If words are the atoms of fiction, then story beats are the molecules, the building blocks that create a narrative. There are five main types of story beats--action beats, description beats, pause/inaction beats, dialogue beats, and emotion beats.

2. Visit
katherinecowley.com/blog/story-beats
For slides and useful links

3. Creative Writing Publications
• “The Clockwork Seer”
• “Misunderstood”
• “The Five Year Journal”
• “Yongrui and the Tree of Life”
• “Breastfeeding Mama”
• “Daughter of a Boto”
• “I Am Not a Writer”
• “In Which Eve Names Everything Else”
• “Waiting”

5. The Major Biological
Macromolecules
• Proteins
• Nucleic Acids (DNA and RNA)
• Carbohydrates
• Lypids
The Major Story Beats
• Action Beats
• Description Beats
• Pause/Inaction Beats
• Dialogue Beats
• Emotion Beats

6. Action Beats

7. 1. Summary Action Beat

8. 2. Habitual or Recurring Action Beat

9. 3. Long Shot or Extreme Long Shot Action
Beat

11. 4. Medium Shot Action Beat

12. 5. Close-Up or Extreme Close-Up Action
Beat

15. 6. Flashback Action Beat

16. 7. Future Action Beat

17. 8. Sensory Action Beat

18. 9. Internal Action Beat

19. 10. Mental Action Beat

21. Action Beats Writing Exercise
Describe a
character (or
yourself) creating
a peanut butter
and jam sandwich,
using at least
three different
types of action
beats.

22. Description Beats

23. Describe Using All 5 Senses
•Sight
•Sound
•Smell
•Taste
•Touch/Physical Sensation

25. Insight: Use Key Details
Use key details—the telling ones—
and people will extrapolate on the
character, the setting, and the world

26. Pause/
Inaction
Beats

27. Inaction
Types of Inaction
• Physical Stoppage
• Verbal Stoppage
Subject of Inaction
• POV Character
• Other Character
• Machine, Animal, Environment

28. Reasons to Use a
Pause/Inaction Beat
1.Imitates Real Life
2.Gives Emphasis
3.Builds Tension
4.Gives Reaction
Space to Reader
and/or Character

29. Insight: Small Pause
Use a dialogue tag to create a small
pause.
“I don’t want to do it,” said Marlin. “I
just really don’t.”

30. Dialogue
Beats

31. Dialogue and
Desire
“Every character
should want
something, even if
it is only a glass of
water.”
–Kurt Vonnegut

32. Good Dialogue
• Characterizes the
speaker
• Establishes the
setting
• Builds conflict
• Foreshadows
• Explains
-from William Noble, Three Rules for Writing a
Novel

33. Insight: Integrate Dialogue and Action
Use an action beat instead of a
dialogue tag.

34. Example: Fahrenheit 451
Montag stopped at the door, with his back turned. “Millie?”
A silence. “What?”
“Millie? Does the White Clown love you?”
No answer.
“Millie, does—” He licked his lips. “Does your ‘family’ love you, love you very
much, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?”

35. Insight: Dialogue, Description, and Pacing
Dialogue increases the pace of the
story.
Description decreases (or halts) the
pace of the story.

36. Banana Beats Exercise – Part 1
Write 3 to 4 lines
of dialogue
starting with the
line,
“I told you to buy
bananas.”

37. Banana Beats Exercise – Part 2
To your dialogue,
add:
1 pause,
1 description, &
1 action

38. Emotion
Beats

39. 1. State the Emotion

40. 2. Internal Physical Sensations

41. 3. External Physical Sensations

42. 4. Physical Actions

44. 5. Distinctive to Story World/Character

45. 6. Setting Tinged by Emotion

46. 7. Metaphor or Simile

47. 8. Mini Flashback

48. 9. Mini Flashforward

49. 10. Surreal Imagery

50. Insight: Complex Reaction Beats
When something really shocking,
surprising, or revelatory happens,
you need a complex reaction beat,
which should include a physical
reaction and at least 1 or 2 other
types of emotion beats.

51. Emotion Beats
Writing Exercise
The vase shattered on the ground.
Now write three possible following
sentences, each which should use a
different emotion beat, for example:
1. State the Emotion
2. External Physical Sensation
3. Internal Physical Sensation
4. Physical Action
5. Distinctive to Story World/Character
6. Setting tinged by emotion
7. Metaphor or Simile
8. Mini Flashback
9. Mini Flashforward
10. Surreal Imagery

52. Image Credits
Molecules: cori kindred via flickr, Creative Commons
Peanut butter and jelly: Aminimanda via Compfight, Creative
Commons
Women speaking: Dimitris Papazimouris via flickr, Creative Commons
Glass of water: Daniel Pozo via flickr, Creative Commons
Girl in wind: Kevin Conor Keller via flickr, Creative Commons
Motorcycles: Seattle Municipal Archives via flickr, Creative Commons
Sofa: James Tworow via flickr, Creative Commons
All other images courtesy of pexels.com