StoryCraft Novel Challenge Day 17: Extend your frame by building a 3-Act Beatsheet
Yesterday, we built out the first version of the frame of our story by completing a Narrative Structure Outline, and today, we’re going to extend that work by doing a 3-Act Beatsheet.
A Beatsheet is an overview of the entire story in three distinct acts: A beginning, a middle, and an ending. Each act has a selection of critical moments that happen within it to make sure you’re setting up everything for the emotional arc of your protagonist(s).
There are tons of different Beatsheet templates, and you can use any that you enjoy, but we’re providing the StoryCraft Beatsheet for you today so you can give it a try and find out what works for you.
As always, remember that this process isn’t meant to be finite. It’s simply a blueprint so that when we start drafting, we can focus more on the quality of the prose and the dialog instead of figuring out where we’re going.
In Act One, we have:
Hook
Introduction
Protagonist Flaw & Inner Need
Inciting Incident
Response and Call to Action
In Act Two:
Objective/Action
Obstacles & Solutions
Midpoint
Climax
In Act Three:
Fallout
Realization
Final Fight
Resolution
If you’re looking to go more in-depth into what each of these moments mean, our online course StoryCraft: Writing Your Novel, is currently in Beta and you can save $150 with SCBETA.
The Beatsheet is one of our favorite parts of the process because it provides the format to be able to explore the story deeply without having to get into the prose or the voice yet, decisions you probably haven’t made at this point. These are all key story beats that exist in every story, regardless of genre, so it’s also a great way to brainstorm moments you might not have thought about yet.
Take some time here to explore these beats, and when you’re ready, we’ll move on into some considerations for the moments in between these anchors. That’s right, we’re talking about scenes!
Use hashtag #StoryCraftNovelChallenge to share your progress and connect with other writers.
Happy Writing,
Jess and Theo