Save the Cat! Writes a Novel
Page 3
Are you sure?
I ask because the answer could easily make or break your novel. The hero is our guide to your fictional world. It’s who the reader will use to track the progress of the story. And by story, I don’t just mean the various external plot points; I mean the transformation. The important stuff. The internal journey. Your hero is who the reader will turn to when trying to figure out, What is this novel really about?
The marriage between plot and hero is essential. A bad marriage can equal a bad novel. So how do we ultimately choose the perfect hero?
Whether you’re writing a novel with one, two, three, or more main characters, I still think it’s essential to narrow down one true hero. Yes, all main characters should have compelling and complete character arcs, but whose is the biggest? Who has the furthest to go? Who has the most to gain from being the hero of this novel? And who is the most resistant to the change?
When reading other novels with more than one main character, the hero can often be identified as the character who first appears in the story. Or if the story is told from multiple points of view, whose point of view do we read first? This is essentially the author introducing you to your guide.
In The Help by Kathryn Stockett (whose full beat sheet can be found on this page), we’re introduced to three main characters—Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter—but it’s Aibileen we meet first. And although all three characters grow and learn something by the end, I believe it’s Aibileen who changes the most. She starts out as a maid in 1960s Mississippi—oppressed as a black woman, alone, broken, and mourning the loss of her son. Unlike Minny, who already speaks her mind enough to often get herself in trouble, Aibileen is aware of the injustices in her world but starts out unwilling to take any risks to change them. By the end of the story, however, she’s completely transformed. Which is evident in the memorable and satisfying scene when Aibileen finally stands up to the insufferable Hilly Holbrook.
Likewise, in The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty, we’re also introduced to three main characters—Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel—but it’s Cecilia we meet first. It’s Cecilia who has to deal most profoundly with the aftermath of the earth-shattering secret her husband has been keeping. Although the secret affects all three women, it’s Cecilia’s husband who’s referred to in the title of the novel, making her the obvious choice for the novel’s true hero.
If you’re writing a story with multiple main characters and/or multiple points of view and you’re still having problems figuring out who the hero is, or whose arc is the biggest, try asking yourself, Which of my main characters is most like my reader?
Now, that’s not to say all heroes have to fit this description. But there’s a reason that Harry Potter came from the Muggle world. There’s a reason that Winston in 1984 by George Orwell was pretty much an average guy with an average job. Or that Edward, the vampire, isn’t the hero of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer—it’s Bella, the human. As readers, we can relate to these people more.
EXERCISE: IS MY HERO STORY-WORTHY?
Who is the hero of your story?
What is their big problem or flaw (bonus points if they have more than one!). Remember, flaws start internally (from that metaphorical shard of glass) and manifest into external problems in your hero’s life.
How is this problem or flaw affecting your hero’s life/world?
What is causing this problem or flaw? What is the shard of glass? (Time to psychoanalyze, Dr. Author!)
At the start of the novel, what does your hero want? What is their goal? (What do they think will fix their life?)
How has your hero been actively pursuing this goal?
Why haven’t they achieved this goal yet? (This roadblock can be internal, external, or both!)
What does your hero actually need? What is their life lesson? (What will really fix their life?)
CHECK YOURSELF!
❏ Does your chosen hero change more than any other character in the novel?
❏ Is your hero’s problem or flaw specific?
❏ Does the hero’s problem or flaw create a desperate need for change?
❏ Is your hero’s goal tangible and concrete? (Will we, as readers, know when or if they achieve it?)
❏ Is there something standing in the way of your hero achieving that goal? (If not, the goal is too easy!)
❏ Is your hero’s need (or life lesson) universal? Would a random person on the street understand it?
* Names and plot specifics have been changed to protect students’ identities and ideas.
The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet
aka The End of All Your Plotting Problems
WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING BOOKS:
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, The Martian by Andy Weir, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, Memory Man by David Baldacci, 1984 by George Orwell, Room by Emma Donoghue, Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
So, you’ve got your hero. You’ve flawed them up good. You’ve given them a strong, compelling want and an even more compelling need that readers will resonate with. Now what?
Well, to put it simply, now we figure out what to do with this beautifully flawed character of yours. Where are they going? What is their big journey? What is their most perfect plot?
In other words: WHAT THE HECK HAPPENS IN THIS NOVEL?
That’s right, friends. We’ve reached the famous Save the Cat! Beat Sheet.
