Mystery beat sheet
The usual shape of a whodunit: crime, clues, a wrong answer, then the truth.
Use it with your book's length
How it works
A mystery is a game with the reader. The crime comes early, the clues are fair, and the answer is hidden in plain sight. Somewhere past the middle the sleuth gets it wrong, and that wrong answer makes the real one land harder.
This shape follows the common whodunit pattern. Get to the crime early: mystery readers get restless if the body hasn't shown up by the end of the first few chapters.
Good for: Mystery, cozy mystery, crime and detective stories.
Watch out: Play fair. The reader should have every clue the sleuth used, so the ending feels surprising and also right.
The 10 beats, and where they fall
| Beat | Where | In 80,000 words |
|---|---|---|
| BeforeThe sleuth and their world, before the crime. | 0% | 0 |
| The crimeA body, a theft or a disappearance. Get here early. | 5% to 12% | 4,000 to 9,600 |
| Taking the caseWhy this sleuth has to solve it. | 15% to 20% | 12,000 to 16,000 |
| First suspectsInterviews, clues and lies. Plant the real clue here, in plain sight. | 20% to 40% | 16,000 to 32,000 |
| Midpoint twistA new crime or fact changes the whole picture. | 50% | 40,000 |
| DangerThe killer notices. The sleuth is at risk. | 55% to 70% | 44,000 to 56,000 |
| Wrong answerThe sleuth's theory falls apart, or the wrong person is caught. | 75% | 60,000 |
| It clicksA small detail makes everything fit. | 80% to 85% | 64,000 to 68,000 |
| The revealThe sleuth faces the killer and explains it all. | 85% to 95% | 68,000 to 76,000 |
| AfterJustice, and life going back to a new normal. | 95% to 100% | 76,000 to 80,000 |
The places are rough guides, not rules. Plenty of good books move a beat by a chapter or two. Put in your own word count and chapters to see your book's numbers.
Other story shapes
- Three acts beat sheetThe classic shape. Act 1 sets things up, act 2 is the long middle, act 3 is the end.
- Four acts beat sheetThree acts with the long middle cut in two at the midpoint.
- Five acts beat sheetRising action to a turning point in the middle, then the fall to the end. The shape of Shakespeare's plays.
- Save the Cat beat sheetBlake Snyder's screenwriting beats, as Jessica Brody laid them out for novels.
- Hero's journeyJoseph Campbell's journey, in Christopher Vogler's 12 steps. A good fit for quests and fantasy.
- Heroine's journeyA journey where the lead wins by building a team, not by fighting alone. After Gail Carriger's book.
- Story CircleDan Harmon's eight steps around a circle: you, need, go, search, find, take, return, change.
- Seven-point story beat sheetDan Wells's plan: decide the ending first, then build back to the start.
- 27-chapter methodThree acts, each cut into three blocks of three chapters. Fill in 27 chapters and you have a plan.
- Fichtean curveStart in trouble and never let up. One crisis after another, climbing to the climax.
- KishōtenketsuA four-part shape from China and Japan with no fight at its center: introduce, develop, twist, bring together.
- Romance beat sheetThe usual shape of a love story, in four parts: meet, fall, pull apart, come back together.
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