Academy · Fundamentals
What is a beat?
What is a story beat?
Beginner
A beat is a small unit of change inside a scene. Beats are how a scene moves. Aldra asks for shelter (beat one). The priest hesitates (beat two). He says no (beat three). She lashes out (beat four). Each one is a tiny shift, and stacked together they form the scene.
Standard
Beats are the writer's pacing tool. A scene with one beat per page reads slow and observational; a scene with three beats per page reads fast and reactive. The Beat Map view in Pendraic is exactly this: each beat is a markable moment of change anchored to a scene.
What to try
- Open the Beat Map view
- Add a beat to the current scene
Related questions
- How many beats per scene?
- What is a scene turn?