Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

  Because we all know road trips aren’t about the final destination, whether that be a landmark, prize, trophy, or other physical thing. No, the road trip is about the great adventure! The quest! The pit stops, the detours, the drama!

  But most of all, road trips are about what we discover along the way…about ourselves. At least that’s what any great road trip novel should be about. But before you turn the page and continue to the next genre, thinking, I’m not writing a road trip story, you may want to hold on for a second. Sure, there are many great road trip novels that fall into this genre—like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain—but there are also several other non–road trip varieties that also fit into this adventurous genre. Under the Golden Fleece umbrella, we also get the pleasure of reading heist stories, in which the “road trip” is usually the road leading up to the great scheme and the third act is usually the heist itself. Some well-known examples include Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Heist Society by Ally Carter, The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton, and Prince of Thieves (later adapted as the movie The Town) by Chuck Hogan.

  The Golden Fleece genre also includes Epic Quest novels, where the “road trip” is a journey to some far-off treasure, prize, or birthright—like The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien and A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. (Apparently, you need two Rs in your name to be successful in the quest genre.)

  Basically, a Golden Fleece story features (1) a road, (2) a team, and (3) a prize.

  The road is the setting for our journey. The hero and their team must traverse it to fulfill their quest or mission. But it doesn’t have to be an actual road—it can be an ocean, like in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. It can be a fantasy world, like in The Fellowship of the Ring, A Game of Thrones, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The road can be another dimension or planetary system, or even a virtual world like in Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It can even be the seven layers of hell, like in Inferno, the first part of Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy. Or the road can be metaphorical.

  As long as this road demarcates growth. Because that is the defining characteristic of a Golden Fleece: the ability to chart your hero’s transformation along the journey. If you think you might be writing a Golden Fleece, ask yourself, Is my hero (or heroes) going somewhere definite, and can I track their progress in some way?

  Novels that fall into the Golden Fleece genre sometimes employ clever devices to help the reader keep tabs on where the hero is over the course of the adventure. Like the scoreboard in Ready Player One, letting Wade (and the reader!) know when other players have found the keys and cleared the gates in Halliday’s epic Easter egg hunt. Or the fun scrapbook element in Morgan Matson’s young adult road trip novel, Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, which shows us where Amy and Roger have been and what they’ve been doing along the way.

  Also common in Golden Fleece stories is a road apple—something that stops the journey cold, usually right when victory is in sight. It’s a literal (or figurative) roadblock for the hero and their team to get around, forcing them to look more closely at their strategy, repair any bridges they’ve burned among themselves, and dig deep down to find their true skills and strengths.

  The team that joins our hero on their quest can be as small or as big as you want. The Buddy Fleece is a popular subgenre of the Golden Fleece, in which the team consists of only two people, like in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

  The team can also consist of three or more members, like in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ready Player One, and The Grapes of Wrath.

  And in one Golden Fleece variant, dubbed the Solo Fleece, the team consists of only one person who usually ends up meeting several different helpers along the way. Like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, or Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.

  Regardless of team size, Golden Fleece stories often contain a B Story about friendship or love. Who the hero takes along on the journey (or is forced to travel with) is a big decision for the writer, because not only should one—or all—of these people play a role in your B Story (internal/spiritual story), but they also should bring to the table (or the road, as it were) a certain skill or talent that will be necessary along the journey. This can be a skill of either brains, brawn, or heart, but it should be something the hero lacks at the beginning of the novel, thus creating the need for this particular teammate. For example, the various team members who make up Kaz’s crew in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo each help accomplish the heist with a specific skill (like acrobatics, demolition, even Grisha magic!).

  Note too that when you set up a very large team (especially in heist novels), each member of the team should be introduced in a unique and interesting way. Many writers struggle to really get this right, but if you can do it well, your reader is in for a treat. And since getting all these people into the story can take up quite a few pages, it’s important that those introductions be stellar and brilliant. Otherwise, you risk losing the reader before the quest for the fleece even begins!

  Finally, the prize: the Golden Fleece itself. What are this hero and team after? What awaits them at the end of this long, daunting, and awesome journey? Although the prize must be compelling and appealing enough to kick-start the journey (and convincing enough for the reader to go along for the ride), in the end the prize doesn’t really matter. It’s not as important as the journey itself.

  By the time Wade in Ready Player One actually finds the Easter egg hidden within the Oasis, he’s already learned so much about himself and the world, he almost doesn’t even care about winning the grand prize anymore. Of course, he still wants it, but it doesn’t hold the same weight as it did at the start of the novel. Because it’s not the most important element of Wade’s journey.

  Even so, the prize should be something primal. Something we can all relate to. Like going home (The Wizard of Oz, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), securing a treasure (Ready Player One, Six of Crows), freedom (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), prosperity (The Grapes of Wrath), a crown (The Selection by Keira Cass), reaching an important destination (Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour, As I Lay Dying), or gaining a birthright (A Game of Thrones).

