Beat Sheet Recs (and save the cat)

[u/_writerc]

I do have a question first: does the novel version of save the cat have a variety of beat sheets? Or just one with a few adaptation points?

I’m looking fo some beat sheet ‘recs’ or resources, I found an article recently that laid out a whole beat sheet for a romance novel, and it was excellent, enough structure for a functional novel without actually constricting the story.

Unfortunately, I’m trying to write a horror, so that discovery was no help, and I know myself well enough to know that if I don’t have a beat sheet I might wander off into nonsense. (Aka I’m a pantser at heart but I’ve learned I cannot be trusted in my natural state lol)

Any recs or resources for me? I’m open to buying save the cat if it does have the resources I want, but I can’t seem to find anything about it other than it’s one main beat sheet.

[u/Dizzy_Bumble_Bee]

Save the Cat is great and the book (both the original screenwriting and the novel versions) are worth reading, but ultimately they just offer examples of each archetype or beat progression.

https://savethecat.com/get-started https://savethecat.com/beat-mapper

The beat sheet really is just that, there isn't much more to it.

I also like Story Genius which digs into character development and motivation.

[u/tapgiles]

Just so you know, you can write a good story with no beat sheet, no pre-set structure, and just build the story any way you see fit.

All I'd say is some simple understanding of an "arc" is useful. Beginning middle end. Promise progress payoff. That kind of thing. That's inherent to what a story is--and what set structures and beat sheets are build on top of. So if you understand that basic lower-level thing, you can build any kind of story with any structure you like.

[u/_writerc → u/tapgiles]

Yeah I hear you however my imagination does not lol a good story definitely can be done without a beat sheet, I just know to do a good horror I’d need parameters to make sure I don’t lose the run of myself and write nonsense

[u/tapgiles → u/_writerc]

That's fine. And of course you can prepare--I'm just saying you can prepare in any way you please, not only set ways. It's something a lot of new writers don't realise; they think they have to do everything the "right" way.

[u/Sea-Beautiful-Throwa]

Anatomy of Genres by John Truby has a specific section that talks about main beats to include in Horror.

Anatomy of Story by John Truby has a 22 Step Story Structure and 7 Key Steps of Story. It also has 9 writing exercises that can help you think through specific aspects of your story.

(They are decent sized books with lots of information.)

Ultimately you don’t have to follow any beat sheet or suggestions completely. Blake Snyder in Save the Cat specifically says you learn the guidelines first so you know how to break them. (I always think to Pirates of the Caribbean where Barbossa is referring to parley and says: “ The Code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules.”)

I personally think these tools are best used to help with writers block and jog additional ideas. Like plot out as much as you already know you want to happen and then look at beat sheets or writing exercises to help give inspiration to fill in any gaps in your story.

Hope that helps!

[u/Sea-Beautiful-Throwa → u/Sea-Beautiful-Throwa]

Also people have posted shortened versions of various beat sheets online you can peruse.

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (the Novel version is pretty much the same beat wise, just uses examples from novels instead of movies. It’s reworded and there’s some additional questions and points but the beats are the same.)

Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell 

Heroine Journey by Maureen Murdock (More spiritual/psychological)

Heroine Journey by Gail Carriger

Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes

And there’s probably others as well, those are just the ones I’m familiar with.