Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

  But before your hero can go anywhere, or become anyone, they need a place to begin. That is the purpose of the Act 1 world. It is the thesis world, or the “status quo” world. It is designed to show the reader of your novel what your hero’s life and world look like before everything starts to change. And change it will! But unless the reader understands where your hero has been, they won’t fully appreciate who your hero will eventually become.

  So let’s show ’em!

  1. OPENING IMAGE

  WHAT DOES IT DO? Provides a quick “before” snapshot of your hero and their world.

  WHERE DOES IT GO? 1% (This is the first scene or chapter of your novel.)

  In simplest terms, the Opening Image is a “before” snapshot. It’s a scene or chapter that depicts your hero’s life before you’ve gotten in there as the writer to shake things up. This beat helps the reader of your story understand exactly what kind of journey they’re about to go on and who they’re about to go on it with.

  The Opening Image also sets the book’s tone, style, and mood. If it’s a funny book, this beat should be funny. If it’s a suspenseful book, this beat should be—surprise!—suspenseful. This is where your voice (or writing style) as the author shines bright and gives the reader a clear picture of what they’re getting into.

  But above all else, the Opening Image is an image. Yes, that sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many writers in my workshops don’t really grasp this right away. It should be a visual representation of your hero’s flawed life.

  So what does that mean? It means, open your novel with something active. There’s a reason it’s not called the Opening Inner Monologue or the Opening Info Dump. We should see your flawed hero in action.

  Remember all those flaws you jotted down in chapter 1, when we created our story-worthy heroes? Well, here’s where you pick one (or two, or three) and show us how those flaws are screwing up your hero’s life. Is your hero meek and lacking confidence? Well, don’t just tell us about it. Show your hero being meek and lacking confidence with a specific visual scene.

  After reading the Opening Image, the reader should be gripping your book, thinking Aha! So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? I’m in!

  Think about the first two pages of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Katniss Everdeen wakes up in her house in District 12 on the day of the “reaping” and sneaks out to hunt so her family can eat. In this Opening Image we immediately start to understand her life and the challenges she faces.

  Or look at the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. On page 1, we’re immediately thrown into an argument between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (the parents of the hero, Elizabeth Bennet). The argument is all about whether or not Mr. Bennet will introduce himself to the handsome eligible bachelor who has just moved into the neighborhood. This comical argument gives us a quick taste of the pressures Elizabeth is dealing with as a young woman in nineteenth-century England.

  The Opening Image of Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is just as effective. We see, in a very humorous light, Becky Bloomwood opening and reacting to her Visa bill, so we know (1) this character has some serious problems with personal finances and (2) this book is going to be a riot!

  The Opening Image has a mirror beat (or an opposite beat) called the Final Image, the very last beat of the novel. If the Opening Image shows us where the hero begins, the Final Image shows us where the hero ends. They are bookends of the transformative journey. And you should make them as different as possible. Otherwise, where did the hero go? What was the point of reading this story? The further apart your Opening Image and Final Image are, the more worthwhile the story. It’s as simple as that.

  It’s important to note that the Opening Image is a single scene or chapter. It’s one piece of information. Katniss’s morning routine. The argument at the Bennet house. Which is why I call it a single-scene beat. There will be other beats that we’ll come across along the way that are multi-scene beats, meaning they span across several scenes and chapters. As we work our way through the beat sheet, I will always tell you whether or not the beat is a single-scene or a multi-scene beat.

  2. THEME STATED

  WHAT DOES IT DO? Briefly alludes to the transformative journey that your hero will take and the flaw or flaws they will eventually conquer.

  WHERE DOES IT GO? 5% (or somewhere within the first 10% of the novel)

  Essentially, the Theme Stated is the hero’s need or life lesson, somehow hinted at up front in the story (often by a secondary character).

  If that sounds like mumbo jumbo to you, let me put it more simply:

  Somewhere in Act 1 (usually within the Setup beat), a character (usually not the hero) will make a statement or pose a question to your hero that somehow relates to what the hero needs to learn by the end of the story. Like this: “Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of,” stated by Preacher Casy to Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (page 24). Or “Mom is always saying I’m a smart kid but that I just don’t ‘apply’ myself,” written in Greg Heffley’s journal in The Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (page 14). Or even something as simple as, “What exactly do you want to do with your life?” stated by Camilla Traynor to Louisa Clark in Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (page 22).

  And what do you know? By the end of all of these stories, the hero learns these exact themes. Tom Joad learns how to go from independent (someone who looks out mostly for himself) to selfless (someone who looks out for others). Greg learns a valuable lesson in responsibility. And Louisa learns how to take control of her life and live it for her (not for anyone else).

  Whatever life lesson your hero has to learn, whatever epic transformation your hero has to make, it should be subtly mentioned within the first 10 percent of your story. You don’t want to shout it from the rooftops or spend five pages delving into it. You just want to delicately plant the seed in the reader’s brain. It’s writer manipulation at its best. And don’t we writers just love to manipulate?