  The primal prize is what sets the story in motion—often tied in with the Catalyst beat—but it often has less value and meaning once it’s actually achieved (or not achieved!). It’s more of a device to get your team on the road and the story into action. In the end, your hero or heroes may not even get the prize, and that’s OK! Because that’s not what the story is really about.

  One of the most resonating moments of this genre is when your hero (and readers) realizes that the treasure they’re after pales in comparison to the real treasure they’ve gained along the way: love, friendship, teamwork, or whatever your theme/B Story might be.

  For this reason, the Golden Fleece can be tricky to plot (there’s a good reason there are so few heist novels out there). You must include milestones for your hero to reach along the way—usually represented in the form of people and incidents that the team encounters. And although these milestones may seem unconnected at first glance, in fact, in the grand scheme of the story, they must be connected. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads meet several people along their journey to find work in California: the Wilsons, Floyd Knowles, Timothy and Wilkie Wallace, and the Wainwrights, among others. Although these people are unrelated to each other, they are connected in the story as a whole. They all represent the theme of unification. People helping people. It’s the very theme that Tom Joad will learn by the end of the story when he fulfills his destiny of unifying the migrant workers.

  Each milestone of your Golden Fleece story must move your her
o closer to their true end goal: Internal growth! Transformation! Real Change (with a capital C!). And how each milestone or incident affects the hero is not just plot, my friend. That is pure structure gold. It’s the masterful interweaving of the A Story (the milestones) and B Story (the internal effect they have on the hero), until you reach a satisfying, transformational conclusion.

  To recap: If you’re thinking of writing a Golden Fleece novel, make sure your story includes these three essential ingredients:

  A ROAD: spanning oceans, miles, time, or even across the street, so long as it demarcates growth and tracks the progress of your story in some way. It often includes a road apple that stops the journey in its tracks.

  A TEAM (OR BUDDY): to guide the hero along the way. Usually, it’s those who represent the things the hero lacks: skill, experience, or attitude. In the case of a Solo Fleece, the team usually consists of various helpers along the way.

  A PRIZE: something primal that’s sought after—getting home, securing a treasure, freedom, reaching an important destination, or gaining a birthright.

  Popular Golden Fleece Novels Through Time:

  The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

  Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

  Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

  The Wonderful World of Oz by L. Frank Baum

  As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

  The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

  The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

  On the Road by Jack Kerouac

  The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton

  A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

  The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

  Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan

  The Road by Cormac McCarthy

  Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

  Heist Society by Ally Carter

  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (beat sheet following)

  The Selection by Kiera Cass

  Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

  READY PLAYER ONE

  BY: Ernest Cline

  STC GENRE: Golden Fleece

  BOOK GENRE: Science fiction

  TOTAL PAGES: 372 (Broadway Paperback Edition, 2011)

  When this ode to 1980s pop culture hit bookstores in 2011, it took the world by storm, wowing gamers and nongamers alike with its taut plotting, creative world-building, and topical theme (reality versus virtual reality). It won multiple awards and received rave reviews from Entertainment Weekly, the Boston Globe, and USA Today (among others). No wonder Steven Spielberg agreed to direct the film adaptation.

  In this Golden Fleece adventure novel, we join Wade and his team of fellow gamers on their quest to find a coveted Easter egg hidden inside a brilliantly imagined virtual reality world.

  1. Opening Image (pages 1–9)

  We meet Wade (aka “Parzival”), who explains that the world of 2045, in which this novel is set, is not a great place. A global energy crisis has brought about catastrophic climate change, famine, poverty, and disease. We learn that humanity’s salvation—or at the very least, escape—is a massive multiplayer online virtual reality video game (the biggest in history) called the Oasis, which almost everyone on Earth plays religiously. In fact, most people spend all of their time inside the Oasis; some even work and go to school there.

  We also learn about the prize of this Golden Fleece tale: an Easter egg hidden somewhere inside the Oasis by the founder himself—James Halliday—before his recent death. Whoever finds it will win $40 billion and ownership of the entire Oasis. Wade lays out the details of our Golden Fleece quest by explaining that there are three hidden keys (Copper, Jade, and Crystal) that open up three hidden gates, and that the Easter egg is behind the Third Gate. When the Easter egg was first announced, five years before the story begins, the world obviously went crazy trying to find the first key, but after years of no progress, the hype eventually dimmed. Until one player found the first key.

  Our hero, Wade.

  This first chapter is actually a hint at the Catalyst to come.

  2. Setup (pages 10–69)

  For the next fifty-nine pages we back up in time. The Setup tells the story of how Wade found the key, and the events leading up to that important moment, so that we can experience the discovery along with him. In these pages, we learn more about Wade and the rotten life he lives.

