Modello di beat sheet

Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! beat sheet was originally designed for screenwriters, but it has become one of the most widely adopted plotting tools in fiction writing. The reason is simple: it works. The beat sheet breaks a story into fifteen specific story beats, each with a clear function and an approximate position in the narrative. It gives writers a structural skeleton that is detailed enough to be genuinely useful but flexible enough to accommodate wildly different stories.

This template walks you through each of the fifteen beats, explains what each one accomplishes, and gives you space to map your own story onto the framework. Whether you are plotting a novel, a screenplay, or a short story, the beat sheet provides a reliable diagnostic for pacing and structure.

A word of caution before we begin. The beat sheet is a tool, not a straitjacket. The percentage markers are guidelines, not laws. Some of the best stories bend these proportions deliberately. Use the beat sheet to understand why each beat matters, then make informed choices about where to place them in your story.

Beat 1: Opening Image (0-1%)

The opening image is a snapshot of your protagonist's world before the story changes it. It establishes tone, setting, and the protagonist's current state. Think of it as the "before" photo in a before-and-after comparison. The final image (Beat 15) will be the "after," and the distance between them measures the arc of your story.

What to write here: Describe the scene, mood, and character state you want to open with. What should the reader feel and understand within the first few pages?

Beat 2: Theme Stated (5%)

Early in the story, someone states the theme -- usually to the protagonist, who is not yet in a position to understand it. This might be a piece of advice, a question, a throwaway line in conversation. The protagonist hears it but does not grasp its significance yet. The reader may not either, on first reading. But by the end of the story, this line will echo as the thematic spine of the entire narrative.

What to write here: What is the thematic question of your story? Who delivers it, and in what context? How does the protagonist react (or fail to react) in the moment?

Beat 3: Setup (1-10%)

The setup introduces the protagonist's ordinary world: their relationships, their routines, their status quo. It also plants the seeds of what is missing from their life. The reader should come away from the setup understanding both who this character is and what they lack, even if the character does not see the lack themselves. Every character, subplot, and setting element that matters later should be introduced or foreshadowed here.

What to write here: List the key elements of your protagonist's status quo. What relationships, habits, and circumstances define their life? What is the "stasis = death" element -- the thing that will make this life unsustainable?

Beat 4: Catalyst (10-12%)

The catalyst is the inciting incident: the event that disrupts the protagonist's ordinary world and sets the story in motion. It should be a definite, external event -- not a gradual realization. A phone call, a death, a discovery, an arrival, a departure. Something happens, and the protagonist's old life can no longer continue as it was.

What to write here: What is the single event that disrupts your protagonist's status quo? Be specific. If you cannot point to a concrete moment, your catalyst may be too diffuse.

Beat 5: Debate (12-25%)

The debate is the protagonist's period of hesitation. They have received the call to adventure, and now they are weighing whether to answer it. This is not passive navel-gazing -- it should be an active internal and external conflict. The protagonist gathers information, consults allies, considers the risks. The debate section is where you build the case for why the protagonist's journey matters and why it is genuinely difficult to take the first step.

What to write here: What keeps your protagonist from immediately pursuing the new direction? What are the arguments for staying in the status quo? What tips the balance toward action?

Beat 6: Break into Two (25%)

This is the turning point between Act I and Act II. The protagonist makes a definitive choice to leave the old world behind and enter the new situation. It must be a choice, not something that happens to them. The protagonist must decide to engage with the central conflict. This active commitment is what separates a protagonist from a passenger.

What to write here: What choice does your protagonist make? What are they leaving behind, and what are they stepping into? Why is this a point of no return?

Beat 7: B Story (22-30%)

The B Story introduces a secondary storyline, often a relationship that will carry the thematic argument. In many stories, this is a love interest. But it can also be a mentor, a new friendship, or a rival. The B Story character often becomes the vehicle through which the protagonist learns the lesson stated in Beat 2. While the A Story tests the protagonist externally, the B Story challenges them internally.

What to write here: Who is the B Story character? What is their relationship to the protagonist? How does this relationship connect to the theme?

Beat 8: Fun and Games (25-50%)

This is the "promise of the premise" -- the section of the story that delivers on the concept that made the reader pick up the book. If your novel is a heist story, this is where we see the crew planning and executing. If it is a romance, this is the courtship. If it is a detective novel, this is the investigation. The protagonist is active in the new world, encountering obstacles and small victories, but the full weight of the conflict has not yet landed.

What to write here: What scenes deliver on the promise of your premise? List the key set pieces, encounters, and discoveries that make this section engaging. What small wins and escalating challenges does the protagonist face?