  Basically, by having a character subtly state the theme of the novel, you are giving the reader a subconscious hint as to what your story is really going to be about.

  Because although yes, your book can have all sorts of epic space battles or fantasy monsters or swoon-worthy love scenes, if your story is not about something, if it doesn’t go deeper into what it means to be human, it’s just not worth reading.

  So what is your story about?

  Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s about transformation!

  It’s about taking an imperfect hero and making them a little less imperfect.

  What will it take to make your hero a little less imperfect? Well, that’s your theme. And now someone’s gotta state it.

  The Theme Stated is a single-scene beat. It usually comes and goes very quickly. The theme is stated and then the story moves on. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a person who states the theme. Although that’s more common, I sometimes see themes stated on a billboard the hero passes or in a book or magazine the hero is reading. You can be creative in how you state your theme, just as long as you state it.

  Now, don’t let the word “theme” confuse you. For the sake of the beat sheet, the theme refers directly to your hero’s need or life lesson.

  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, for example, has many themes (in the generic sense of the word): love, marriage, wealth, class, and so on. But the Theme Stated, as it pertains to the beat sheet, comes on page 16 when Elizabeth’s younger sister Mary says, “Pride is a very common failing, I believe.” She then explains why pride is found in all of us and therefore should not be judged too harshly. This is a direct reference to Elizabeth Bennet’s life lesson of learning to curb her prejudice. But does Elizabeth listen and take heed? No! Mary is subsequently ignored by everyone in the room.

  And this is what I love about the Theme S
tated.

  The hero often ignores it!

  So, there’s your flawed hero. They’re traipsing around the Act 1 world, being flawed, making stupid decisions, generally leading an imperfect life, and then someone (usually a secondary character) comes up to them and says, “You know what would really fix your life? This!”

  Your hero is essentially presented with the answer to all of their problems right there at the beginning of the book. But do they listen?

  Of course not!

  They completely, 100-percent ignore this person. Because at the start of the novel, your hero is resistant to change. They hear the theme stated and they go, “What the heck does he know? He doesn’t know me.” That’s why it’s often best to have the theme stated by a secondary character—a passerby, a fellow traveler on the bus, a nemesis—as opposed to someone close to your hero. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule, but it’s easier for a reader to believe that the hero would ignore the theme if it’s stated by a stranger or someone the hero doesn’t necessarily know or trust.

  But what is your hero going to learn by the end of the book? That very theme that was stated so early in the story. Which means they had the answer to their problems the whole time; they just refused to listen!

  Having your hero ignore the theme makes your hero realistic. People rarely change because someone tells them to change. People change only when they can see their flaws for themselves. When they’ve been through some sort of transformative journey and come out on the other side having finally realized the truth. That is the essence of being human.

  So our job as writers is to create that believable transformative journey that will allow our heroes to see the truth, recognize their flaws, and take action to fix them.

  Take a look at the sample beat sheets in chapters 4–13 for some more examples of the Theme Stated beat in action!

  Okay, so by now you might be getting a little freaked out, feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of coming up with an epic life-changing theme to put in your novel. But let me ease your fears a bit.

  Remember in the last chapter, when, before anything else, I forced you to think about who your hero is, why they’re flawed, and what they need to learn by the end of the story?

  Well, that need you came up with? That life lesson I made you brainstorm? That is your theme. You already have it.

  Huzzah! Now you just need to figure out how the theme is stated and who states it.

  3. SETUP

  WHAT DOES IT DO? Sets up your hero’s life and their status quo world before everything changes.

  WHERE DOES IT GO? 1% to 10% (This beat usually takes up the first tenth of the novel.)

  In the Opening Image, you gave the reader a glimpse of what to expect in this story. A small sliver of the hero’s life. Now it’s time to show us the rest of the hero’s world.

  The Setup is a multi-scene beat. Meaning you get several scenes or chapters to accomplish all that you need to accomplish in the Setup. And get ready, because it’s a lot.

  First and foremost, you need to set up your hero. What kind of person are they? What kind of character tics do they have? What do they want? It’s very important that your hero have a goal. We talked about wants and goals in chapter 1. Your hero has to be actively pursuing something when the book begins. Even if it’s not something they’ll pursue throughout the entire story, something has to be there from the start. This is the thing your hero thinks will fix their life. Will it actually fix their life? Of course not! Because it’s their want, not their need. And, as I explained in the Theme Stated beat, the need (or life lesson) is what will really fix the hero’s life in the end. They just don’t know it…yet.

  In the Setup is where you’ll introduce everyone who exists within your hero’s Act 1, status quo world. These can be friends, family, bosses, coworkers, teachers, enemies, fellow students, peers, and so on. Basically anyone who is important when the story begins, before your hero’s life changes. These are also called the A Story characters, because they represent the A Story (or external story) of the novel. (As opposed to the B Story character[s]—we’ll meet them later.)

