Structural Beats

How structuring your novel can make or break your reader's experience

Structural beats are the smallest unit of your story, which you use to plot out the action and reactions that each scene asks of you. There are many ways to plot your novel using structural beats.

Consider your story’s structure in acts, similar to a play. You have your main character going about their daily living, and then your inciting incident happens. This is when your character’s life is turned a bit sideways, and they must act outside of what they would typically do. This moves us to the first turning point in your novel where you, as the author, must ask yourself, what decision would my protagonist make?

This is your act 1. This is when your story is kickstarted, and action starts to propel it forward. Your following acts can be mapped out however you would like them to, with them including rising action (moments where the stakes are getting higher and tension is building), a reveal (a moment your protagonist realizes someone or something isn’t what they believed it was. A moment where everything is upended.), the climax (the main story’s conflict between your protagonist and antagonist is at it’s breaking point.), and the resolution or falling action (the protagonist gets what they want— or doesn’t, if you’re feeling like going against the grain so to speak — and the character arcs are wrapped up.

Remember that every good story has an ebb and flow, a rise and a fall. Instead of imagining these things as linear, imagine the line continuously climaxing with moments of calm.

If your storyline looks like this, with the rising action leading to a climax and falling action following, your story arc may fall flat to your readers, making them feel the overall conflict is never truly resolved.

If your story has a rise and fall, and these scenes or subplots lead to the overall conflict in your main plot, your reader will be more engaged. This adds tension between characters and creates higher stakes. As a side note, your story arc does not have to look exactly like this. This is just an example for educational purposes.

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Let’s look at an example to put all of this information into a clearer visual.

Storyline: Janet is investigating the death of her late husband, Bill. She believes his death was not an accident, as the police had ruled it 5 years ago. Christina, her new neighbor, decides to help Janet unravel the truth.

Daily Living: Janet is rummaging through some of Bill’s old things. She decided she wanted to get rid of some of his things that she had been holding onto for the past 5 years.

Inciting Incident: When going through an old shoe box shoved into the back of the closet, she discovers strange ledgers detailing payments to various bank accounts around the US and a loaded gun.

First Turning Point: Janet goes to the police and reports what she has discovered. Believing her to be just another grieving wife, they brush off the evidence she’s found and tell her to go home. Due to the police not believing her, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Rising Action: Janet begins her search with the ledgers she’s found. Finding some strange links between the accounts.

Dark Night: She runs into various roadblocks, and her computer flags her suspicious behavior, showing a pop-up that states if she continues, it may result in the feds taking action against her. After stepping onto her back porch for some fresh air, she falls into a fit of hysteria, and her neighbor, Christine, steps outside to ask if she is okay. Janet explains everything to her, and Christine, a hacker, decides to help her get the information she needs.

Mid-Point Reveal/Plot Twist: We discover that Christine is in charge of a large money laundering scheme and had been blackmailing Bill to help her find new business ventures and billionaires to steal money from.

Rising Action: Janet packs a bag and leaves in a rush following Christine’s threat on her life. She ventures to a new town and, after a week, has a sneaking suspicion she is being followed. She decides to go to the police to report everything she knows. They don’t believe her.

The Climax: Janet gets home to the secluded cabin she has been renting in cash. When going to turn on the light, she discovers the electricity has been cut. She pulls her husband’s gun out of its hiding spot in the fireplace. Christine eventually reveals herself and chases Janet around the house and into the woods.

The Resolution: After wrestling, the gun goes off, and Christine lies on the forest floor, bleeding out.

Falling Action: The police show up and take her statement. Bill’s death is ruled as a murder, and it is discovered that Christine killed him after he found information that could land her in jail and threatened to take it to the police. Janet sells her house and moves to a different state to start her new life.

I hope that helps you plot out the structure of your story, and as always, if you are looking for an editor, please visit oakanddaggerediting.org for more information or to schedule a complimentary consultation.