What I Learned From Save the Cat! Writes A Novel
Years ago, when I first heard about Save the Cat, I understood that saving the cat meant once you slash slash slash all the fluff out of your manuscript … make sure you save the cat.
Make sure you don’t throw out the guts of the story.
Ummmm. Boy did I get it wrong.
According to author Jessica Brody in Save the Cat! Writes a Book, the originator of Save the Cat! Blake Synder suggests (and I paraphrase here) if your protagonist is a bit of a douch-bag make them do something admirable so that readers will root for them, e.g. save a cat from peril.
What else did I learn from Jessica Brody in Save the Cat! Writes a Book?
But first, why did I pick it up?
My writing group wants to discuss it early in the new year. Egad! Guess what I read all Boxing Day?
In short, Save the Cat! Writes a Book is broken out in three sections:
1) It explains the guideposts that every story should have, and in most cases, does have and why, and encourages you to ask questions of your story as you move through its Acts. For example, what does my hero need? What is at risk if my hero fails, and everything goes tits up? Jessica calls these beats and lays them out like a road map to your treasured story.
2) She presents 10 standard genres to show you that your story probably lands perfectly into one. She then gives examples of popular best-selling fiction and walks you through those stories to showcase how they fit into each of the 10. Never read Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, The BFG by Roald Dahl, or Misery by Stephen King? Spoiler alert: these are all stories about a ‘Dude With A Problem’. Yup ‘Dude With A Problem’ is a genre.
Having examined the map that she provides for the 10 genres, you can easily see if your story is a ‘Fool Triumphant- Victory of the Underdog à la Bridget Jones’s Diary, or ‘Institutionalized — Join ’Em, Leave ’Em, or Take ’Em Down!’ à la The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
3) In the final section she explains what you need in your logline to tell the whole story in about 4 lines. This may serve as a back-jacket blurb or how you would describe your story in a 2-minute interview. It may serve as your pitch.
What’s your story about?
Are you sure?
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel was the first summary I prepared for my 2023 series Writers on Writing. Find 9 additional summaries of works capturing writers on writing, from my 2023 series here.
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