Welcome back! For this chapter, I've put out a huge pile of cupcakes. You're going to need the energy! Help yourselves. Get some tea or coffee, and join me in the writer's lounge.

You're all here! Terrific. Now, let's talk about what is often the bane of a writer's existence: plot.

I don't know about you, but this was the most difficult aspect of story craft for me to "get." Which is kind of strange. Because humans know "story" in their bones. We are conditioned to have expectations from any story, and when it comes to genre fiction, there are even more expectations, also called tropes. But let's set those aside for now and talk about the essence of story.

Background Information (you can skip to the next bit if you don't want to read all this academic stuff!)

You know from previous chapters that a story essentially chronicles the plight of a character who wants something and must overcome obstacles to get it. At the end the character either achieves his goal or does not. But why does this appeal to us? Why do we enjoy reading about characters who must overcome obstacles and prevail?

Professor of Literature, Joseph Campbell outlined the Hero's Journey in his work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, he takes a look at mythology and theorizes that all mythological heroes go through a similar journey:

"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."—Joseph Campell

Humans have evolved as social beings with a powerful sense of community. Stories reinforce and strengthen the social construct. When heroes venture out, take risks, and change, they bring back lessons to the larger community. Everyone benefits. The community survives. This is what stories do for us. They show us the way. They teach us how. And they prove we're not alone. 

Main characters are avatars for readers. A good main character is flawed, as each of us is, but they're also a bit purer of heart than we are. They are aspirational. They take action. And through them, we, as individuals and as a community, thrive.

OK, back to planet earth now so we can talk about Save the Cat!

Save the Cat is a plotting technique created by screenwriter Blake Snyder that echoes Campbell's Hero's Journey. Snyder boiled down the journey into a 15 step plot outline or "beats," which you will find in just about every film (and book). You may not be aware of it, but they're there. In order. And if something is "wrong" with your story, very likely it's because you're missing a beat. Or you have a beat in the wrong place.

There are many tools out there for authors trying to master plot, but none is as easy to understand nor do any offer the structure and flexibility of Save the Cat.

Without further ado, here are the 15 Save the Cat beats. I've included the page numbers that Blake Snyder uses in his book. They correspond to the pages in a 110-page script. Of course most of us aren't writing scripts, we're writing novels. So adjust your page numbers accordingly. For example, if you're writing a 330 page book, your set up would happen by page 30 not page 10.

Save the Cat Beats*

1. Opening Image (1)

2. Theme Stated (5)

3. Set Up (1 -10)

4. Catylyst (page 12)

5. Debate (12-25)

6. Break into two (p. 25) 

7. B Story (30) 

8. Fun and Games (30-55)

9. Midpoint (55) –

10. Bad Guys Close in (55-75)

11. All is Lost (75)

12. Dark Night of the Soul (75-85)

13. Break into three (85)

14. Finale (85-110)

15. Final Image (110)

That's it! If you have all these beats outlined before you start a story, you have a strong structure to hang your story on. For you Pantsers out there, not to worry. You can easily change the plot points you use for your beats. But knowing up front that you have a direction will help your story to stay focused.

Now let's talk briefly about what the beats mean.

ACT I

1. Opening Image - This is the first image your readers see in your story. It's a snapshot of the protagonist before his adventure. It sets the mood and the tone of the story. And here's something very important, the opening image is the inverse of the closing image, beat 15. Why? Because by having these images mirror one another, we can be certain that our hero has undergone change.

2. Theme Stated – The theme of the story is usually spoken out loud to the protagonist by another character. It's stated as an off the cuff remark, nothing in your face. I'm sure many of you had to write essays in school. And what do they always tell you when you write an essay? State your thesis in the first paragraph. The same idea works for fiction. At the beginning tell us your premise. The rest of the story is about examining this premise and either proving or disproving it.

3. Set Up first 10 pages – The beginning of the story is all about telling the reader what's wrong with your protagonist's life. This is where we see why the character must change. Here you will plant character tics, exhibit behaviors that need to change, introduce the characters, and show why and what the protagonist needs to change about his life. Snyder discusses the "6 Things that Need Fixing." It's a list of problems that will likely come into play later in the story.

4. Catylyst (page 12) – This is the first time in your story something changes for your main character. It's the wake up call. "Your life sucks, buddy." The character is being "called to adventure." But who wants to do that? No one. The status quo is usually easier. It will seem like the catalyst is a bad thing that happens to disturb the peace (and metaphorical death) of your protagonist, but by the end of the story, we will see it as a blessing. If not for the catalyst, the character would never have changed his life.

5. Debate (12-25) – Okay, so the catalyst happens. But very few people would respond to leaving the "safety" of their lives and embark on something unknown. What is logical then is for the hero to have a debate about it. To say: This is crazy. Should I go? Dare I go? Sure it's dangerous, but what's my choice? Stay here? The debate must answer a question: should I or shouldn't I?

