Online Tool Store
Story Beat Sheet Builder
Fill in a standard 15-beat story structure (opening image, catalyst, midpoint, finale, ...) with your own notes and export it as a formatted outline.
🔒 This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your files are never uploaded to a server.
How Story Beat Sheet Builder works
- A complete sample story ("The Long Way Home") loads pre-filled across all 15 beats, so you can see how each beat function fits together before writing your own.
- Replace the title and each beat's textarea with notes for your own story — a short hint under each label explains what that beat needs to accomplish.
- Click "Copy outline" to copy the whole thing as formatted text, or "Download outline" to save it as a .txt file.
The 15 beats — Opening Image, Theme Stated, Set-Up, Catalyst, Debate, Break Into Two, B Story, Fun and Games, Midpoint, Bad Guys Close In, All Is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Break Into Three, Finale, and Final Image — are Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat" structure, a standard reference for planning a three-act story's turning points before drafting.
FAQ
What structure are the 15 beats based on?
The "Save the Cat" beat sheet popularised by screenwriter Blake Snyder — a widely used template in both screenwriting and novel planning that breaks a three-act structure into 15 specific story functions, from the Opening Image through the Final Image.
Do I have to fill in every beat before exporting?
No — any beat left blank exports as "(not filled in)" so you can see at a glance which parts of the outline still need work. The sample story is filled in completely so you can see the finished shape, but you're free to clear fields you haven't planned yet.
What format does the exported outline use?
A plain .txt file with your story title as a header, followed by each beat's numbered label and your notes underneath — readable in any text editor and easy to paste into a script, novel outline, or project-management tool without reformatting.
How we compare
| Feature | Online Tool Store | Doing it manually | A generic online tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| No file upload — runs in your browser | ✓ | N/A | ✗ |
| No sign-up required | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free, no watermark | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
A screenwriting suite bundles a beat sheet behind a paid subscription and a document format you can't easily reuse elsewhere. This tool gives you the same 15-beat structure as a plain text export — no account, no lock-in, and a fully worked example to learn the structure from.