Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

  Later, the theme is restated by a man on the beach in Fort Bragg who says (re: a piece a sea glass that Ali found), “The ocean forgives.” Meaning the ocean can take something old and seemingly invaluable like trash and turn it into something shiny and worth keeping.

  Ali’s Life Lesson: Forgiveness (giving people the opportunity to show you how valuable they can be).

  4. Catalyst

  BEFORE: The buyer tells Ali the car isn’t worth as much as she thought it would be. Her dad didn’t take care of it as well as she thought (maybe because he was getting sick in recent years?).

  AFTER: A knock on the door. Ali opens it to find the messenger we saw in the Opening Image. He claims to have lived with Jackson before he died. He gives Ali an envelope and inside Ali finds the key to Jackson’s most prized possession: his 1968 Firebird 400 convertible.

  5. Debate

  BEFORE: How will Ali get the money to save her house now?

  Nico tells Ali about “trading up” on Craigslist. They can start with something small and through a series of bigger and better trades, end up with something worth the amount of money she needs to save the house.

  At first, Ali thinks he’s nuts. It’ll never work. But what does she have to lose?

  AFTER: What will Ali do with the car?

  Almost immediately she puts the car up for sale on Craigslist, figuring the money she makes from it can go to save her house.

  The next day she goes to the computer lab at school to check if she got any responses, and Nico is there. The two share an awkward encounter, fraught with animosity, and we learn that Nico is Ali’s ex-boyfriend. They broke up one month ago (for reasons we don’t yet know).

  Ali finds a ton of responses to her Craigslist post. The man who offers her the most money lives in Crescent City, CA (five hours north of there). She tells him that she’ll drive the car up tonight. The amount he’s offering is enough to save the house from foreclosure (wants).

  When Ali gets back to her own car in the parking lot, she finds Nico waiting for her. He read the email over her shoulder and knows about the sale of the car. He snarkily reminds her that she can’t drive a stick shift, so how will she ever get the car up to Crescent City? Ali realizes the only person she knows who can drive a stick shift is Nico.

  6. Break Into 2

  BEFORE: Ali agrees to go along with Nico’s crazy scheme. They put their first item up for trade on Craigslist.

  AFTER: Ali really doesn’t want to ask Nico for help, but she has no other choice. She offers to give him one thousand dollars from the sale of the car in exchange for driving it up to Crescent City with her. He agrees.

  7. B Story

  BEFORE: Rediscovering Nico and learning about his secrets (the things she never stayed around long enough to learn about before breaking up with him; i.e., “throwing him away”).

  Also, the B Story will be flashbacks of Ali and Nico’s relationship, leading up to their breakup. The real reason they broke up will be a mystery to the reader, until it’s revealed through the flashback.

  AFTER: Nico is the B Story character. Through flashbacks of what their relationship was like when it was good compared to how bad it is now, Ali will learn more about herself and her flaws.

  But ultimately it will be this journey with Nico that opens her eyes to what really happened the night they broke up and, more important, teaches her the theme of forgiveness.

  8. Fun and Games

  BEFORE: Upward path: Trading up on Craigslist, Nico and Ali fighting, meeting new people through the trades.

  We also learn more about Jackson’s obsession with a 1990s post-grunge band called Fear Epidemic and how he left Ali and her mom to tour with them when they got back together in the late 2000s.

  AFTER: Downward path: Ali and Nico do not get along. It’s clear they’re both still angry at each other about the breakup, and the car ride is tense.

  As they reach their first pit stop, Fort Bragg, Nico tries to convince Ali that she shouldn’t sell the car. She should keep it because it’s a classic. Instead, she can earn enough money to save her house by “trading up” on Craigslist. He explains that you start with something small and, through a series of bigger and better trades, end up with something worth a lot of money. Ali thinks he’s nuts and won’t agree to it. Nico says he’s going to do it anyway and prove to her that it works. He starts the trades on his own.

  As they travel farther up the coast, they hit a literal roadblock, which forces them to turn around and take an alternate road (setting back Ali’s goal of reaching Crescent City by the end of the day).

  They have to spend the night together in a hotel room and it’s beyond awkward.

  Also, through scattered flashbacks we learn more about Ali’s relationship with Nico and her childhood with Jackson.

  9. Midpoint

  BEFORE: False victory: trades have been going well but stakes are raised at a Midpoint party when Ali and Nico almost kiss.

  AFTER: False defeat: They reach Crescent City and the buyer examines the car, quickly coming to the conclusion that it’s a “clone.” It’s not a 400 like her father claimed. It’s a regular Firebird that Jackson stuck a fake 400 emblem on.

  Ali considers this just another way that Jackson has let her down. The car is worth only a fraction of what she thought and not nearly enough to save her house.

  By this point, Nico has already traded up to something worth $200. He convinces her to keep the car (for now) and join him on his “trade up” journey. She reluctantly agrees, figuring she has nothing left to lose.

  10. Bad Guys Close In

  BEFORE: Downward path: Trades slow down? Or they run into trouble with the trades? Ali and Nico’s relationship is heating back up, which summons Ali’s internal bad guys to screw it up.

  Ali starts to put together pieces about Nico and the night of the breakup.

  AFTER: Upward path: The quest is going well. Ali and Nico continue up the coast, going where the trades take them, and eventually trading up to something valued at $5,000.

  Miraculously, Nico and Ali are also starting to get along better, maybe even having fun. Nico teaches Ali how to drive a stick shift. Then, when they go to watch a movie at a drive-in theater, they kiss, causing Ali to reexamine her feelings for Nico.

  Meanwhile, more flashbacks about Jackson are triggered by the various people Ali meets from Craigslist and the things they’re trading. These flashbacks start to reveal another side of Jackson, beyond just his disappointments.

