Are Your Story Beats Driving Change—or Dulling Impact?

You’ve got a great premise, compelling characters… but something’s off. Your story feels stuck, and you can’t figure out why. Chances are, your story beats aren’t pulling their weight.

💡 In this episode:
Zena Dell Lowe reveals how to turn every scene into a powerful turning point. You’ll learn how to spot weak story beats, replace them with emotional drivers, and make sure every scene earns its place.

🎯 What you’ll walk away with:

A clear definition of what a real story beat is

How to ensure each beat creates momentum and change

The difference between a tactic shift and a beat shift

When a scene is truly over—and when you’re dragging it out

📣 Plus:
Get access to Zena’s free video training on the 7 deadly plot points that can make or break your story. Seven Deadly Plot Points FREE TRAINING VIDEO!

🎧 Tune in now—and make every story beat count.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Does anybody have any questions or issues? Uh, with any of the material or, or what you're working on with your project? What do you need to know?

[00:00:08] I just had one question, Zina, regarding, um, what would make a really good story beat? Is it just a who, what, where, when, or, or how would you best take your own note for your story beat and make it a good one? Ooh, that is an excellent question, Carmen. Yay. Okay, excellent.

[00:00:38] So on the Hollywood plot map. I talk about, you know, story beats, basically, here's the main ones you have to hit, and then you have all sorts of options of how to get there, right?

[00:00:52] So if we're aiming for the act one turning point, depending on the needs of your story, you might do a, a major setup. You might do, you know, all the things, you know, any of those other options that we have on the beat sheet. But the question is, what is a story beat? And what happens is, before I explain what it actually is, let me explain what it is not.

[00:01:20] Because what happens is a lot of people, when they're filling out their beat sheet, um, or plot map, they'll write things like, you know, Marcy and Bill have a conversation about the kids. That's not a good story beat, uh, because it's just a conversation and it doesn't give us any information of how that moves the story forward.

[00:01:48] Now, it might be true that they're having a conversation, but what makes it a good story beat is that it's something dynamic that causes the relationship to change or causes. The character to change or to shift, and that's something emotional is happening in the scene that drives the story. So it's a unit of action.

[00:02:13] So even a dialogue scene is an action scene. it would be better to say Marcy and Bill fight about the kids. Marcy storms out determined to never ask Bill for anything again, or Marcy storms out cutting off all communication with Bill. Now it's, it's an action thing that's happened rather than just a vague, nebulous conversation.

[00:02:41] So when you're looking at your own story, beats. What you wanna ask yourself is what's happening here action wise? How does this forward the story? What's, what's the dynamic emotion that changes things? 'cause every scene, and by the way, it is a scene. It's always a scene. So it's the ma, you know, that's the whole turning point.

[00:03:06] In every single scene. Every single scene has a turning point because it has to move the story forward. And I, I don't like the term turning point because I feel like it can be confusing, but it's the popular term that's used to describe that. It's something that changes things in the story, but every single scene should change something in the story or else.

[00:03:28] Why do you have the scene? So does that help Carmen, or am I missing something about your question? No, that really, that really helps. So just the description of what's going on is not really what we're looking for. We want the, the, the, the shift in, um, what's going on so that the story is moving forward.

[00:03:52] Can you have more than one beat in a scene? Can you have a scene that has several beats in it? 

[00:03:57] However, before we get there, 

[00:03:59] Did you know that there are seven crucial plot points that every story must hit in order to satisfy the audience? And if you miss even one of those crucial plot points, you risk losing your audience's attention forever. Okay. This is why I've created a free training video for you where I break down exactly what these seven deadly plot points are.

[00:04:23] these are the essential plot moments that you need to hit in order to deliver a powerful, compelling page turning story. So. Be sure to check out my free training video on the seven Deadly plot points.

[00:04:36] It's going to transform your writing. Just click on the link provided in the notes, or head over to the storytellers mission.com and you can start watching this free training video right away.

[00:04:46] ​Can you have more than one beat in a scene? Can you have a scene that has several beats in it? 

[00:04:52] Yes. Um, okay. Uh, yes. I mean, that's tricky, because what you might be doing is confusing strategy with beat. And let me give you an example. Let me see if I can explain this. You always have, every character has a goal or an objective that they're pursuing, and they're trying to get something from the other character.

[00:05:13] Otherwise, why are they interacting? Even if it's. Uh, even if they're on the same team and it's like, Hey, let's go after 'em. Now let's go after those bad guys. Now they're vulnerable right now. No, no, let's, let's wait until tonight, because then they won't have the 10 other guys surrounding 'em to protect 'em and we'll have a better chance of sneaking in or whatever the case may be.

[00:05:35] So the idea is that two characters that are in a scene together. Are constantly pursuing some, they're trying to get something from the other person. And this is how it is in real life too. And what happens though is sometimes if one particular argument or tactic isn't working we'll shift tactics. So Carmen, if I am trying to get you to, uh, you know, babysit for me, I might.

[00:06:08] Try that. Hey, listen, I am so overwhelmed and I've got a, I've got this huge work project coming up on Friday. Could you watch the kids for me tonight? And you might say, oh gosh, you know, I'd love to, but I just, I really can't. I've got about 10 things to do before my sister comes into town next week. Now I'm gonna switch tactics to still try to get what I want.

[00:06:31] And that might be, well, the last time you called me in a pinch. I dropped everything for you, so I guess you're just not gonna be as good of a friend as me. So now I'm applying, I'm doing a guilt trip, but my desire, what I'm trying to get from you is the same. I'm just using a different tactic to get it.

[00:06:54] Then maybe, maybe you're like, listen, I dropped things for you all the time. Don't do that to me. Um. Well, you know what? Now I'm gonna use a threat. Well, maybe next time I'm just not gonna be as helpful because obviously all you care about is yourself. So now I'm gonna attack your character and try to bully you into babysitting my kids, whatever the tactic is.

[00:07:19] But I'm still trying to get the same thing. And so what, how this translates into what you're asking is sometimes you might be mistaking. What is a tactic and feels like a shift because the character is changing tactic rather than what is a truly, you know, the evolution of the scene where the scene kind of comes to a close.

[00:07:44] And the reason I say that is simply because generally speaking, once the character makes an emotional shift, a true emotional shift, not just a tactic shift, but a true emotional shift. Usually it's the end of the scene, and if it isn't the end of the scene, it might mean we're going on too long because we will feel once the character makes that internal adjustment to something, we'll feel like the scene is done.

[00:08:10] So you don't wanna go on too long, but you can go on as long as you need to if it's a change of tactic. Having said that. I probably would encourage you not to get hung up on that right now. So even though I just explained all that it, it could be that me explaining it makes it more confusing and then you're not trusting your gut.

[00:08:33] And I would say trust your gut and it will be your readers who read your first, you know, draft or you know. Hopefully it'll feel more like a, a 10th draft, but nevertheless, it'll be those people that'll, that'll be able to come back and say, you know, I feel like this scene went on too long, and you might be able to go, oh, I thought it, she just switched tactics.

[00:08:54] But yeah, you're right. She actually made that internal adjustment there, in which case, it might just mean that you have a new scene and then you still get to use that. So sometimes we'll just do that. We'll, we'll. You know, they, they give up in that moment, but then you cut to another scene and now they're back to a different tactic.

[00:09:13] Um, still trying to get something from the other person. Does that help at all? It does. Thank you. Okay. Yay. Yay. Good question. Love that question. Really important, because honestly, making sure that your story beats are. Active and dynamic and not descriptive and passive is super important. Sometimes, especially if we're writing novels, we can get really into the description of things, but nothing is actually happening.

[00:09:47]