Writers in the revision stages who are so familiar with their story at this point that they aren’t sure if it will feel “complete” or well-paced to new readers.Ī beat sheet is just one type of plot guidance, but this is a pretty popular one and an easy way to get started with novel writing. Plantsers or in-betweeners who like touchstones to help keep them on course as they feel their way through a first draft (this is me!). Writers who tend to get lost in the murky middle or off on tangents in their story and forget where the heck they were supposed to be going.īeginning fiction writers who haven’t gotten comfortable with plot, story rhythm, or genre tropes yet. Outliners and other types of plotters who want a roadmap to help them pin their story down. It walks you through what the beats are, examples from popular novels in various genres, and exercises to help you figure out where they fit with your own story. STC is a writing craft book that lays out 15 essential beats for novel writing. If you’re familiar with the book, skip ahead.

Okay, before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s make sure we all know what Save the Cat! Writes a Novel is. And, I mean, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I think it looks pretty dang good and functions pretty dang well, especially given the limitations of Google Docs. It’s got pretty much all of the sections and info the Scrivener template does, but formatted to work within Google Docs. So I made you, the Google Docs writers, a template, too. Which makes my heart so happy! But hey, I know that Scrivener isn’t for everyone, and while Google Docs isn’t nearly as feature-rich as Scrivener, it has plenty of good things going for it.

I recently shared a Scrivener template for outlining using the Save the Cat! Writes a Novel beat sheet and you all really, really loved it. I always recommend shopping secondhand/locally first, but if you are going to buy online, I appreciate you using my link. When you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you).

How to use google docs to write a novel