Maybe I'm Doing Story Beats All Wrong

 

It could be that my story beats are too subtle. Or maybe my novel doesn't have any (?). Occasionally, I'll Google articles relating to specific aspects of writing, but ninety-nine per cent of the time, I find the articles useless because if you're not going to give me examples, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Show, don't tell; remember?

Of course I'd heard of story beats and I had a general idea what the terms means, but I didn't particularly care. I figure that any halfway decent writer adds story beats automatically. But I was thinking about the style of my current novel yesterday and began to wonder if I'd actually included any beats.

According to Google's AI:

A "story beat" is a significant moment within a story that propels the narrative forward, marking a shift in the plot, character emotions, or the overall tone, essentially acting as a turning point that keeps the story moving; it can be a single action, a line of dialogue, or a realization that changes the direction of the narrative. 

Sure, I've got a few of those, but they're not blatant. Suddenly snow broke loose from the mountain and the entire party was engulfed in an avalanche. Uh, nope. I would describe my plot as "unfolding". My main character eventually realizes things; she's not hit over the head with them. One might describe it as a detective amassing clues until the picture becomes clear. 

This novel is a challenge because there are a lot of moving parts; i.e., a few characters whose stories need to be interwoven with the protagonist's. Not main characters, but important ones. So, I can't add a dramatic story beat, then move on. I'm not going to put a period on one of the supporting characters and never speak of him or her again. That's not how life works. 

At the current point in my manuscript, my MC has moved back to her hometown to try to fashion a new life, but she hasn't forgotten the important people she met along the way. She still thinks about them ~ one of them in particular. But the story isn't all just thinking. At some point everyone needs to show back up and round out their place in the plot. So it's become a goulash of this thing and then that thing. One day MC is reflecting on how happy she is to be living with her mom and re-establishing their relationship, and in the next moment, Mom is asking her to move out. Or MC has realized how happy she is to be back in a band and she's marveling at its success, but right after that she's writing sad lyrics about the man who got away. Schizophrenic? Maybe. 

No, I don't plan out my stories, and worse with this one, I have to snatch an hour here and an hour there to work on it, so it's become more like a serial than one long dramatic piece. Will it work out in the end? Shrug. I haven't reread any of it yet. I'm guessing it will work out for me, but not necessarily for potential readers. 

My so-called story beats probably require a magnifying glass to locate. So be it, I guess. I'm certainly not going to rewrite them. 

Maybe my blurb should start out with: This novel isn't for everyone.