Mary Rosenblum, Long Ridge instructor and Web Editor has published seven novels in mystery and science fiction as well as more than 60 short stories and many nonfiction articles.  She also teaches writing workshops.  Her eighth novel, ‘Horizon’ will be released by Tor Books in 2006. 

 

Beats:  Adding Richness

 

By Mary Rosenblum

 

            Beats.  What are they?  They are the bits of action or description in a scene that occur between segments of narrative or  dialogue.  They show the scene to the reader in small glimpses.  Many writers see them as a place holder, a necessary reference to the physical stage and nothing more.  But beats are one of the most underused and powerful tools in your writer’s toolkit. 

            Each beat of action allows you not only to show that ‘stage’ to the readers, but to add layers of richness to enhance the setting, plot, and characterization.   The more you can make each sentence do, the stronger your writing will be.  Beats allow you to multiply the role of that action, making it do two or even three things for the scene. 

 

Beats as Tonal Paintbrush

          So how can a beat enrich that setting beyond showing us the character on the stage?  Think about tone and nuance here.   Depending on what words you use, you can color each action or description with an emotional tone.  The cedar stood next to the house.  Okay, we see a tree and a house.  Neutral tone.  The dying  cedar loomed over  the house.  Now we have a spooky tone, or even a threatening one, depending on the context.  Jenny went over  to put a slice of bread into the toaster. Neutral tone here.  We simply see Jenny putting bread in the toaster.  Jenny marched over to slam  a slice of bread into the toaster.  Uh oh.  Jenny is not a happy camper this morning.  Jenny tiptoed over to slip a piece of bread into the toaster. Is she frightened, afraid to wake someone, trying not attract attention?  Use your beats as a paintbrush to color your scene with emotional tints and hues.

 

Beats to Move the Plot

          Beats can orchestrate the pace of your scene, helping to increase the tension if you are rising to a climax point, or to give the scene a languid and peaceful feel.  They are particularly important and useful in dialogue.  Dialogue without any beats at all becomes a ‘talking heads’ scene.  The reader simply imagines two heads floating in gray fog and jabbering at each other. 

            Short, choppy beats give the prose or dialogue a hurried, tense feel, while longer, more descriptive intrusions give the piece a slower and more relaxed feel.  A very few beats of action or visual description can give you a languid conversation.    A lot of beats can give the feel of a choppy, hurried, almost irritable conversation. 

 

            Let’s take a look at this conversation with no beats at all:   If you’ll notice, it’s very bland.  We don’t see anything, we simply hear words. We don’t really know what the mood of the speakers is. 

            “I don’t know if I want to see Gene again.  I mean, he’s a nice enough man, but sparks didn’t fly.  And after all, he’s older than I am.”

            “That’s okay, Sheila.” Cary said.  “It’s up to you.”

            “I want your opinion, Sheil. That’s why I asked you over here.”

 

            Now let’s see how a couple of beats here change the tone of this brief conversation. 

            “I don’t know if I want to see Gene again.”  Sheila grabbed the broom.  I mean, he’s a nice enough man, but sparks didn’t fly.” She gave the spotless floor a couple of vicious swipes.  “And after all, he’s older than I am.”

            “That’s okay, Sheila,” Cary said.  “It’s up to you.”

            “I want your opinion, Sheil” She pointed with the broom’s handle. “ That’s why I asked you over here.”

 

            See how different our perceptions of the two brief scenes are?  In the first scene, without those beats, we only know that Sheila is undecided and Cary isn’t helping her out with an opinion.  In the second, Sheila’s state of mind is much more apparent.  She isn’t just undecided, she is clearly distraught over her impending decision.  The dialogue is chopped up with action that conveys Sheila’s emotional distress.

 

Beats to Deepen Characterization 

          Just as our beats of distressed activity showed us more than mere indecisiveness about Gene, beats can convey hints of characterization all through your story or narrative.   Your character might smile at a toddler or stoop to pat a dog and we think likes kids, likes dogs and you didn’t have to tell us.  If your character snaps at the ice cream vendor as he demands a chocolate swirl cone we think, not very polite.  Those beats of action can subtly reveal how your character thinks about the world around him or her, and those small hints add up to a much deeper sense of who this person is. 

            As you can see, these simple action ‘place holders’ are far more than that.  They allow you to add layers of characterization, mood, and emotion to your story or narrative without adding anything ‘new’.  Don’t worry about them as you write your first draft.  That’s the time to concentrate on getting from start to finish and nothing more than that!  That is your creative time.  But after you’ve finished the first draft, work on those beats, adding them as needed, and trying to see just how much extra ‘color’ you can layer into your story with those marvelous little ‘paintbrushes’.