Chapter 45: Story Beats

Note: This chapter expands upon concepts that were developed in Chapter Four: Your Essential Story. If you haven’t read it yet, I would suggest doing so before reading this chapter.

You’ve already put a lot of work into developing the crime that your mystery will unravel. But your novel is far more than just a crime—it’s a story about what happens to the Sleuth who solves it. And that story will be constructed of story beats.

Story beats, otherwise known as plot points, are essential moments that move a story forward. And here’s the thing: by and large, they’re the same for every story.

What? How can Star Wars be the same as Liar Liar? How can Die Hard be the same as Titanic?

Structurally—that’s how. Yes, these films all have wildly different moods, and they all show their protagonists engaging in wildly different activities. But ultimately, they’re all about people committing everything they have to pursue a particular goal—and being changed in the process.

And the emotional journey these characters must take in pursuit of their goal is defined by specific story beats that resonate in the heart of every reader. Why do these beats resonate so totally? Because they tell a very human, very universal story of self-doubt, commitment, and finally—change.

So what we need to begin plotting your mystery is a story structure—a list of all the story beats that need to occur for a story to feel complete. Let’s take a look at The Perfect Crime Story Structure. It owes a great debt to the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet from Save the Cat, and to The Hero’s Journey, from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. But it’s especially adapted for the mystery genre.