As I mentioned in my previous blog, the word beat has a cornucopia of meanings. For me, the definition of beat offered in Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King, makes the most sense.
They defined beat as a descriptive sentence or sentences inserted before, after, or during the dialogue section. Keep in mind, it is not a dialogue tag such as “said,” that establishes who is talking. Instead, a beat comes into play after the reader knows who is talking and describes a character’s response or action.
If dialogue is the audio, think of beat as the video.
Renni Browne and Dave King go one step further by saying a beat is the “literary equivalent of what is known in the theater as stage business.”
I love this definition because stage business refers to physical actions made by an actor on stage such as tucking a tendril of hair behind an ear. You see stage business all the time in plays, movies, and television shows. If you have trouble visualizing this concept, just mute the sound on a TV show or movie and watch the actors. They don’t stand around like robots and talk, they do things while they are saying their lines.
Which is exactly what the characters in our stories should be doing.
Beats enable readers to picture the action, they allow you to vary the rhythm of the dialogue, and they help reveal your character’s personalities and emotional reactions. In effect, they remind your readers of who your characters are and what they are doing.
How do you chose what type of “stage business” a character should do while talking? That’s where nonverbal communication or body language comes into play.
In my writing skills ebook, She Sat, He Stood, What Do Your Characters Do While They Talk, nonverbal communication is defined as the gestures and mannerisms by which one person communicates with others. Although different cultures may have different meanings for some gestures, most body language is universal.
Humans actually use body language more than tone of voice or even words to communicate. Writers deal in words so it behooves a writer to figure out how to convey body language and tone to better set each character firmly the reader’s mind.
Beats can help a writer do this. They also help a writer avoid interior dialogue to track a character’s emotions.
Well-written beats fulfill many roles in a story, but it’s important to strike the right balance between dialogue and beats. Just as too much uninterrupted dialogue can confuse or irritate a reader, too many interruptive beats can be distracting.
The best way to check your dialogue is to read it aloud. Listen to the rhythm of the dialogue to ensure the beats enhance the dialogue exchanges rather than overwhelm them.
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