 stages. Story Structure Architect. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/633191/45-master-characters-revised-edition-by-victoria-lynn-schmidt/9781599635347 and https://heroinejourneys.com/heroine-journey-ii/
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody has 15 story beats. Based on Save the Cat: Story and Structure Software, Books, and Classes developed by Blake Snyder.
Pinch points and the 7 point plot structure by Dan Harmon story
https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/#4__dan_harmon_s_story_circle
https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/seven-point-story-structure/ and https://writingexcuses.com/2012/10/07/writing-excuses-7-41-seven-point-story-structure/
Freytag’s five-act framework for tragedy https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/freytags-pyramid/
“Fleshed out in John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction, the Fichtean Curve is a narrative structure that puts our main characters through a series of many obstacles on their way to achieving their overarching goals” https://blog.reedsy.com/guide/story-structure/#5__fichtean_curve
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