  The following are among Wade’s things that need fixing in real life:

  He lives in an overcrowded trailer park called the Portland Avenue Stacks.

  The world he inhabits is pretty much postapocalyptic.

  Orphaned, he lives with a horrible aunt who often steals his stuff and pawns it for money.

  Wade is overweight, acne-ridden, and socially awkward.

  But in the Oasis, none of this matters. As his avatar, Parzival, Wade is much more confident and self-assured—and better looking. He can basically design his life however he wants. Which is why he spends most of his time in his hideout—an abandoned van near the stacks—where he’s set up an Oasis console and can go about his virtual life undisturbed.

  Also in the Setup, we see Wade at home, work, and play.

  As we know, his home life is bleak. His work (for him, it’s school) is done at a public school inside the Oasis. For play, Wade spends the majority of his time hunting for Halliday’s Easter egg with his fellow “gunters” (egg hunters). In the Setup, we see Wade hanging out in a chat room with his best friend, Aech, where they talk about Wade’s longtime crush, Art3mis (a gunter blogger he’s never spoken to).

  In the chat room, Wade and Aech get into yet another heated discussion about Anorak’s Almanac, a journal left behind by Halliday that is believed to have clues to the whereabouts of the egg. And they talk about the novel’s primary antagonist: an evil communications company called IOI, which pretty much runs everything in the world—except the Oasis. We learn that IOI has hired a huge team of gunters called “Sixers” to find the egg and secure the Oasis for IOI.

  3. Theme Stated (page 45)

  On page 45, one of Wade’s gamer acquaintances, I-r0k, states the theme to Wade and his friend Aech: “you both obviously need to get a life.” Even though this comes as a playful jab, it couldn’t be more true for Wade. What’s made very clear in this scene, as Wade shows off his knowledge of Halliday and ’80s pop culture, is that Wade has no life outside of the Oasis and this Easter egg hunt. It’s what’s fueling him and giving him purpose. But by the end of the novel he’ll learn that living in a video game is no way to live. At some point he has to face up to reality if he wants to truly be happy.

  Wade’s world marks a new era for humanity, in which almost everyone lives their lives inside a video game. With social media and the internet dominating our own lives, this premise is not too far-fetched for us to believe. So the theme of this novel hits home for any modern reader: Beware of the lure of false reality. Real life is always where it’s at.

  4. Catalyst (pages 69–70)

  By page 69, we’re almost caught up to the events described in the first chapter of the novel. Wade solves one of Halliday’s riddles and figures out where the Copper Key is hidden. It’s on the Oasis planet of Ludus, where Wade’s public school is. Wade reasons that Halliday hid it there because he wanted a schoolkid to find it.

  5. Debate (pages 70–76)

  Immediately after Wade figures out where the key is hidden, the Debate question arises: How do I get there? The “tomb” where Wade suspects the key is hidden is on the other side of the planet, far away from where his public school is located, and he doesn’t have enough money to teleport (walking would take too long). He gets the
idea to use the public school system to get a teleportation voucher, by pretending to attend an “away” game for his school.

  6. Break Into 2 (pages 77–86)

  On page 77, Wade enters the Tomb of Horrors (a Dungeons and Dragons reference), where he believes the Copper Key to be, and effectively enters Act 2.

  This is the upside-down world of Halliday’s epic Easter egg hunt, filled with drama, intrigue, virtual battles, and ’80s references galore!

  In the tomb, Wade meets a virtual recording of Halliday’s infamous avatar, Anorak, who tells him he has to defeat him at the ’80s video game Joust in order to earn the Copper Key. In Wade’s years of research trying to find the first key, he’s practiced this game (and every other ’80s video game), so he’s prepared. He beats Halliday by finding the flaw in the artificial intelligence controlling Halliday’s avatar and exploiting it (proving that Wade is a worthy contender for the prize). Wade is now the first person in the entire Oasis to have acquired the Copper Key, putting him at the top of the gunter scoreboard.

  7. B Story (pages 87–99)

  As Parzival leaves the Tomb of Horrors, victorious, he bumps into his longtime crush, Art3mis, the love interest and B Story of the novel. Although they start off as rival gunters, Art3mis will eventually teach Wade it’s better to live in the real world than to hide in a virtual one. Because as Wade falls more and more in love with her throughout the course of the novel, he realizes that being with her avatar isn’t enough. He wants to be with her.

  Art3mis found the tomb weeks ago but has yet to beat Anorak at Joust. When Art3mis checks the scoreboard and sees Parzival’s name at the top, she gets angry. She puts a barrier spell on him, trapping him for fifteen minutes. Even so, Wade can’t help but give her some advice on how to win the game against Anorak, thus kicking off their tenuous relationship.