eat Sheets
What is a beat sheet you may ask, and how does one use it in revising a manuscript. A beat sheet tells me at a glance what is happening in every scene of my book. I don't make them until I have that first awful draft - because that is what it is for. It shows me the bones of what I have. I became a convert after reading a book by Roz Morris called Nail Your Novel. I write my beat sheets by hand and use all sorts of little codes and arrows and colours to show me what is happening (and more importantly - what is not happening). Each scene tells in very short form - the action and its purpose. As I wrote the first set of beat sheets (I have six for this novel as it is a mystery and has, therefore, some tricksy bits), I didn't write what my changes would be but I would write - change this! or tighten this! or toss this! I colour code certain things (yellow for change warning) - maybe red herrings or a main characters arc - whatever I think will help me see at a quick glance what needs to be done next. Using that, my background story (what happens that isn't explicit in the book but needs to be known) and character studies, I go in and start to revise. Today I decided to do a second set, at least as far as I've revised (more than mid-way). This one is on bigger paper and it has several columns - When/ What happens/Purpose/ ?s Arising/ Possible Changes.
The Questions Arising column is very helpful. As I go through the ms I get these ideas or questions - this is a perfect tool for capturing them. Why do I do them by hand - I do lots of things by hand. It just helps me think in a different way - then I can have my digital ms up in front of me and all these bits and bites around - helping me through. I wish I had a cork wall - that would make me very happy - but in this time of not going out much, we are also attempting to make do with what we have - seeing skinny times ahead. So - this will suffice.
That's it for today! Runners up for the letter B were Boys in the Basement (check my 2015 Abcedaria of Revising) and Bum Glue.
Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the positives of this weird new world.
4 comments:
That is a really neat idea, Jan! I hadn't thought of a beat sheet before - never used one. But it sounds very useful. I'm glad it works for you.
Margot, I forgot to say how happy I am to see you come here with your name and photo - although, even when I looked back at very old blogs during the time you were anonymous, I always knew who was writing! Hope you are getting lots done during this strange time...
Thanks, Jan. It's so good to connect with each other - and so important, too. As to what I'm getting done? I'm taking it hour by hour. Trying to be here. Now.
Great tip! I'll also have to check out Nail Your Novel.
Excited to learn more of your tips this month.
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