by Michelle Barker

Beats are such small moments in a novel that it’s tempting to think of them as inconsequential and not worth our careful attention. I’m talking about dialogue beats (not screenwriting beats, which are something else altogether), those moments around a conversation where a character might put down their glass or notice the setting sun.

And yet, if used effectively, beats can be story-changers, not only in filling out a scene but also in developing character. More often than not, however, we settle for something generic and allow our characters to sigh, laugh, nod, and shrug their shoulders.

Generic beats are like dandelions: if you don’t root them out, they’re liable to take over an entire story. We rely on them because they’re easy. We know the dialogue needs a dramatic moment, a pause, something, so why not let our characters smile their way through dinner? The trouble is, generic beats do nothing to develop character. Yes, they’re easy, but they’re also ineffective.

If you actually count the number of times your characters smile, laugh, nod, etc. you might be in for a shock. This will likely be the moment when you accept there’s a problem and it must be tackled. So, you turn to bodily betrayals instead—sweating palms, racing hearts, upset stomachs. Marginally better, but these come with a built-in problem: sooner or later (probably sooner), you’re going to run out of body parts. Your poor character’s heart will race so many times, the reader will be certain a coronary is imminent.

But there are other ways to handle beats

How about details of setting? It’s important to keep one foot in the physical world in your scenes, and your setting should be dynamic. It should be chosen for a reason and that reason should impact whatever is happening in the scene.

Beats are a perfect opportunity to take care of that.

• Is the room getting warmer?
• Is something burning in the kitchen?
• What’s that smell?

Any of these details can be used to amplify tension in a scene.

You can also use beats for interior monologue.

• How does your character react when on a first date her companion spills red wine all over the table?
• What is she really thinking when she says it’s fine that he’s just stained her expensive new dress?
• What does she think of that beard?
• And what’s with all the aftershave?

Add a third thing

This is perhaps the most effective way to lift your beats out of the generic. If there’s a conversation that your characters must have, don’t let them just sit there and talk. Triangulate the dialogue. Add a third thing. In other words, give them something to do while they’re talking, something that needs to be accomplished as the conversation proceeds.

As with setting, you’ll want to choose wisely. Eating and drinking can work, but what if you push harder?

Back to that first date: instead of a restaurant, what if you put them at a fire pit on the beach?

Mr. Aftershave has been single for a long time, and this is his big chance to impress a special someone. While he chats to her about his job (probably exaggerating), he’s going to light a campfire.

Or rather, he’s going to try.

Imagine the beats now. The wood is a little damp, the fire won’t catch, and he’s trying so hard not to lose his cool, but soon frustration sets in and tension rises. In situations like this, you can do a lot with the contrast between what’s happening in the scene versus the conversation taking place around it.

If Mr. Aftershave works in human resources and prides himself on his ability to stay calm under pressure but can’t hold it together while trying to light the fire, your material will do a ton of character work for you. Best of all, it will show rather than tell who this person is—as well as revealing who the other person is by how they react.

Examine your passages of dialogue

See if there are scenes where you can enhance the conversation by adding some action or paying more attention to the action that’s already occurring.

• Are your characters in a car while they’re having their conversation?
• How does the driver react to being stuck in traffic?
• What do they do if someone cuts them off?
• Is there an exceptionally annoying song playing on the radio—or one that brings back unwanted memories?
• Are your characters in a kitchen?
• How does your protagonist load the dishwasher if he’s angry at his partner?

Try to choose action that has a high possibility of failure, or something that promises to make at least one person look awkward or ridiculous.

The nice thing with beats is how subtle they can be. You’re not stopping the story to give us these details. You’re slipping them in seamlessly so that the reader barely notices them. Beats allow for sprinkling—as opposed to dumping. Giving long descriptions or explanations about a character usually requires stopping the story and thereby pulling the reader out of the fictional dream. Beats, if used efficiently, keep the story moving.

In conclusion

Your reader wants to get to know your characters and draw conclusions about who they are based on how they behave. If all they’re doing is blinking and sighing, we get no insight into their personality. But characters who behave badly or don’t say what they really mean, characters who get frustrated or angry—well, that’s interesting. Show me more!

How do you handle dialogue beats? What do you use beats for in your stories?

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About Michelle

Michelle Barker is a novelist, poet, and senior editor with The Darling Axe. With David Griffin Brown, she has co-authored three books on writing: Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling, Story Skeleton: The Classics, and Fake Query Letters by Dead Authors. She is also the author of three novels, including The House of One Thousand Eyes (Annick Press) which won numerous awards and was on Kirkus’s list of best YA historical fiction of 2018, as well as a picture book, A Year of Borrowed Men (Pajama Press), which was a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award. Her collection of poetry called Chef will be published in 2027 by Caitlin Press. Michelle holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC, teaches regularly at conferences and through the Federation of BC Writers, and lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Top Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay