Assign and display beats from a specific Story Arc

Feature Requests
#1

I’m using the Save the Cat beat sheet. I’ve created a beats item time, and that all works fine for assigning beats for the main story. However, I’m going to be working on a project that will have multiple story arcs, all of which have beats. Chapters might also have multiple story arcs with different beats assigned. This becomes difficult to manage. I could use folders and create the entire beats list underneath each story arc. That’s cumbersome, but when I assign that in the sector, it’s going to display all the story arcs and all the sub-story arcs in a flat list. For example, the beat “Opening Image” will exist for every storyline. It will be hard to tell if I’m selecting the opening image that’s a sub-story arc from Main Story or Joe’s Story. It would be nice if you could adjust the display, to see those parent- child relationships when you’re assigning them in the inspector. Story arc, then sub-story arc. Or a special input mode to show the relationship between the main and sub elements such as Main:Opening Image when assigning story arc. Stating a different way, I’m looking for a way to associate a beat with a story arc, which is then assigned to this chapter, and be able to do that with multiple story arcs and different beats in the same chapter. Then, of course, to be able to work with it in AT.

Thanks,
Bob

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#2

Bob, this is an interesting challenge. I’m thinking out loud here.

I, too, use the STC story beat system. I’m writing a trilogy, and the three novels are included in one AT3 (and Scrivener) project. I track the overall story beats of each novel rather than, say, separate storylines as you do.

My challenge was to find a way to isolate the STC beats per novel so that I could, for example, look at the Setup beats only for Novel 2 or the Catalyst beat only for Novel 3.

I solved the problem by using a simple naming convention. For example, the Catalyst beat of Novel 1 is “Catalyst - 1” while the same beat for Novel 2 is “Catalyst - 2.” I used AT3’s convenient hierarchical feature to organize everything into beats and subbeats.

Here are screenshots showing my STC beats, starting from Novel 1. It takes a few screenshots to show the entire structure through Novel 3. (They overlap a bit.)

01
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02
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03
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04
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05
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If I were to solve the challenge you’ve described, I would do something similar. Referring to the screenshots, where you see “NOVEL 1,” you might name it “MAIN STORY.” Where you see “NOVEL 2,” you might name it “JOE,” covering the beats for Joe’s arc. And so on, for each of your characters’ story arcs.

Then, you could name each of the beats in MAIN STORY something like “Setup - Main,” “Opening Image - Main,” etc. Name each of the beats under JOE something like “Setup - Joe,” "Opening Image - Joe”, etc.

You could do the same for each chapter’s characters since you want to use the STC beat system at the chapter level.

I hope I have sparked an idea on how you could approach this.

#3

Thanks Steve. I’ve seen your posts. Great template. I made and have been using something similar, and that’s what I’ve been trying to adapt. This issue is that there will be nine or ten arcs to track, which will be too cumbersome. I may track the main (book) beats in AT and track the others somewhere else. Thanks for the input!

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#4

It is a bit of a journey to get things set up well. I’m interested in learning what you settle on since my next novel series will be considerably more complex–if you have the time to circle back. :slight_smile: