Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

  Although everyone is different and the creative process is unique for each writer, here’s how I tackle the beat sheet using these Five Foundation Beats:

  First, I nail down the three components of my story-worthy hero (problem, want, and need). This starts to create a picture of what the hero’s Act 1 world will look like.

  Then I work through the following questions:

  What does the hero’s Act 2 world look like? How is it different from Act 1? Is it different enough? This starts to shape my Break Into 2 beat.

  How would my flawed hero change the wrong way, based on what they want, not what they need? This continues to shape my Break Into 2 beat.

  What kind of major event would be enough to kick this hero out of their status quo and into this strange new world? This forms the Catalyst beat.

  Does my hero generally flounder or excel in this new world? This determines the Midpoint and whether it’s a false victory (the hero excels in the new world) or a false defeat (the hero flounders in the new world).

  How does my hero, then, change the right way, based on what they need? This helps me start to discern my Break Into 3.

  Finally, what kind of rock-bottom life-changing event would be enough to eventually convince my hero to change the right way? This informs my All Is Lost beat—which you may recall is usually another Catalyst.

  Help! I Need More Structure! Using the Save the Cat! “Board”

  Ah, so you’re a structure hound like me, are ya? The beat sheet itself just isn’t enough? Like a mouse who’s been given a cookie, you gotta have more, do ya? Well, fear not. I got more. I got lots more where that beat sheet came from.

  I got…

  The board.

  The Save the Cat! board is exactly what it sounds like…a board. A corkboard, to be more exact. The biggest you can find at the store. Or, if you’re more digitally inclined, check out the Save the Cat! software at SavetheCat.com for a virtual board that you can put on your laptop and take with you wherever you may roam.

  The corkboard is then filled with index cards (I recommend the 3 by 5-inch size), arranged in a particular order to illustrate the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. It’s also a great tool for more visual learners who need to see the beats laid out in front of them.

  I’ve found that the board can be super beneficial when you’re stuck (while plotting, writing, or revising), to see your story in a new way. Literally. By laying out the beats on the board, you get a better view of the BIG picture of your story. And as I said in the last chapter, authors tend to struggle with seeing the big picture. Especially when they’re standing in the middle of the picture. (Like on this page, trying to find a synonym for the word “face.” Trust me, there aren’t any good ones. Just use “face.”)

  Once you have your physical corkboard (or your Save the Cat! software), divide the board into four rows. (See the illustration below.) I like to use masking tape. These rows represent Act 1, Act 2A (the first half of Act 2), Act 2B (the second half of Act 2), and Act 3. (Note: The Save the Cat! software is already set up this way.)

  Now we start laying out our cards, each representing a scene or chapter in our novel. Each card should reflect one piece of information. So if you write longer chapters that encompass multiple scenes or pieces of information, then you’ll have multiple cards per chapter. But don’t worry too much about that right now. Just focus on getting your ideas down on cards.

  For example, if you know your Catalyst is going to be that Aunt Clementine gets murdered, that would be one scene or piece of information. And you would create a card that says:

  Or if you know that somewhere in your Fun and Games you’re going to have a scene where Penny interviews Aunt Clementine’s butler and discovers he doesn’t have an alibi for the night she was killed, you would create a card that says something like:

  Or perhaps you know that a few weeks have to pass between two plot points in the Bad Guys Close In and you don’t yet know what’s going to happen during those weeks; you could create a card that says:

  Remember back in chapter 2, when I told you that some of the beats were single-scene beats (like the Theme Stated, Catalyst, and All Is Lost), and some were multi-scene beats (like the Setup, Fun and Games, and Dark Night of the Soul)?

  Well, when we start to lay out our cards on the board, we see much more of how that comes into play.

  Here is what the board should look like when it’s set up:

  WOWZA! It sure does help to see it all laid out like that, doesn’t it?

  But by now you might be thinking, Dang, that Fun and Games section is LONG!

  And you’re right. There are a lot of scenes to cover before we reach that exciting, stakes-raising, life-changing Midpoint. Which is why the story gods invented B stories and C stories and sometimes even D stories! To fill in those long stretches of pages with something other than the A Story. The A Story should still be front and center. For instance, if you’re writing a murder mystery, then the ups and downs of solving that mystery better make up the majority of those cards. But you can (and should!) give your reader a break from the A Story every once in a while and talk about something else for a scene or two. What’s going on with the love interest? The best friend? The hero’s family? That annoying guy at work? What happened to that email from the ex that the hero found back on page 70? Make sure to give your reader some breathing room between major plot points. It will keep the A Story fresh and exciting.

  Now, it’s important to note that the number of cards depicted in the preceding graphic is by no means the number you’re limited to or required to have. This is just an illustration to show you that while the Catalyst usually consists of one card or one scene, the Setup, Debate, Fun and Games, Bad Guys Close In, Dark Night of the Soul, and Finale contain multiple cards/scenes. Your specific number of cards will change depending on the number of pages/words in your novel and how you structure your scenes and chapters. But a general rule of thumb is to have approximately 30 cards for every 25,000 words or 100 pages of story. So for a 75,000-word novel, you might end up with somewhere around 90 cards.

  However, if you’re building the board in the brainstorming phase, I say create as many cards as your awesome little brain can come up with. You can always delete cards later as you start to write. I’m a big fan of the “no limits” method of brainstorming.

  If, on the other hand, you’re building or updating your board in the writing or revision phase of the novel, chances are you have a target word count or page count goal dictating where your beats go (see the guidelines at the beginning of chapter 2), and you might have to be a little more strict with your card numbers.

  But what makes the cork (or virtual) board so functional is that it’s highly adaptable! If you get an aha! moment and suddenly figure out that your brilliant bike crash scene belongs not in the Fun and Games but rather in the Bad Guys Close In, then presto change-o! Just move it! This flexibility is why I recommend cork or virtual boards over writing out scenes on a whiteboard. You can add as much detail or information about the scene as you want on that little index card, and when it’s time to move it, all the information goes with it.

  The board allows you to build and rebuild your story with the touch of a button or relocation of a pin. You can shuffle up your novel whenever you please and see what comes out of the new configuration. Because sometimes all you need is that one simple turn of the kaleidoscope, and suddenly the whole picture comes into focus.

  Help! I Might Have More Than One Main Character! A Look at Novel Narratives

  After reading chapter 1 of this book, you know that you’re supposed to pick one character to be your primary hero of the story. And you might remember I gave the example of Aibileen from The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Although there are two other characters whose point of view we do see, I still consider her the primary hero of that novel, the
one who changes the most. But that doesn’t mean Minny and Skeeter didn’t have their own transformative arcs. They most certainly did, so they also have beat sheets. (Check out the breakdown of The Help on this page to see how their three beat sheets weave together.)

  So, yes, if you’re writing a novel with multiple main characters, chances are you’re going to need multiple beat sheets, one for each character, in order to track each character’s transformative arc throughout the story. I still recommend nailing down your primary hero first, but the best way to juggle multiple arcs is to create multiple beat sheets and then weave them together to form a compelling narrative.

  Some beats might overlap. For instance, in The Help, Aibileen and Skeeter experience the same Break Into 2 beat when Aibileen agrees to share her stories with Skeeter. But the two have different Catalysts. And Minny’s beats are very separate from Aibileen’s and Skeeter’s until the Midpoint, when the story lines converge.

  On the other hand, you may write a novel with multiple main characters in which none of the beats overlap. This happened to me when I was writing my young adult novel Boys of Summer. The story is told from the viewpoints of three boys—Grayson, Mike, and Ian. They are best friends who share a very transformative summer on a vacationers’ island, but their experiences are quite different. For the most part, they have very different beat sheets. Their only overlapping beat is the All Is Lost, which is fitting because it’s when they all realize how each of their actions are affecting the others, and this ends up strengthening their friendship. But yes, it means I created three distinct beat sheets—one for each character—before I started writing. And I was constantly juggling those beat sheets as the novel developed and changed.

  The best way to get good at juggling multiple beat sheets is to study authors who have done it. I recommend finding at least three novels starring multiple protagonists (preferably in the same story genre as the book you’re writing) and writing a beat sheet for each one. Study where the beats overlap and where they differ. Take note of how the author interwove the stories together to create their tapestry. Then set out to do the same.

  So how do you know if you need multiple beat sheets?

  Well, the best places to look at are your narration and point of view.

  How many narrators does your novel have? (Or, if you haven’t started writing yet, how many narrators do you plan to have?) If you’re undecided on this point, the following breakdown might help you decide. Let’s look at the various types of novel narratives and see how many beat sheets each one most likely requires.

  SINGLE FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE

  DEFINITION: The novel is told from the direct point of view of one main character, using pronouns like I, me, and my.

  EXAMPLES: The Hunger Games, Prey, The Hate U Give, Ready Player One, The Outsiders, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Handmaid’s Tale.

  BEAT SHEET COUNT: One. One narrator = one hero = one beat sheet.

  MULTIPLE FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE

  DEFINITION: The novel is told from the direct point of view of multiple main characters (usually told through alternating chapters), using pronouns like I, me, and my.

  EXAMPLES: The Help, The Girl on the Train, The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Wonder, All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

  BEAT SHEET COUNT: Multiple, usually one for each narrator.

  SINGLE THIRD-PERSON NARRATIVE (LIMITED)

  DEFINITION: The novel is told from the point of view of an outside narrator (someone not in the story), who has access to only one character’s thoughts, using pronouns like he, she, they, hers, his, and so on.

  EXAMPLES: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Misery, 1984, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, The Deep, Heart-Shaped Box.

  BEAT SHEET COUNT: One. Whoever’s thoughts the narrator has access to.

  MULTIPLE THIRD-PERSON NARRATIVE (LIMITED)

  DEFINITION: The novel is told from the point of view of an outside narrator (someone not in the story), who has access to multiple characters’ thoughts, but only one character at a time (usually told through alternating chapters), using pronouns like he, she, they, hers, his, and so on.

  EXAMPLES: Big Little Lies, Six of Crows, Eleanor and Park, The Da Vinci Code, A Game of Thrones, Far from the Tree.

  BEAT SHEET COUNT: Multiple, usually one for each major character whose thoughts the narrator has access to.

  THIRD-PERSON NARRATIVE (OMNISCIENT)

  DEFINITION: Usually found in older books (less common today), the novel is told from an outside narrator’s point of view (someone not in the story) who has access to everyone’s thoughts at once, using pronouns like he, she, they, hers, his, and so on.

  EXAMPLES: Emma, And Then There Were None, Les Misérables, A Christmas Carol, Matilda.

  BEAT SHEET COUNT: One or multiple, depending on how many of the characters have significant transformative arcs.

  Help! I’m Writing a Series! The Series Beat Sheet

  You probably guessed by now that if you’re writing a series with multiple novels in it, you’re going to need multiple beat sheets—one for each novel. But you’ll also need an overarching beat sheet that covers the entire series.

  This Series Beat Sheet doesn’t necessarily need to have all of the fifteen beats, but it should track a larger arc for your hero or heroes. One that stretches over the entire series. And it should follow a three-act structure similar to a single-book beat sheet.

  Think about trilogies, for example. Each book will have three acts and fifteen beats, but the first book, as a whole, is often the setup book, depicting an Act 1 world for the series. It brings us and the hero into the story, introduces all of the players, and lets us know what’s what. Then it usually ends with a Catalyst, a Debate (or a choice for the hero), and a Break Into 2, effectively setting up the second book in the trilogy, or the Act 2 book. Then the second book in the trilogy usually ends with an All Is Lost moment, followed by a wallowing Dark Night of the Soul and finally another decision: a Break Into 3 that leads us to the final installment. And don’t third books in trilogies always feel like one giant Finale? It’s where we find the most epic battles, the most characters lost, the highest stakes, and the greatest victories!

  So, a Series Beat Sheet for a trilogy might look something like this:

  Book 1 – Series Act 1

  Book 2 – Series Act 2

  Book 3 – Series Act 3

  This is the way I set up my sci-fi Unremembered trilogy. In book 1, Unremembered, I introduce my hero, Seraphina, who has literally crash-landed in an unfamiliar world (our world). By the end of the first book, I’ve revealed exactly where Seraphina is from and how she happened to arrive in our world. Then, in her series Break Into 2 (the decision that leads to the second book), she escapes our world. By the end of book 2, Unforgotten, Seraphina has had a series All Is Lost and a series Dark Night of the Soul and makes a very fateful and sacrificial decision to return to her world. This is the series Break Into 3, which leads us straight into Unchanged, the third book, and the series Finale, where Seraphina finally faces up to people who made her who she is and who have been trying to control her for the entire trilogy.

  A four-book series or “quartet” can also be broken down in a similar way. Here’s a possible Series Beat Sheet for a four-book series:

  Book 1 – Series Act 1

  Book 2 – Series Act 2 (up until a Midpoint twist)

  Book 3 – Series Act 2 (up until the Break Into 3)

  Book 4 – Series Act 3

  And yes, while you’re doing all of this, you’re also juggling character arcs for your hero—one for each novel and one for
the series as a whole.

  Yikes!

  No one said writing a successful series was easy! All of that strife and torment you deal with when beating out one novel? Well, multiply that times three, and that’s what it’s like to plot a successful trilogy. But with a little thoughtful planning and some storytelling ingenuity, it can be done well. And it has been.

  Let’s look at one of the most famous novel series of our time: the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Each of the seven novels in the series has an excellent beat sheet in which Harry grows and changes, learning little pieces about himself and his destiny along the way. But the series, as a whole, also has a transformative journey, as Harry goes from a shy, insecure orphan boy to the mature, confident, magical warrior who fulfills his destiny and defeats Voldemort. Each of the mini arcs he experiences in the seven books adds up to the larger arc of the entire series. Which is why he can’t just defeat Voldemort in book 1; rather, he has to temporarily maim him, learning a little something about his own abilities in the process.

  When you plot a series, every book has to count. You can’t have a series with one or two important novels and a bunch of filler novels. Every book has to have a purpose. A why. A Theme Stated and a lesson learned for our hero. And they can’t all be the same. Related and interlinked, yes, but not the same.

  Which is why, as I’ve mentioned, often not every book in a series will fall into the same genre. As the purpose of each installment will vary, so might the type of story. The Hunger Games (book 1 in the trilogy) is a Dude with a Problem. It’s the story that brings Katniss Everdeen into the system. The choice of how she’s going to deal with that system isn’t broached until book 2, Catching Fire, which makes it an Institutionalized story. Only when she’s decided to “burn it down” can she start coming to terms with being the savior and rebel leader that she’s become, making the third book, Mockingjay, a Superhero story.