Am I right in concluding that a although a Scene can show up on multiple boards, it can only show up on one beat sheet? This is relevant for writing a novel with multiple beat sheets (one for each main character).
Hi, @jww! I think to understand what you mean I'd have to have a deeper understanding of what you are attempting to accomplish. Is this a series of novels, told by multiple characters? Is it a novel where each character has a journey and transformation, and therefore would go through the beats? For example, if you have two or three characters, and they share the beats (like in Harry Potter), then there would be one beat sheet that encompasses the entire story. However, if you are telling a story and bouncing back and forth between characters, I think it would be possible to let them "share" the beats (you just might have a longer Fun and Games or Debate section, as there are more scenes to tell).
The beat sheet is basically there to help you plan. So, if you are writing one novel but moving from viewpoint to viewpoint, you could conceivably write out a separate beat sheet for each character to explore how he or she is dealing with the Catalyst. They might share some of the same beats, and in the end, come together. Overall, though, the key thing is to give your characters transformation and growth. If you haven't read it yet, I highly suggest Jessica Brody's book Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Her insights are invaluable.
Thank you @cory. What you say makes sense. The situation is one novel with multiple POV characters and arcs. I have read the book, and think "The Help" example sheds light on what I am trying to achieve.
My question was more of a software question about whether I can get the same scene to show up on multiple beat sheets, and I think the implementation just doesn't do this. The goal would be for the "intersection" scenes to show up on the appropriate (multiple) beat sheets.
Now that I describe this to you, I think I can emulate it by using one beat sheet and multiple Boards; or if I have to I can just filter by character arc to see one character at a time on board and beat sheet. So really I am exploring a software issue relating to 1 beat sheet per character, but some intersection scenes that show up for multiple characters.
Tech support here. In reviewing how things currently work, if you add a new blank beat sheet or copy a beat sheet, it makes a new board with a whole new set of scene cards that are not linked across the beat sheets. Within a beat sheet, if you make a new blank board, all the scene cards from the original board will show up in the Litter Box so you can use them on the new board if you want to. Or, if you make a copy of the board, it will have all the original scene cards from the original board. You can move them around on the new board to suit that version of your story. If you change the description, for example, in one of the scene cards, that change will appear on the other board. The scene cards are one and the same. They are not a copy. The location on the board is stored separately. If you add a new scene card on one of the boards, it will be added to the Litter Box of the other boards.
Unfortunately, for what you are trying to do, the scene cards are not linked across multiple beat sheets.
Your best bet may be as you described. You drag each character onto the board in multiple places to track their arc/pov across the beats then filter the board on that character to focus on that particular character's story. Since you can drag and drop multiple characters into scenes, when you filter the board on a character, those scenes will also remain on the board.