How to Perform a Beat Audit on Your Chapter

EXAMPLE: Dwarven Council Scene used throughout this article.

I. Why Your Chapters Feel “Busy but Flat”

Sarah stood over the apprentice’s pages the way she’d stand over a flawed blade:
plenty of hammer marks, no clear shape.

Lines of dialogue jostled for space. Thoughts spiraled. Descriptions piled up like scrap at the edge of the forge. And yet when she read the chapter start to finish, she set the pages down and said the quiet sentence that makes every apprentice’s stomach drop:

“Much clang. Very little change.”

That’s the problem many authors bring to the desk:

• “Stuff happens, but nothing changes.”
• “The chapter is busy, but somehow... flat.”

What you’re feeling is the gap between:

• Activity: words, motion, banter, exposition.
• Change: the internal and external turns that actually move the story’s metal.

The solution is not “write prettier” or “add more drama.”
The solution is to learn to see beats: the smallest measurable units of change inside your scenes.

This is where the Beat Audit comes in.

A Beat Audit is a systematic pass through your chapter where you identify every:

• emotional shift (E)
• informational shift (I)
• moral / decision shift (M)

So you can see where:

• the story metal is actually bending
• versus where you’re just tapping the anvil for noise

On the macro level, Sarah teaches the Six-Forge framework (beat → scene → sequence → act → subplot → global story). This article works at the smallest ring in that chain: the beat.

By the end, you’ll have:

• A simple markup method you can use on any chapter.
• A beat sheet table you can reuse forever.
• A color-coding system and printable checklist to turn revision into a repeatable process.

Today, we go from “busy but flat” to “tight and hot," one beat at a time.

---

II. What Counts as a Beat?

First, we need to agree on terms.

“A beat,” Sarah says, “is the smallest strike that actually shifts the metal. If nothing changes, it’s not a beat; it’s noise.”

For this article, we’ll work with three core beat types:

1. Emotional Beat (E)

A feeling turns:

• calm → dread
• contempt → respect
• numbness → grief
• despair → stubborn hope

It doesn’t have to be dramatic. Even a small flicker counts, as long as the state genuinely shifts.

2. Informational Beat (I)

A fact or perception changes:

• new information is revealed
• an assumption is shattered
• stakes are clarified or raised

Examples:

• “The blight took half the barley.” (Survival stakes just doubled.)
• “The Earl has tripled the tithe.” (Political and economic pressure spike.)
• “The tunnel isn’t failing from age; someone sabotaged the supports.” (We now have a villain, not just bad luck.)

3. Moral / Decision Beat (M)

A choice is made or a value is affirmed or denied:

• obey vs. defy
• mercy vs. vengeance
• self-preservation vs. loyalty

This is where the story’s moral metal is tested. Even a “small” decision can have large reverberations.

“When a dwarf chooses,” Sarah says, “you hear it in the ring.”

Optional Secondary Tag: World / Setting Beat (W)

Sometimes a detail doesn’t change emotion, facts, or choices directly, but it shifts how we perceive the world and its stakes:

• “The mountain’s heartstone is cracked.”
• “Human boots have worn a path in the dwarven hall.”

We’ll mostly stick to E / I / M in this article, but you can add W to your private system if it helps.

Polarity and Value

Beats only matter because they move some value along a spectrum:

• safety ↔ danger
• leverage ↔ vulnerability
• hope ↔ despair
• obedience ↔ agency

This is how, later, you can say things like:

“This scene turns from +Leverage to –Leverage at Beat 7.”

The Beat Audit is how you stop guessing and start measuring those shifts.

---

III. Setting Up Your Beat Audit

You don’t need anything fancy. Sarah would call this “laying out your hammers.”

You’ll Need

• A printed chapter or a digital copy you can annotate.
• Three highlighters or comment colors:
  • Emotional beats → E
  • Informational beats → I
  • Moral / Decision beats → M
• A simple beat sheet template (we’ll build one together in a minute).

Pick the Right Test Chapter

Start with:

• A chapter that feels mushy, overlong, or low-energy, or
• A structurally important chapter (inciting incident, midpoint, climax).

You’ll learn fastest by auditing a chapter that already bothers you.

Mindset for the Audit

You are not revising yet.

You’re weighing ore, not smelting.

• Don’t change sentences.
• Don’t cut lines.
• Don’t “fix” dialogue.

“First you weigh the ore,” Sarah says. “Only then do you decide what to smelt and what to throw back to the mountain.”

Your only job in this stage: notice and label change.

---

IV. First Pass – Reading for the “Heat Pulse”

Before you mark anything, read.

Straight-Through Read

• Read the chapter start to finish as a normal reader.

• Don’t highlight yet.

• Just circle in the margin (or drop a * comment) whenever you feel a jolt:

  • A surprise.
  • A stab of emotion.
  • A “uh-oh” or “oh no” moment.
  • A line where you instinctively lean closer.

These are your heat pulses; places where your body reacts.

Goal of First Pass

Identify where the heat naturally spikes. These spots often become anchor beats in your sheet.

Example: The Tunnel 7 “Denied” Moment

Here’s a key moment from our sample dwarven council scene:

“Yes, honored councilors,” he said, forcing his voice into the formal cadence. “I request immediate reopening of Tunnel 7 to retrieve the trapped crew before they—”

“Denied.”

Councilor Thrain Ironmantle didn’t bother to stand. The word dropped from his mouth like a stone into a shaft.

Most readers feel the whole scene lurch on that single word. Even before we label it, our nervous system tags it as important.

Circle those moments in your chapter on Pass 1.

We’ll formalize them as beats on Pass 2.

---

V. Second Pass: Marking Beats on the Page

Now you go back and get precise.

How to Mark Beats

Work paragraph by paragraph, line by line.

Each time any of the following happens:

• A feeling changes → mark E in the margin and highlight that sentence.
• A fact changes understanding → mark I.
• A choice / value judgment is made → mark M.

Rules of thumb:

• One mark per shift.
  • If a line both reveals new info and flips emotion, you can double-tag: I+E.
• Short notes only.
  Next to each tag, jot 2–4 words:
  • E – dread spikes
  • I – time limit
  • M – Thrain seals tunnel

You’re building future-you a map. Keep it simple and legible.

Marking Beats in the Dwarven Council Scene

Here’s the opening of the scene, with example annotations you might make:

“The council chamber felt smaller than the tunnel that had collapsed.”
E – claustrophobic dread

“In less than an hour, the air will be gone from Tunnel 7 as well, he thought.”
I+E – time limit; urgency spikes

“‘Apprentice Darrik Stonehand,’ the herald called…”
Darrik steps forward to petition.
M – commits to formal petition

“‘I request immediate reopening of Tunnel 7…’”
This line reinforces the goal.

“‘Denied.’”
M+E – goal blocked; shock

You’d continue this way down the page:

• Each new insight about the Earl, the blight, or the maize → I.
• Each shift in Darrik’s internal state (from formal respect to near-desperation) → E.
• Each hard line from Thrain or strategic suggestion from Sarah → M.

By the end, your page looks like a dwarven forge-wall annotated with colored runes.

That’s good. You’re starting to see the structure you’re usually only feeling.

---

VI. Turning Beat Marks into a Beat Sheet

Your page now has a forest of little E, I, M notes.
Time to turn that into a table you can actually reason about.

Beat Sheet Columns

Here’s a simple but powerful structure:

• Beat # – running count for that scene.
• Scene – which scene (if your chapter has multiple).
• Chapter – chapter number.
• POV – whose perspective we’re in.
• Beat Type – E, I, M (or combos).
• Scene Goal – what the POV character wants in this scene overall.
• Conflict – what or who is blocking that goal.
• Value Shift – what changes at this beat (+Hope → –Hope, –Powerless → +Agency).
• Polarity – net positive or negative for the protagonist at the end of that beat (+ or –).
• Beat Summary – 1–2 lines describing what happens in terms of change.

This lets you zoom out and read your scene as a sequence of turns, not just paragraphs.