I like to think of writing a novel as a long cross-country road trip. It feels daunting when you’re sitting in your car in San Francisco, knowing you have to get all the way to New York. It almost makes you not ever want to leave. Starting a novel is just as daunting.
“I have to write how many pages?”
But we can’t think of it like that. We can’t say we’re going to get in our car, turn the key in the ignition, and drive three thousand miles. Otherwise we’ll never start. We have to break down the road trip into smaller chunks. We have to set road markers for ourselves—little goals along the way to keep us on the right route, and make us feel like we’ve accomplished something at the end of the day or week (or month or year).
That’s why when I get into my car to start a road trip, I say to myself, “Today, you only have to get from San Francisco to Reno. Tomorrow, you only have to get from Reno to Salt Lake City.” And so on and so forth.
Well, that’s essentially what the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet is. It’s a map. It’s a series of road markers we lay out for ourselves so we’re not roaming aimlessly around the country (or the book, as it were), not knowing how far we’ve gone, how close we are to the finish line, or if we’re even heading in the right direction! The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet breaks down the daunting task of writing a three-hundred-, four-hundred-, or even five-hundred-page novel into bite-size, achievable goals. These goals help keep us in line and on the right path toward our final destination: a satisfying end to the novel with a satisfying character transformation.
I know you novelists. I am one. We like our detours. We love venturing off on our little five-page explorations of poppy fields or the saga-worthy backstory of the hero’s ex-girlfriend’s grandfather’s brother-in-law.
Fortunately, that’s why you have me. And this book. To keep you on course.
Regardless of whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, whether you’re starting something new or revising something old, drafting a beat sheet that lays out a clear transformative journey for your hero will sa
ve you, in the long run, weeks or even months of agony and rewrites.
To this day, I have never been asked by an editor to do a from-page-one rewrite. Sure, I have revisions. I have tweaks to make and scenes to cut and characters to flesh out. But I have never had to start from scratch. Why? Because I did my road mapping. Yes, my beat sheet always changes along the way as I get into the story and learn more about the world and the characters (see this page for an example). But whenever that happens, I pause, pull over to the side of the road, and take a moment to “rebeat” (rewrite my beats to match my new direction) so that I’m never writing without some semblance of a map in front of me.
Your beat sheet (or novel road map) can be as detailed or as sparse as you want. You can use the beat sheet before you start writing, somewhere in the middle when you’re feeling lost, or not until you’ve finished your first draft and are going back to revise. Like I said before, I’m not here to change your process; I’m here to enhance it. The structure has to be added in at some point. And this, my friends, is your structure cheat sheet.
Read it. Learn it. Love it!
The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet is divided into three acts (or parts), which are further subdivided into fifteen total beats (or plot points). Before we break down each beat in detail and get into the nitty-gritty, here’s a quick summary view of all fifteen beats and where they belong in your novel.
ACT 1
1. OPENING IMAGE (0 TO 1%): A “before” snapshot of your hero and their world.
2. THEME STATED (5%): A statement made by a character (typically not the hero) that hints at what the hero’s arc will be (that is, what the hero must learn/discover before the end of the book). Also referred to as a life lesson.
3. SETUP (1% TO 10%): An exploration of the hero’s status quo life and all its flaws, where we learn what the hero’s life looks like before its epic transformation. Here we also introduce other supporting characters and the hero’s primary goal. But most important, we show the hero’s reluctance to change (aka learn the theme) while also hinting at the stakes at risk should the hero not change.
4. CATALYST (10%): An inciting incident (or life-changing event) that happens to the hero, which will catapult them into a new world or new way of thinking. An action beat that should be big enough to prevent the hero from being able to return to their status quo Setup world.
5. DEBATE (10% TO 20%): A reaction sequence in which the hero debates what they will do next. It’s usually presented in the form of a question (such as “Should I go?”). The purpose of this beat is to show the hero’s reluctance to change.
ACT 2
6. BREAK INTO 2 (20%): The moment the hero decides to accept the call to action, leave their comfort zone, try something new, or venture into a new world or new way of thinking. It’s a decisive action beat that separates the status quo world of Act 1 from the new “upside-down” world of Act 2.
7. B STORY (22%): The introduction of a new character or characters who will ultimately serve to help the hero learn the theme. Also referred to as a helper character, this can be a love interest, a nemesis, a mentor, a family member, or a friend.
