Beats

I've heard of beats before, mainly from 'Write, Publish, Repeat' by +Sean Platt  and +Johnny B. Truant which I would very heartily recommend.

 

I'm also familiar with story arcs etc, but kinda pantsed most things. I quite enjoyed the feeling that things would just emerge from your characters and the situations you were in. However, with the story I'm writing at the moment, I got stuck.  I must admit I did take on the criticisms of my one star review (have I mentioned that before?) that the story lacked direction.

So I found Save the Cat by the late Blake Snyder.



I have gone back through my current story and revised it in line with Blake Synder's suggestions and I think it has improved it. There is a lot of discussion of beats out there. I have enjoyed +Jami Gold 's blog and she usefully discusses whether beats lead to formulaic writing. That's here.  Massively useful to me as someone who barely understands, but loves what he knows of Excel spreadsheets - are the spreadsheets she uses to give your story its shape and length. Maybe not for you, but I like 'em. They are here

More good words on Blake Snyder's beats by +Tim Stout here and by Pitr here

On a personal level, I have had some lovely emails and some great reviews for the Haunting which made me feel a whole lot better.

I also messed with the cover for the Exorcist which I think is now a whole lot better, though it isn't showing up yet on Amazon unless you buy the story.

Anyway, it's sunnyish here now and I am going to get my slumbering teenagers up and make them walk up a a hill. I am prepared for defeat.