Beating Out Your Story

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.    

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.    

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

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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?

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.