---

Example Beat Sheet – Tunnel 7 Council Scene

Here’s a beat sheet built from the sample scene:

Beat #	Scene	Chapter	POV	Beat Type	Scene Goal (Darrik)	Conflict	Value Shift	Polarity	Beat Summary
1	1	1	Darrik	E + I	Convince the Council to reopen Tunnel 7 and authorize a rescue	Oppressive chamber; memory of collapse; ticking clock on air	+Calm → –Dread / +Time → –Time	–	Darrik feels the chamber closing in and knows the crew in Tunnel 7 will run out of air in under an hour.
2	1	1	Darrik	M + E	same	Formal hierarchy of the High Council; fear of speaking up	+Private Worry → +Public Petition → –Shock	–	He formally petitions to reopen Tunnel 7, but Thrain cuts him off with a flat “Denied,” crushing his initial hope.
3	1	1	Darrik	I + E	same	Thrain’s personal grief; emotional wall	+Political Problem → –Personal Trauma	–	Thrain reveals his son died in that tunnel and names the dead, turning a policy dispute into raw, personal loss.
4	1	1	Darrik	M + I	same	Grief-based refusal; fear of more deaths	–Powerless → +Plan (Technical Agency)	+	Darrik pushes back, proposing a small brace team and arguing from his firsthand knowledge of the rock and fault.
5	1	1	Darrik	I	same	Council scorn for “tunnel-rats”; economic and political stakes	+Local Risk → –Clan-wide Stakes	–	Debate widens: Tunnel 7’s rich silver vein, quotas for the human Earl, maize shipments, blighted harvest, and winter hunger.
6	1	1	Darrik	M + I	same	Either seal the tunnel or risk a large crew—false binary	–False Choice → +Third Way	+	Sarah intervenes, framing two collapses (stone vs hunger/human rule) and suggests a tiny, “lives-only” rescue team.
7	1	1	Darrik	I + M	same	Doubts about feasibility and cost; shame over past misjudgment	–Vague Hope → +Concrete Strategy / Shared Fault	+	Darrik details a specific four-dwarf rescue plan via the old aquifer tunnel with pre-forged steel jacks; Sarah admits they all misjudged under Earl-driven pressure.
8	1	1	Darrik	M	same	Council must choose; fear of becoming beholden to humans	+Chance of Sanctioned Rescue → –Total Ban	–	Thrain asserts only the Council can decide and brings his hammer down: the matter is closed; no crews, Tunnel 7 remains sealed.
9	1	1	Darrik	I + E	(Goal blocked)	Dwarven law: penalties for disobedience (fines, shaved braids, exile)	+Belonging → –Risk of Outlawry	–	Leaving the chamber, Darrik’s petition slate cracks as he realizes that defying the ruling could mean exile and loss of clan protection.
10	1	1	Darrik	M + E	Save his crew with or without Council blessing	Sarah’s warning that going means going alone; the weight of that cost	–Obedient Hope → +Rebel Resolve (Agency vs Institution)	+	Sarah quietly asks if he understands what acting without blessing means; Darrik chooses the risk anyway, deciding he’d rather face falling stone than live with doing nothing.

From this, you can see the value arcs clearly:

• Hope vs. Despair
• Institutional Obedience vs. Personal Duty
• Belonging vs. Outlawry

We’re no longer guessing; we can point to the exact beat where each value turns.

---

VII. Interpreting Your Beat Sheet

With your beats logged, you can start diagnosing problems.

Spotting Flat Stretches

Red flag: pages with no new beats, or beats that don’t move any value.

Signs:

• Several paragraphs with no E, I, or M tagged.
• Dialogue that circles the same point.
• Introspection that repeats the same fear without deepening it.

In the Tunnel 7 scene, a flat stretch might look like three different councilors all saying, in different words, “The tunnel is dangerous,” without:

• adding new information (I),
• escalating emotion (E), or
• forcing a new decision (M).

Those lines are candidates for cutting or compressing.

Checking Beat Variety

A healthy scene usually has a mix of:

• Emotional beats (E)
• Informational beats (I)
• Moral/Decision beats (M)

Questions to ask:

• Is my scene all I beats (lecture mode)?
• Is it all E beats (endless emotional spirals)?
• Is it starving for M beats (characters never actually decide anything)?

