Crafting Memorable Character Beats
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
Aspiring writers often struggle with creating characters who stay with readers long after a story ends. Today’s publishing market isn’t just about a great plot, but hinges on your ability to create compelling characters. Crafting characters who stand out is an art that requires careful consideration of character beats. Character beats are the vital ingredients that can make a character unique and memorable. In this article, I’ll dive into what character beats are, how to use them effectively, and common mistakes writers make with their character beats.
What Are Character Beats?
If you think of your characters as real people, then character beats represent the ways in which they come to life for readers and go through your plot. Simply put, character beats are the essential moments or actions that define who a character is, their moral compass, objectives, motivations, wounds, needs, and other defining personality traits. Character beats are also defined as units of action—a character’s attempt to achieve their goal in a scene. They can encompass a line of dialogue, interiority, or a significant action that shows what the character values or fears. Character beats are critical because they guide the reader's emotions and understanding of the character's journey throughout the story.
Key Ingredients of Character Beats
There are a few main components to consider when crafting character beats. First, characters should be flawed and have believable human qualities. Perfection is boring, and you will want to give your characters foibles and obstacles to overcome as they pursue their goals. Second, your chosen character beats should reflect the character's backstory, wound, need, worldview, and expectations. What do they think will happen at the beginning of a scene? As they work through the various ups and downs of their interactions with other characters? When things do or don’t go their way? Third, character beats should create emotional resonance with the reader by triggering sympathy, empathy, or curiosity about the character's experiences and motives.
Questions Writers Should Ask About Their Characters
To create effective character beats, you’ll need to delve deep into your character's psychology. Some of the questions to ask include: What does the character want? What is he/she most afraid of (this will help you generate stakes)? Which past experiences have defined who they are in the present? What values do they hold dear? What is their relationship with other characters? The answers to these questions become the raw materials for crafting character beats.
Executing Character Beats for Maximum Emotional Impact
As you create character beats, you should aim for nuance and subtlety. Don’t be too overt with readers or explain deep character psychology outright. Readers don't want to be spoon-fed character traits, but you should track your character’s development intentionally so your character beats aren’t too vague. One way to ensure maximum emotional impact is to link the character beats to the story's theme or core conflict. For instance, if the story is about redemption, select character beats which highlight the character's flaws and desire to grow and change.
Common Character Beats Mistakes to Avoid
One of the biggest mistakes writers make with character beats is creating stereotypical or one-dimensional characters. This often happens when writers rely on cliché traits or predictable character arcs. Another mistake is having characters who are too perfect or too evil—in other words, caricatures. Great characters are multidimensional and can be flawed and virtuous at the same time. You should also avoid using character beats solely for exposition purposes or to manipulate readers' emotions without context (which is the domain of melodrama).
Crafting memorable characters is a crucial aspect of writing a successful story. Character beats are the building blocks that make characters engaging, unique, and relatable. By considering the character's flaws, backstory, goals, needs, and expectations, writers can create character beats that foster an emotional connection between the character and reader, and this is the very heart of creative writing.
Click here to purchase Writing Interiority: Crafting Irresistible Characters, my book on interiority and character creation. Explore your protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, reactions and interpretations, expectations, and inner struggles to create a rich, immersive experience. This guide will empower you to create characters who live and breathe on the page, fostering an unbreakable bond with your audience.