8. FUN AND GAMES (20% TO 50%): This is where we see the hero in their new world. They’re either loving it or hating it. Succeeding or floundering. Also called the promise of the premise, this section represents the “hook” of the story (why the reader picked up the novel in the first place).
9. MIDPOINT (50%): Literally the middle of the novel, where the Fun and Games culminates in either a false victory (the hero has thus far been succeeding) or a false defeat (the hero has thus far been floundering). Something should happen here to raise the stakes and push the hero toward real change.
10. BAD GUYS CLOSE IN (50% TO 75%): If the Midpoint was a false victory, this section will be a downward path where things get progressively worse for the hero. If the Midpoint was a false defeat, this section will be an upward path where things seem to get progressively better for the hero. But regardless of path, the hero’s deep-rooted flaws (or internal bad guys) are closing in.
11. ALL IS LOST (75%): The lowest point of the novel. An action beat where something happens to the hero that, combined with the internal bad guys, pushes the hero to rock bottom.
12. DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (75% TO 80%): A reaction beat where the hero takes time to process everything that’s happened thus far. The hero should be worse off than at the start of the novel. The darkest hour—just before the dawn—is the moment right before the hero figures out the solution to their big problem and learns the theme or life lesson.
ACT 3
13. BREAK INTO 3 (80%): The “aha!” moment. The hero realizes what they must do to not only fix all of the problems created in Act 2, but more important, fix themselves. The arc is nearly complete.
14. FINALE (80% TO 99%): The hero proves they have truly learned the theme and enacts the plan they came up with in the Break Into 3. Bad guys are destroyed, flaws are conquered, lovers are reunited. Not only is the hero’s world saved, but it’s a better place than it was before.
15. FINAL IMAGE (99% TO 100%): A mirror to the Opening Image, this is the “after” snapshot of who the hero is after going through this epic and satisfying transformation.
So there you have it. The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. This is your blueprint for an engaging, well-structured story with a compelling and complete character arc that will resonate with readers. Don’t worry if the beats seem foreign or confusing right now. This is just the overview. We’re now going to dive into every single one in such great detail you’ll soon be eating, sleeping, and breathing these beats.
And if you’re more of a “learn by example” type of person, fear not! I have provided you with ten (count ’em, ten) full beat sheets from popular novels in the following chapters.
You’re welcome!
What Goes Where
You’ll notice that at the start of each beat I’ve included a handy “beat cheat sheet” (how’s that for a rhyme!) that you can reference at any time to quickly remind you of the beat’s primary purpose and where it goes in your manuscript. Because novels vary greatly in length, I’ve chosen to provide these guidelines as percentages of the total novel (instead of page numbers or word counts).
Here’s a visual representation of how the beat sheet breaks down:
If you need help estimating the total length of your completed novel, these handy tables feature publishing industry standard lengths for middle grade, young adult, and general fiction novels, as well as lengths for a few popular novels.
MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS (READERS 8 TO 12)
WORD COUNT
ESTIMATED MANUSCRIPT PAGE COUNT*
Publishing Industry Standard
40,000 to 60,000
160 to 240
Holes by Louis Sachar
47,079
188
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
73,053
292
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
96,000
384
YOUNG ADULT NOVELS (READERS 12 TO 17)
WORD COUNT
ESTIMATED MANUSCRIPT PAGE COUNT
Publishing Industry Standard
60,000 to 90,000
240 to 360
The Giver by Lois Lowry
43,617
174
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
>
59,900
239
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
99,750
399
GENERAL FICTION NOVELS
(READERS 18 AND UP)
WORD COUNT
ESTIMATED MANUSCRIPT PAGE COUNT
Publishing Industry Standard
70,000 to 100,000
280 to 400
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
86,400
346
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
138,952
556
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
145,719
582
Remember, however, that novels can vary greatly in length, so it’s important that you use these examples only as guidelines. Be flexible. Your novel’s length will change as you write and revise, but it’s always helpful to have a rough estimated word count or page count in mind when you start so you can calculate where each beat goes.
Okay! Are you ready to dive into the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet?
Then, without further ado, let’s beat it out!
Act 1
The three-act structure for writing stories is nothing new. It’s been around forever. But for the sake of the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet, we’re going to look at the three acts not as “acts” but more as “worlds.” Three very different worlds or states of being that the hero will traverse on their way to becoming the person they need to become.