What a beat is, and how to add, edit and move one

Plan a chapter as a short list of moments, then shape each one.

1. 1

   A beat is one moment in a chapter: an exchange, an action or an image you'll later turn into prose. A chapter is a list of beats, and building the chapter writes its prose from them.

2. 2

   On the Timeline, expand a chapter. In an empty chapter, click Add the first beat. To add one after an existing beat, expand that beat and click New beat in the row under it, or click a dot on the line between two beats.

   

3. 3

   Expand a beat to edit it: its title, mode, point of view, what happens, and AI Prose Guidance, notes for the AI that readers never see. Subtext & State holds what goes unsaid. Changes save on their own.

4. 4

   Move a beat with the up and down arrows at its left edge. To move it to another chapter, expand it and click Move to chapter….

5. 5

   To delete a beat, expand it, click Delete beat, then Yes, delete.

6. 6

   On a phone, press and hold a beat for a menu with Edit, Add beat after, Move up, Move down, Move to chapter… and Delete beat.

Steps checked against the Studio on November 11, 2026.