  Finally, the Setup is where you show your hero’s flaws in all of their glory. How do these flaws affect all aspects of the hero’s life? A hero who is greedy and selfish isn’t only greedy and selfish at work. They’re greedy and selfish at home too. And with their friends. And with their family. The best way to show this is to include scenes or chapters that take place at home, work, and play. This means you may want to take time in your Setup to show your hero at home (with family, with spouse, with kids, or maybe alone in their apartment), at work (in the workplace, at their job, or at school), and at play (how your hero unwinds with friends or by themselves). Think about when we first meet Becky Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Not only are her finances a mess because of her shopping addiction, but she hates her job (work), she’s just broken up with her boyfriend (play), and she lies to her roommate and her parents about her money situation (home). The more we see your hero in different aspects of their life, the better we will understand them as people.

  Remember, your hero’s life can’t be perfect. Otherwise, where do we go from here? What’s the point of reading this novel? Your hero’s world needs to be riddled with problems. In the world of Save the Cat!, these problems are referred to as the things that need fixing. Basically, it’s a laundry list (however long you want) of things that are wrong with the hero’s life. She’s lonely, doesn’t communicate with her father, and has no friends (Opal in Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo). She’s an orphan with an evil guardian, gets locked in a scary room with scary things, and has a foster brother who bullies her (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë). His whole family was murdered and the killer got away, he’s lost his job and his health is failing, and he has a rare brain condition that never allows him to forget anything (Amos Decker in Memory Man by David Baldacci). She’s lost her job and has no real skills to get another one, her family relies heavily on her income, and she has a boyfriend who bores her (Me Before You by Jojo Moyes).

  The possibilities are endless, but the objective is the same: to make the reader understand why this person needs to go on a journey of transformation. Because clearly things aren’t working out in this status quo world of Act 1.

  The things that need fixing all will reappear throughout the rest of the story. They will serve as checkpoints along the journey to demarcate change. As we move through the story, we check in on these things and ask, What about now? Does he still hate his job? Is she still being bullied? Is his family still hungry? If some of these things don’t start changing along the way, then we know we’re not doing enough to transform our hero and their world.

  Wow. That’s a lot of work to do in the Setup! But it’s important, ground-laying work that I guarantee will make for a better and more satisfying read in the long run.

  But we can’t stay in the Setup forever, any more than your hero can stay in their status quo world forever. If you’ve done your job well, you’ve already been hinting at the need for change. And your reader is already getting the sense that if something doesn’t happen soon to bring about that change, this hero is pretty much doomed.

  Think about the moment in Me Before You right after Louisa loses her job. Her father says to her mother, “There are no bloody jobs, Josie…We’re in the middle of a bloody recession” (page 9). Or the scene in Jane Eyre when she gets locked in the seemingly haunted red room by Mrs. Reed, freaks out, and then faints from her fright. Or the moment in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton when Ponyboy and his friends are walking with Cherry and Marcia and a fight almost breaks out with the Socs. Ponyboy says, “I felt the tension growing inside of me and I knew something had to happen, or I would explode” (page 43).

  This is called the stasis = death moment. It’s the moment that comes somewhere in the Setup beat that shows the reade
r that change is imperative; otherwise, things are going south. Fast.

  Whether you employ a specific stasis = death moment or you just impart a general sense of urgency, without the obvious need for change in the hero’s life, it’s difficult to get your reader to continue on the rest of the journey with you. So it’s your job, in the Setup, to plant the seed in the reader’s mind that change is crucial. That staying in this status quo world for much longer just isn’t an option.

  Something needs to happen.

  Enter…the Catalyst.

  4. CATALYST

  WHAT DOES IT DO? Disrupts the status quo world with a life-changing event.

  WHERE DOES IT GO? 10% (or earlier)

  Congratulations. You’ve done a fantastic job constructing your hero’s life and world. Giving them flaws and character tics and friends and family and a tangible goal. Bringing to life a realistic world that your reader can really sink their teeth into.

  Now it’s time to knock it all down.

  A dead body is found at the museum (The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown), the king proposes (The White Queen by Philippa Gregory), a professional football team is bequeathed to an unsuspecting daughter (It Had to Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips), a dying girl meets a quirky boy at a cancer support group (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green), an arrest is made on an eighteen-month-old cold case (Memory Man by David Baldacci), a woman gets a job as caretaker for a quadriplegic man (Me Before You by Jojo Moyes), a young girl meets a stray dog (Because of Winn-Dixie), an innocent boy is shot by the police (The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas).

  These are all harbingers of change. The Catalyst will crash land in your hero’s life and create so much destruction, your hero will have no choice but to do something different. Try something new. Go somewhere else.