In the council scene:

• I beats widen the stakes (blight, Earl, maize, quotas).
• E beats track Darrik’s dread, hope, shame, resolve.
• M beats drive the drama (Thrain’s “Denied,” Sarah’s “small crew,” Darrik’s final choice).

If the M beats vanished, the scene would become a debate transcript — technically informative, emotionally noisy, but dramatically toothless.

Confirming the Scene’s Core Value Shift

Your beat sheet should let you answer:

“From what value to what value does this scene actually turn?”

For the Tunnel 7 council:

• One possible label: Faith in the Council vs. Personal Duty to Kin
  • Start: Darrik believes the right thing is to petition and obey.
  • End: Darrik accepts he may have to defy the Council to save his crew.

You might write the core shift as:

• +Institutional Faith → –Institutional Faith / +Personal Agency

If you can’t name a core value shift, your scene might not be doing the work you think it’s doing.

---

VIII. Diagnosing Common Problems With Beat Audits

Once you’ve done a few sheets, patterns emerge.

“Nothing Actually Changes” Scenes

Pattern on the sheet:

• Scene Goal: unchanged.
• Conflict: unchanged.
• Beat summaries: mostly feelings swirling, no decisions, no new facts.
• Start and end values: basically the same.

These scenes often feel:

• “vibey but pointless,”
• like “filler,”
• or like “the same argument we had last chapter.”

Fix options:

• Combine the scene with a neighboring one that does turn.
• Add a true turning-point beat:
  • A new piece of information that shifts stakes, or
  • A decision that closes off one path and forces another.

Redundant Beats

Pattern:

• Several beats in a row with the same type, same polarity, same content.
• Example: four speeches that all say “this is dangerous” in slightly different ways.

These make scenes feel long and repetitive.

Fix options:

• Compress similar beats into one sharper beat.

• If you keep multiple, escalate each one:

  • 1st: “It’s risky.”
  • 2nd: “It killed my son.”
  • 3rd: “Rescuers will be exiled if they disobey.”

The reader should feel pressure rising, not circling.

Misaligned Beats and Goals

Sometimes your beats are strong individually, but they don’t interact with the stated scene goal.

Pattern:

• Scene goal: “Convince the Council to reopen Tunnel 7.”
• Half the beats: side chatter, jokes, world-building, backstory that doesn’t touch that conflict.

These scenes feel “fun” but low-impact. The reader can’t tell what the scene is about.

Fix options:

• Tie stray beats directly into the main conflict (E.g., the Earl anecdote underscores how much leverage Tunnel 7 gives them.)
• Or move those beats to a scene where they do matter.

Sarah’s rule:

“Every strike must move the metal you chose for this scene. If your hammer keeps wandering, no wonder the blade won’t take shape.”

---

IX. Color-Coding: Seeing the Chapter at a Glance

Beat sheets are great, but sometimes you just want to flip pages and see patterns instantly.

Assign Colors

Pick a system; for example:

• E (Emotional) beats → blue
• I (Informational) beats → green
• M (Moral/Decision) beats → red

In a digital document, you might:

• Use different highlight colors, or
• Use different comment tags ([E], [I], [M]) and filter them.

The Macro View

Now flip through the chapter and ask:

• Is one color dominating?
  • All green: info-dump chapter.
  • All blue: angst chapter with no decisions.
  • All red: decision-churn with no context or feeling.
• Do major turning scenes have enough M beats?
• Are emotionally heavy chapters supported by clear info and clear decisions, or are they just vibes?

In the forge, apprentices hang colored metal chips beside the anvil:

• Too much of one alloy, and the blade is brittle or soft.
• A good blade sings because the mix is right.

Your chapter is the same: a balanced alloy of emotional, informational, and moral turns.

---

X. From Beat Audit to Revision Plan

The audit gives you the map. Revision is where you strike.

Decide What to Cut, Sharpen, or Add

Use your beat sheet and color-coded pages to make three lists:

1. Beats to Cut

• Redundant emotional wobbles (three versions of “she’s anxious” with no new stakes).
• Info beats that don’t change the conflict (“The mountain is big” vs “The heartstone is cracked.”).
• Jokes or asides that neither deepen emotion nor affect decisions.

