Scene Beats: What They Are & Why They Matter
Have you ever Googled things like “how many words should be in a novel?” Or “how many scenes should a novel have?” If so, you’ve probably gotten answers like “80,000 words.” Or “somerhwere between 40 and 60 scenes.”
Easy enough, in theory…But if you’re like most of the writers I’ve worked with, you’ve probably also had trouble sticking to these guidelines because there’s just so much stuff that needs to go into a novel, right?
Well, in this post, I’m going to help clear up some of the confusion and overwhelm that many writers face when it comes to outlining, writing, and revising. And to do that, I’m going to share everything I know about scene beats, including things like what they are, why they’re important, the different functions they can serve, and an example from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas to bring everything to life. So, let’s dive in!
Scenes vs. Beats: What’s The Difference?
Beats are the smallest unit of story. Beats link together to form scenes. Scenes link together to form sequences. Sequences link together to form acts. And acts link together to form your global story.
They assist in the rhythm, pace, and intensity of the story and help force actions, decisions, and emotional reactions (from the characters) to move the plot forward.
Beats serve many functions. They can:
- Be character interactions
- Show a change in the character’s tactic/plan
- Show a character’s realization/reaction
- Highlight a shift in emotion
- Progressively complicate the scene
- Allow you to telescope reality (zoom in and out)
- Help you control tempo or pace
- Move a subplot forward
- Set up or payoff something
- Include undramatic material
- Reveal exposition (world-building/backstory)
- And so much more...
In any given scene, there can be any number of beats. You could have one beat per scene, three beats per scene, or five beats per scene—it all depends on the type of story you’re telling!
The main difference between scenes and beats is that beats can be told via narrative summary, but scenes must be written out in real-time.
In other words, scenes should unfold as the story’s happening, but beats can be summarized, essentially allowing you to bridge time and space (if needed).
Like scenes, beats can also contain a mini-arc of change, but not always. You might also be able to identify crisis moments (or instances where the point of view character must make a choice) within beats, but again, not always.
If there is a crisis moment and/or an arc of change present, the consequences of that crisis or that arc of change will usually be less impactful than they would be at the scene level. So, with all that being said, let’s take a look at an example to bring this to life.
Example: Throne Of Glass (Chapters 1-4)
We’re going to take a look at a scene from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. The first scene in this book spans about 5,700 words and almost four chapters.
Here’s what happens: Dorian Havilliard and Chaol Westfall pull Celaena Sardothien out of the Endovier salt mines to offer her a deal—enter a competition to become Adarlan’s Assasin (working for the King), and they’ll grant her her freedom after six years of service. They bargain, and eventually, Celaena agrees to enter the competition, but only if they’ll grant her freedom after four years, not six. Later, she eats dinner, gets cleaned up, and falls asleep.
Let’s take a look at each of the individual beats, what they accomplish in the scene, and how they add up to the scene’s arc of change:
- Beat #1: Chaol retrieves Celeana and brings her to the throne room. This beat sets up Celaena’s character (and her goal), establishes her hatred of Adarlan, and introduces the main conflict of the scene (including the inciting incident).
- Beat #2: Celeana discusses her time in Endovier with Dorian and Chaol, and Dorian offers her a chance to win her freedom. Celaena accepts. This beat contains the majority of the scene’s conflict, including the turning point and crisis. It also introduces Duke Perrington, albeit in a small way.
- Beat #3: Celaena gets cleaned up, eats dinner, and falls asleep. This beat is told mostly via summary and provides the resolution of the scene.
Now, you might see this a little differently than I do, and that’s okay. But what I hope we could agree on, or at least reach similar conclusions on, is the arc of change that these three beats help create.
If you zoom out and ask, “What’s the point of these beats?” You might come up with an answer like this: Celaena feels hope that her freedom is within reach after Dorian and Chaol offer her a place in the King’s competition.
Externally, she’s gone from being a slave in the salt mines to being free (yet still technically a captive of Adarlan). Internally, she goes from feeling fear that Chaol might be leading her to her death to feeling hope that her freedom is finally within reach.
Something else I want to draw your attention to is the chapter breaks because they are strategically placed after the inciting incident (Dorian Havillard is waiting in the throne room), the turning point (Dorian says they have a proposition for Celeana), and after the climax (Celaena agrees to the deal).
By breaking up the scene into chapters, Sarah J. Maas is able to hook (and hold) our attention and keep the pace of the story moving at a relatively quick speed.
The beats within the scene further support this by establishing the character's goal, building the conflict, tension, and stakes, and then relieving that tension with a more emotional (and summarized) resolution.
Finally, you might also be wondering why this scene is 5,700 words—especially because that’s quite a bit longer than what I typically recommend. Well, there are two things I want to say about this.
First, it’s okay to have scenes that are longer than the recommended word count range I give (around 1,500-2,500 words) from time to time. This is especially true when you’re writing a story that requires world-building, like science fiction, fantasy, or even historical fiction.
But also, this first scene does a lot of heavy lifting, as I have already mentioned. It introduces us to Celeana, shows he hatred of Adarlan, and gives us insight into her character and how badly she wants to be free. It also introduces three really significant characters—Dorian Havilliard, Chaol Westfall, and Duke Perrington.
Plus, Sarah J. Maas expertly controls the reading experience by puting chapter breaks at strategic places within the scene. If this whole scene (all 5,700 words) were in one chapter, it wouldn’t work as well (from the reader’s perspective).
Frequently Asked Questions About Beats
FAQ: When should you worry about the beats within scenes?
Don’t try to outline or write in beats when it comes to your first draft; instead, just focus on telling the story and getting things down on paper. Beats are something you can think about when it comes time to revise.
In fact, if you’re going to worry about structure while writing your first draft, I’d rather see you focus on writing well-structured scenes, not beats.
Why? Well, if you write a scene that works, then your beats will almost always work by default. So, if it were me or if I were your coach, I would encourage you to focus on mastering scene-by-scene writing before worrying about beats.
FAQ: How do I know if something should be a scene or a beat?
You probably won’t until you’re editing. Once you’re in the editing phase, you can look for clues that your “scenes” might actually be “beats.”
For example, let’s say you have three “scenes” in a row that contain more or less the same arc of change. In this case, you have two options: you could change up a few of the “scenes” so the arc of change feels different from the surrounding scenes, or you could demote those “scenes” to beats and use them to move the scene forward through one arc of change.
Another thing you can look for in your scenes is repeating goals.
For example, if your POV character has the same goal in four different “scenes,” it’s likely because those “scenes” need to become beats. So, the character would pursue that goal over four beats (with escalating conflict), not four scenes. This will help you tighten your story and the overall word count.
Finally, you can also keep an eye out for “scenes” where only one thing happens.
For example, a “scene” that’s built around a conversation between two characters. Ideally, each of your scenes would contain layers of multiple things happening at once. In other words, just as your main plot needs to move forward in each and every scene, so do your subplots, right? So, if you’re reading back through your draft and one of your “scenes” reads a little flat, you might realize that it’s because the “scene” is only doing one thing and that maybe it would benefit from being turned into a beat and/or combined with something else to form a working scene.
Final Thoughts
I hope this breakdown of beats versus scenes was helpful, and if you want to explore this even further, grab a copy of my book, The Story Grid Masterwork Analysis Guide to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone, because I literally break down each scene in the story, including how many beats are in each scene. This is a great way to start “seeing” how the different parts of story structure play with each other—and, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, it’ll be fun to revisit Harry’s world while you learn, too.
Want to learn more about scene structure? Check out this post (and podcast episode) that breaks down how to write a compelling and well-structured scene.