Beat 9: Midpoint (50%)

The midpoint is a major turning point that raises the stakes and shifts the story's direction. It is either a "false victory" (the protagonist seems to be winning, but the victory is hollow or temporary) or a "false defeat" (the protagonist suffers a setback that will ultimately redirect them toward the real solution). Whichever it is, the midpoint changes the nature of the conflict. New information is revealed. The protagonist's understanding of the problem deepens. The clock starts ticking.

What to write here: Is your midpoint a false victory or a false defeat? What new information or reversal occurs? How do the stakes change?

Beat 10: Bad Guys Close In (50-75%)

After the midpoint, external pressures intensify and internal doubts multiply. The antagonist (whether a person, a system, or the protagonist's own flaws) gains ground. The team fractures. Allies waver. Subplots converge to create mounting pressure. This section should feel like the walls closing in. Every advantage the protagonist gained in the Fun and Games section is eroded or complicated.

What to write here: How does the antagonistic force escalate after the midpoint? What internal doubts or external betrayals undermine the protagonist? How do subplots add pressure rather than relief?

Beat 11: All Is Lost (75%)

The All Is Lost moment is the protagonist's lowest point. Something or someone is lost -- sometimes literally (a death, a departure) and sometimes figuratively (the loss of hope, trust, or purpose). Snyder called this the "whiff of death" beat because it often involves an actual or symbolic death. The protagonist's original plan has failed completely, and the old way of doing things is no longer viable.

What to write here: What is lost? What makes this moment feel irreversible? How does it strip away the protagonist's remaining defenses?

Beat 12: Dark Night of the Soul (75-80%)

The Dark Night of the Soul is the emotional aftermath of the All Is Lost moment. The protagonist sits in the wreckage and processes what happened. This is the moment of deepest introspection, where the protagonist confronts the lie they have been living with and begins to see the truth -- even if they cannot yet act on it. Do not rush this beat. The emotional weight of the climax depends on the reader experiencing the protagonist's despair fully before hope returns.

What to write here: How does the protagonist react to the loss? What do they realize about themselves, their approach, or their misbelief? What triggers the shift from despair to resolve?

Beat 13: Break into Three (80%)

Armed with a new understanding (often synthesized from both the A Story lesson and the B Story relationship), the protagonist devises a new plan. This is the turning point into Act III. The protagonist has shed the lie and embraced the truth, or at least glimpsed it clearly enough to act differently. The new plan combines what was learned in the A Story (external competence) with what was learned in the B Story (internal growth).

What to write here: What is the protagonist's new approach? How does it differ from the old plan? What insight from the B Story informs this new direction?

Beat 14: Finale (80-99%)

The finale is the climax sequence. The protagonist executes the new plan, confronting the antagonist and the central conflict head-on. Snyder broke the finale into five sub-beats for screenplays, but for novels, the key principles are: the protagonist must be the agent of their own success (no cavalry rescue), the internal arc must be resolved alongside the external conflict, and the solution should grow from seeds planted earlier in the story. Every Chekhov's gun you loaded in the Setup should fire here.

What to write here: Outline the climax sequence. How does the protagonist confront the antagonist? What choice demonstrates the internal transformation? How are subplots resolved?

Beat 15: Final Image (99-100%)

The final image mirrors the opening image, showing how the protagonist and their world have been transformed by the story. If the opening image showed a lonely person in a quiet apartment, the final image might show them surrounded by people, or alone by choice rather than by default. The contrast between Beat 1 and Beat 15 is the visual proof of the arc.

What to write here: What is the last thing the reader sees? How does it contrast with the opening image? What does it communicate about the protagonist's transformation?

How to Customize This Template

The beat sheet is remarkably adaptable across genres and formats. Here are some ways to make it work for your specific project:

• For novels: The percentage markers translate roughly to page or word count proportions. A 90,000-word novel hits its midpoint around 45,000 words, its catalyst around 9,000-11,000 words, and so on. Use these as targets, not absolutes. Being within 5-10% is close enough.
• For screenplays: Snyder's original percentages map closely to page counts in a 110-page script. This is where the beat sheet is most precise.
• For series: Each book in a series can follow its own beat sheet while the series as a whole follows a macro beat sheet. The midpoint of Book 2 in a trilogy often serves as the midpoint of the overarching story.
• For non-linear narratives: The beats still apply, but they may be presented out of chronological order. Map the beats in story order (the order the reader encounters them) rather than chronological order.
• For character-driven literary fiction: The external beats may be subtle -- a conversation rather than an explosion -- but the structural function remains the same. The catalyst is still a disruption, the midpoint still a shift, the All Is Lost moment still a loss. The scale changes; the architecture does not.

Map your story's beats in Plotiar. Use documents for each beat and a flowchart to visualize the connections between turning points, all inside a single project. Try it free.