ACT II

6. Break into two (p. 25) – Once the character decides to take the leap, we jump into act two. While ACT I is the old world, ACT II is the new world. And it often is a whole new world. A magical world, a move to a new place. It is the antithesis of the world in ACT I. It's also important that your protagonist has made a conscious decision to step into this new world. This is how you make sure your character has agency.  

7. B – Story (30) – Very often in once the main character lands in a new place, they meet a new person or set of characters. It can be a love interest. Or a new buddy. It's a little break for the reader from the intensity of ACT I. The B-story character is usually someone who has already learned the lessons that the main character needs to learn. So just because you're in a subplot, this doesn't mean you've abandoned your thesis. The B-plot supports the theme of your story.

8. Fun and Games (30-55) – Promise of the Premise. This is the fun part of the story. When you're watching a movie trailer, most likely the scenes they're showing you are from this beat.  For example, if you have a story called The Girl Who Removed Dragon Tattoos, you would ask yourself, what is this story about? Well, it's about a girl who goes out and removes people's dragon tattoos. How would she do that? Well, maybe she has some kind of magical device and she goes out in the night, breaks into people's homes and zaps away their tattoos. She encounters all kinds of crazy stuff along the way. Hilarity ensues. The stakes are usually not raised in this beat. They're essentially set pieces. You get to play with your premise here. Have fun, and so will your reader!

9. Midpoint (55) – As the name implies, this is the middle of your story. The fun and games are over. Something happens to raise the stakes. Time to get serious again. It is usually a false victory or a false defeat. A false victory would be an event where the main character thinks the story is over and he's won. He got the girl. The new job. The blue ribbon. But it turns out later, that the character's life is not solved. He still has a long way to go. (An entire half of the story.) Because he hasn't learned all the lessons he needs to along the way. He has not fully changed. A false defeat is one where the character thinks he's failed. Might as well give up. There's no coming back. But this is also not true. The important thing about the midpoint is that, like the opening and closing images, it also has a flip-side in the All is Lost beat. If the midpoint is a false victory, then the All is Lost beat will be a defeat. And vice versa.

10. Bad Guys Close in (55-75) – Blake Snyder says this as the most difficult beat to grasp. But you can do it! Let's say at the midpoint your Dragon Tattoo remover is having a grand old time removing tattoos. As a matter of fact, she's removed them all! At the midpoint she thinks she's beaten the Dragon Tattooist, whom she loathes. But, he closes in on her. He finds her magical device and destroys it. This is the beat where the bad guys come back into the picture. They show their teeth. And this time, they're loaded for bear. They're more formidable than ever.

11. All is Lost (75) – This is the beat that is the opposite of the midpoint in terms of victory or defeat. It looks like the character is done for. Mr. Snyder also includes something in this beat called the whiff of death. This can be something as simple as a dying plant or as huge as a pile of dead bodies. It's a metaphorical indication that the main character has experienced a "death." The character's old life is gone for real. It has died. This is primal, and your reader will respond at a deep level.

12. Dark Night of the Soul (75-85) – The darkness before the dawn moment. The main character is at his low point. He's definitely lost this time. 

ACT III

13. Break into three (85) – But then, here comes the solution! A solution that the protagonist could never had come up with before undergoing the journey in the story. A lot of times it's the B-story character who has planted something in the protagonist's mind that helps him come up with a solution. This is the moment where the A and B stories converge. Now we're entering the world of synthesis.

14. Finale (85-110) – This is where all the lessons the hero has learned along the way come into play. The bad guys are defeated, usually in ascending order. So the minions are taken out before the big bad. The castle is stormed. The hero has learned the lessons he must to face the bad guys and prevail.

15. Final Image (110) – The final image is, as stated earlier, the opposite of the opening image. It shows the hero in the new world. It's often the opposite in terms of tone as well. So if your opening image is the main character alone, soaking wet from a rainstorm, the ending image might be the character in the sunshine surrounded by people she loves. The character has definitely changed. The world has changed. And nothing will ever be the same.

OK, I think that's enough for you to absorb in one chapter. Next week I will show you an application of Save the Cat in one of my own novels and answer the question "why 'Save the Cat?'" In the meantime, go to savethecat.com to read more. There are lots of examples of films and books broken down into these beats. It's pretty amazing.

Also, I highly recommend Blake Snyder's Save the Cat and Jessica Brody's Save the Cat Writes a Novel.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you find these chapters helpful, and as always, I'm here to answer your questions.

*If you'd like me to send you a Word doc of these beats, DM me and I'll email it to you.

I've dedicated this chapter to jwells1213 because I am so grateful for his kind words.