2. Beats to Sharpen

Look for “soft” beats that almost change something:

• Thrain vaguely disapproves? → sharpen to:

  “The matter is closed. No crews. Tunnel 7 remains sealed.”

• A character kind of considers an option? → make them choose yes or no.

3. Beats to Add

• Missing M beats: places where people simply accept bad circumstances instead of choosing.
• Missing I beats: where stakes are fuzzy and readers don’t understand why it matters.
• Missing E beats: where big events pass without any visible internal reaction.

Ensure the Scene Ends “Hotter Than It Began”

When you’re done revising, ask the final test:

“Is the scene hotter at the end than at the start?”

For the Tunnel 7 council scene:

• Start:
  • Darrik anxious but working within the system.
  • Goal: petition, obey, rescue with Council blessing.
• End:
  • Council has definitively sealed the tunnel.
  • Darrik understands that the only way to save his crew is to act without permission.
  • He chooses to accept exile-level risk.

That’s a clear heat increase:

• More pressure.
• Less safety.
• More commitment.

If your scene ends cooler (less at stake, less committed, less conflict) without a very good reason, you may have revised the heart right out of it.

---

XI. The Beat Audit Checklist

You can copy this straight into your notebook or pin it by your desk.

1. Before You Start

• I chose one chapter or scene to audit.
• I have a markup-friendly copy (print or digital).
• I chose colors/tags for:
  • Emotional beats (E)
  • Informational beats (I)
  • Moral/Decision beats (M)

2. Pass 1 – Heat Pulse

• Read straight through without marking.
• Circled or noted every moment I felt a shift (surprise, “oh no,” gut punch).

3. Pass 2 – Mark Beats

• Tagged each emotional shift with E.
• Tagged each informational shift with I.
• Tagged each decision / moral shift with M.
• Jotted a 2–4 word note next to each tag.

4. Build the Beat Sheet

For this scene, I logged:

• Beat #
• Scene / Chapter
• POV
• Beat Type (E / I / M)
• Scene Goal
• Conflict
• Value Shift
• Polarity (+ / –)
• Beat Summary

5. Interpret the Metal

• Identified flat stretches (no beats or no real value shifts).
• Checked for a healthy mix of E / I / M.
• Named the scene’s core value shift (e.g., +Faith in Council → –Faith / +Agency).

6. Revision Plan

• Marked beats to cut (redundant or irrelevant).
• Marked beats to sharpen (soft turns that need to be decisive).
• Marked spots to add missing beats (especially M decisions).
• Confirmed the scene now ends hotter than it began.

---

XII. Closing – Sarah’s Last Word on Sparks

When the apprentice finished their first Beat Audit, their chapter looked like a battlefield of colored ink. Margins bristled with E, I, M tags. A neat beat sheet lay beside the pages.

They looked up at Sarah, bewildered. “It’s a mess,” they said. “I thought the forge would make it cleaner.”

Sarah picked up the beat sheet, scanned the columns, and smiled; a small, rare thing, like a vein of silver where you expected plain stone.

“It was always this messy,” she said. “Now you can finally see it.”

That’s the gift of the Beat Audit:

• It doesn’t magically fix your chapter.
• It makes the invisible structure visible, so you can fix it on purpose.

You don’t have to audit the whole book at once. Start with:

• One chapter that matters.
• One scene that feels off.

Run the Beat Audit. Learn what your own patterns look like on the page.

Over time, this work changes your drafting, too. You’ll start to feel when a scene is missing a moral beat, or when you’re stacking emotional beats without new information. You’ll hear when a moment needs to turn and build that turn in as you write.

“A story is forged one spark at a time,” Sarah reminds her apprentices. “If you learn to count the sparks, you’ll never again wonder why the metal won’t hold an edge.”

The Beat Audit is your first, sharpest tool in that practice.

From here, you can zoom out to Scene Audits (goal–conflict–outcome), then to sequences, acts, and beyond. But it all starts with this: one chapter, one page, one line at a time. Noticing where something truly changes.

And if it doesn’t?

Well. That’s what hammers are for.