In various articles I have come across the term "Beats" in fiction writing. I have not come across a definition. I've looked quite a few places for some explanation. I think it is different for novels or fiction than it is for poetry or music writing. Has anyone heard of this? Perhaps there are some writing teachers out there who know?

thanks FB

I wasn't familiar with the term, so I did a search. What I came up with was this:A beat is when you use a phrase to describe the character's reaction or movements, where you would normally put a speech tag. Unlike fancy substitute tags, beats help you build the scene, because you can use them to add to the reader's knowledge of the character, to reveal reactions, or to keep the action moving.
From Tips for writing effective dialogue in fiction (http://www.helium.com/tm/418033/dialogue-important-element-fiction). The page also gives examples.

Basically it's another way of showing rather than telling, tailored to dialog. Instead of telling the reader who said what line, you indicate it by showing the other person reacting to what was just said.

i understand now. use them all the time. didnt know there was a word for it.. i thought it was just making the scene.

thanks, I use them more than speech attributions. Like jj3125 , I didn't know that was called anything special. For some reason I thought they were pauses, or words that rhymed or something like the "beat poets"

A BEAT, smallest element of structure, is an exchange of behavior in action/reaction. Beat by Beat these changing behaviors shape the turning of a SCENE.

From:

part 2: The Element of Story
2. The Structure Spectrum pgs. 31 to 42
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee, Harper Collins., © 1997

The best book I've read on writing.