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Showcase: Using Beat Sheets for Story Structure and Pacing

Showcase 2020 7 Comments

We asked the writing community for their top questions on using beat sheets as a resource. See what our viewers asked in the comments.

This event originally aired Saturday, February 8, 2020.

Taylor Brooke Barton (they/she) writes Queer books filled with magic and attitude. After an exciting career in Special Effects Makeup, she moved to Oregon and settled in the mountains with her plants and one-toothed cat. Her New Adult catalog Fortitude Smashed, Omen Operation, Shadows You Left) is available anywhere books are sold. Look for her Young Adult debut The Unforgettable Lives of Austin Price coming from Inkyard Press in fall 2020.

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7 Comments

7 Comments

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  • Jennifer Blanck
    · Reply

    Looking forward to the talk

  • Lisa
    · Reply

    I’m trying to revise a NanoWrimo project that lacks focus. I think the beat sheet approach might help me carve out the true heart of the story. have you ever used it in this way?

    • Taylor B. Barton
      · Reply

      Yes!! Breakdown your Nano book chapter by chapter, beat by beat, and use those beats to guide you through a revision. That can definitely be a smart move and an easy/less intimidating way to rewrite and revise your book 🙂

  • Teresa Mitchum
    · Reply

    Can you MC have more than one need?

    • Taylor B. Barton
      · Reply

      Yes, yes, absolutely! Most of my characters do. In that case, I’d list your character’s needs in their CHARACTER BEAT SHEET and then pepper them throughout your MS where it makes sense for them to go. Like, let’s say Harlow also needs to choose a college, right? That can be added as another underlying conflict in the chapters following Chapter One. She gets a call from her parents and they say, “Harlow, we had an appointment with the counselor at UCLA! How could you just leave?!” There’s another need planted into your MS.

  • Anne
    · Reply

    It looks like you listed 8 questions to ask (where, need, etc.) as beats. Are there more that you use?

  • Lindsay
    · Reply

    Hi Taylor,

    Thank you for an awesome presentation! I wasn’t present to watch it live but so thankful that I got to watch it today. I am usually super intimidated and overwhelmed by outlining and plotting. I found your approach very refreshing! I even came up with a possible new book idea while you were going through your beat sheet process. I appreciate you taking the time to share your tips with us. 🙂

    ~Lindsay

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