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Beating Out Your Story

1/20/2014

9 Comments

 
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve at least heard about the movie Frozen.  I’ve always loved Disney Movies, especially the classic Disney Princess Movies. When The Little Mermaid came out I was in 4th grade and I remember singing underwater at a pool (yeah a little scary) pretending I was Ariel.   Well my obsession with Disney musicals has continued well into my 30s.

I’d heard so many great reviews from adults and kids about this movie that I had to go see it last weekend. And it was everything everyone said it was going to be!

The humor? Killer! 

The characters? Relatable and likeable with (funny and adorable) flaws.    
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The music? Incredible. I predicted this would be a Broadway show and recently read an article confirming my prediction. (Yay!) 

And the structure of the plot?  Un “beat” able.

By un “beat” able I mean it had the right beats every story needs.  Which is why I’m blogging about a movie today.

Structure is so important and tough whether you are writing a picture book, chapter book, or a novel.    
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When approaching longer works of fiction, a great structure to follow is Blake Snyder’s “Beat Sheet” from his book Save the Cat. 


If you don’t have the book, you really should buy it.  Plus, there is a Save the Cat website where both old and new movies are broken down into “beats” so you can study this structure. 

http://www.savethecat.com/
Here are the basic beats in a story. The numbers beside each beat is the page it falls on in a script of 110 pages. (Obviously these numbers won’t line up with your book, since most likely you aren’t writing 110 page book exactly. But mathematically you could divide it to figure out about where each beat should take place.)

1. Opening Image (1):

2. Theme Stated (5):

3. Set-Up (1-10):

4. Catalyst (12):

5. Debate (12-25):

6. Break into Two (25)

7. B Story (30):

8. Fun and Games (30-55):

9. Midpoint (55):

10. Bad Guys Close In (55-75):

11. All Is Lost (75):

12. Dark Night of the Soul (75-85):

13. Break into Three (85):

14. Finale (85-110):

15. Final Image (110):

Attached you will find a word doc. to use for your own beats. 

beatsheet.doc
File Size: 38 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Also you can view this document for the exact definitions of each beat.

save_the_cat_beat_sheet_definitions_3.docx
File Size: 16 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

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And without further ado, check out the amazing "beats" of Disney’s movie Frozen.

http://www.savethecat.com/2014/01/10/frozen-beat-sheet/

What do you think about Blake Snyder's beat sheet?  Have you ever used it before on a chapter book or novel?
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Mandy Yates is currently an elementary reading teacher and children's book writer. She is nearly finished her MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and has been published multiple times in Highlights Magazine. 

She is also assisting Mira in teaching The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Books.

Find some of her teacher resources over at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mandy-Yates.


And you can follow her on Pinterest, Twitter,and Facebook.

9 Comments
Marian Copus
1/26/2014 11:34:40 pm

This was very helpful, Mandy. Thank you so much!

Reply
marsha diane arnold link
1/27/2014 12:15:58 am

I have been living under a rock. I am often under there. :(

Reply
Laura Rackham
1/27/2014 05:12:17 am

Thanks for such user friendly information! It simplifies some very abstract concepts.

Reply
Charlotte dixon
1/27/2014 10:12:13 am

Thank you, Mandy. You and Mira always have eye-opening posts to help us along our writing way :)

Reply
Heather Gale
1/28/2014 01:53:26 am

Mandy, thank you so much for making this simple and easy to follow!

Reply
Kathy
1/31/2014 03:38:04 am

Thanks Mira and Mandy. I learned about the beat sheet in another course and totally forgot all about! Thanks for refreshing my memory :)

Reply
sue heavenrich link
1/31/2014 04:37:18 am

great post! Save the Cat is an excellent book, and thinking about the "beats" to a story is a great way to visualize/hear the pacing. I need more practice...

Reply
Kirstine Call link
2/3/2014 07:27:44 am

I loved FROZEN and all 5 of my kids(including the 3 year old) sing the songs full voice! Thanks for a helpful post!

Reply
tecteem link
5/15/2021 09:07:29 am

You have compiled such a<a href="https://www.tecteem.com/o2tvseries/"> great list of movie sites</a>, where we can download movies for interests and I am overly glad I came across this, it's been a while though. Thanks for sharing. I too shared a quite informative post on Fzmovies, it is a site where you can <a href="https://www.tecteem.com/waptrick-com/">download or stream as many movies</a> as you want, you can access it using this link or if it doesn't work, trying using this one.

Reply



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  • Home
    • THOH KidLit Creative Retreat
  • WRITING
    • Craft & Business of Writing Childrens Picture Books
    • The Chapter Book Alchemist
    • New!! Middle Grade Mastery Instant Access
    • Mastering Graphic Novels
    • 2022 Kidlit Palooza >
      • 2022 Palooza Program
      • 2022 Palooza Faculty
  • ILLUSTRATION
    • NEW!! Craft & Business of Illustrating Children's Books Instant Access
    • Never a Dull Moment Workshop
  • TECH
  • About Us
    • Why Us?
    • Meet the Faculty, Lives & GT Judges
    • Testimonials
    • Books by Students
    • Our Bookshop
    • As Seen In
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Blogfish
  • MN Course Access
  • Community
    • Our Bookshop
    • Come Play With Us!
    • Resources
    • Course Scholarships >
      • Yuyi Morales Picture Book Scholarship
      • Andrea Davis Pinkney MG CB Mastery Scholarship
      • Rafael Lopez Illustrating Childrens Books Scholarships
      • Larissa Marantz Merit & Need Scholarship