#161. Scene Beats: What They Are & Why They Matter

Fiction Writing Made Easy

Savannah Gilbo

Education, Fiction, Writing Tips, Arts, Bestseller, Writing, How To, Author, Writing Community, Books, Novel, How To Write Fiction, Writing Fiction, Writer, How To Write A Book

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 “somewherre 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 episode, I’m going to help clear up some of the confus...

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0:00.0	This fall so many of us will be working hard on new manuscripts.
0:03.2	And while starting something new is always really exciting,
0:06.0	there's going to come a time where you're just too close to your story to see what's working
0:09.9	and what's not working. This is where the spunun Yarn comes in. The Spun Yarn offers
0:13.8	top-tier professional beta reading services for authors and they've just come out with
0:18.0	something new which I think you're really going to love. It's called the
0:20.8	expert reader report and it pairs your manuscript with one trusted spun yarn reader for a fraction of the price of their normal services.
0:28.0	To learn more go to savanna-Gilboe.com forward slash the spong yarn all one word and make sure to use the code
0:34.2	podcast 15 for a 15% discount on an expert reader report from now until the end of
0:39.8	October. Ideally each of your scenes would contain layers of multiple things that happen at once.
0:46.4	So in other words, just as your main plot thread needs to move forward in each and every
0:50.6	scene, so do your subplots, right?
0:53.2	So if you're reading back through your draft
0:54.9	and one of your quote unquote scenes reads a little flat,
0:58.7	you might realize it's because that scene is only doing one thing.
1:02.4	And maybe it would benefit from being turned into a beat,
1:05.3	or maybe it would be better if you combined that
1:07.7	with something else to form a working scene.
1:13.0	Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast.
1:16.0	My name is Savannah Gilboo and I'm here to help you write a story that works.
1:20.0	I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming.
1:24.0	So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies
	...

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