Give life to your story.

What is the Heartbeat of a Story?

The Heartbeat is the emotional arc. It’s the way the main character changes internally from the beginning of the story to the end: perspectives, beliefs, values, desires, fears, and so on. Finding, strengthening, and applying this arc is essential to engaging a reader. Even with exciting plot events, it’s possible for a reader not to care at all what happens to your characters. But if we show them the Heartbeat of Your Story, we tap into the shared emotions of the human experience and give them a story they’ll remember long after they turn the final page.

As a writing coach, I teach that three things work together to create the Heartbeat of a Story: what the writer is trying to say, how the character begins and ends the story emotionally, and the turning points along the way that facilitate that growth. To learn more about my coaching services, click here! »