Beat Placement
Turning points and midpoint landing at their right relative positions, with structure shaped to theme consciously.
The five levels
Each anchor describes what separates one level from the next — not a general description of quality. This is the text the evaluator itself reads.
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Level 1 Below Standard
No discernible structure — events in sequence without architecture.
Example A story beginning and ending with no turning points.
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Level 2 Approaching
Beginning/middle/end exist but proportions are off (bloated first act).
Example Two-thirds setup and a third of events.
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Level 3 At Standard
Turning points and midpoint at their roughly correct positions.
Example An early inciting incident and a midpoint reversing direction.
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Level 4 Above Standard
Rhythmically tight structure, each beat preparing the next.
Example An early plant harvested precisely at the climax.
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Level 5 Excellence
Structure shaped to theme consciously (delaying the hook to serve meaning), not blind template-following.
Example A non-linear structure serving a theme of fragmented memory.
Where does your own work sit on these levels?
Submit one work to be read against this criterion alone: your position across the five levels, why you are not higher and why not lower, three literal quotes from your own work, and one exercise with its success check. Your first card is free.
Price: 7 SAR · Included in Pro & Artist Plus · First one free — Pricing details
Read my work by this criterionOther criteria in the same art
Building story according to: setup, confrontation, resolution
The five levels →Separating what the character outwardly pursues (want) from what they inwardly need, and the tension between them.
The five levels →Building main character with motivations, problems, and transformation
The five levels →Creating anticipation making reader want to know what happens
The five levels →Building external and internal conflicts that intertwine to enrich the drama
The five levels →Moments that shift the story's course and raise its stakes irreversibly
The five levels →The ending's ability to close the story and leave a lasting impression
The five levels →Does each scene turn a dramatic value (+ to − or vice versa)? A scene that changes nothing is a dead scene.
The five levels →