  In the trunk of the car, Ali finds a picture of Jackson with the lead singer of Fear Epidemic (from when Jackson was a roadie for them on their reunion tour).

  11. All Is Lost

  BEFORE: The car breaks down and it’ll cost way too much money to fix it. Their journey is stalled.

  AFTER: Someone from Craigslist scams them and they lose the last item they traded, bringing them back down to $0 (road apple). Ali blames Nico for not seeing the scam coming, and the two fight. But it quickly becomes clear that this fight is not about Craigslist. This is a continuation of the fight from the night they broke up, except this time Nico is saying things to Ali that he didn’t say before, namely, the truth. And it stings.

  Ali storms off, takes the car, and leaves Nico alone in the parking lot.

  12. Dark Night of the Soul

  BEFORE: Ali wants to quit and go home. Nico comes clean about the night of the breakup and what really happened.

  Ali realizes she was too quick to judge him and cast him aside. She was working under false assumptions (because she didn’t stick around long enough to learn the truth).

  Ali finds a rare vinyl Fear Epidemic record in the trunk of the car. It once belonged to her father, and it’s worth a lot of money.

  AFTER: As Ali wallows in the car, she has one final flashback about Nico: the night they broke up. Finally, the d
etails of that night are revealed.

  Ali is pulled out of the flashback by the sound of Nico’s phone beeping with a series of text messages. What Ali reads on the phone reveals the final missing piece of what happened the night of the breakup (Dark Night epiphany). And it’s a piece that absolves Nico of everything Ali had accused him of. Ali realizes she misjudged him and threw him away too quickly. That’s why Nico has been so angry at her during this trip.

  Realizing her mistake, she goes back to find him. Nico and Ali have a heart-to-heart on the beach and all is forgiven. But she has yet to forgive the first person who ever let her down. The one person she never thought she could forgive…

  Ali goes to a classic car repair shop to sell Jackson’s Firebird. It’s not worth as much as she thought, but it’s enough to get them both home. And, after everything they lost from the Craigslist trades, they need all the money they can get. But before she hands over the car, she finds a cassette tape in the player that belonged to Jackson. She listens to it, hearing a recording made when Jackson was on tour with Fear Epidemic. Apparently, Jackson wrote a song during that tour that was supposed to be on the band’s new album, but they broke up before they could record it. Ali has a feeling the song is about her, and she wants to know what the lyrics say. She realizes she wants to understand her father.

  13. Break Into 3

  BEFORE: Ali decides to continue the journey and get the rest of the money she needs through Craigslist trades. She and Nico (now reconciled) put the vinyl album up for barter on Craigslist.

  AFTER: Ali makes a decision not to sell the car (yet) and instead to drive it north to Tacoma, Washington, where the lead singer of Fear Epidemic now lives. He’s the only one who she thinks might know who her father really was.

  14. Finale

  BEFORE: The lead singer of Fear Epidemic responds to their Craigslist post and summons Ali to his house. He remembers her father (who was a roadie for the band on their reunion tour). He gives Ali the missing piece she needs to forgive her father (something about her father she didn’t know?). He tells her how much her dad really loved her.

  Then, after hearing about their quest, the singer offers to trade her something for the vinyl record. But the item he offers is way more valuable than the record because he wants to help. Ali gets the money she needs to save the house, but instead decides to save the car? Or spend it on something else? She learns that some things are worth keeping and some things you have to let go of (and at first you may not know which is which).

  AFTER: Ali meets with Nolan Cook, the man from the photograph Ali found in the trunk of the Firebird. Nolan Cook tells Ali something about her father that she never knew—a detail about one of her flashbacks that changes the meaning of the entire flashback and starts to explain why Jackson really left. It wasn’t for the reasons Ali always thought.

  Then Nolan digs up the lyrics that Jackson wrote. They are about Ali, and when Ali reads them, her father starts to take shape before her eyes. She understands him on a deeper level. A level that finally allows her to forgive him.

  15. Final Image

  BEFORE: Ali and Nico drive the car back home, reunited.

  AFTER: Ali and Nico get back in the Firebird to drive home (Ali is now behind the wheel). She’s not heading home with the money to save her house. But she’s heading home with something better—closure.

  Final Image

  I have no idea what in this book will resonate with you and what won’t. What will help you through your own writing Dark Night of the Soul and what you simply skimmed over. That’s why I put everything I have into these pages—over a decade of story wisdom—hoping that something you read will not only stick but also serve to transform.

  Yes, it is my sincerest hope that you close this book as not only a better writer, but a changed person. What flaws did you uncover in yourself? What imperfections did you perfect? What wants did you abandon in service to your more worthy needs?

  You, my friend, are the true hero of this story. You are the reason I wrote this book. Right now, yours is the only transformation that matters to me. So, go out there and be the storytelling superhero that I know you’re destined to be.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book would not exist if it weren’t for some pretty stellar people. Thank you first and foremost to Blake Snyder, for introducing this magical method to the world and for guiding me and inspiring me through your written words. I hope I have done you proud with this installment. And to B. J. Markel for carrying on Blake’s legacy and trusting me to write this book. You have been my champion from the very start, and I truly couldn’t have done this without you. Also thanks to Rich Kaplan for your tireless efforts in spreading the magic of Save the Cat! to so many writers around the world and for believing in me and my quest to adapt this methodology for novelists. Thank you to Scott Brandon Hoffman for introducing me to Save the Cat! (waaaaaay back when). You are the Catalyst for everything! And of course, thank you to my agent, Jim McCarthy, for always saying, “Cool!” when I pitch you a new idea (well, almost always), but especially for saying, “Cool!” when I came to you with the idea for this book.

  I am forever indebted to Lisa Westmoreland at Ten Speed Press for taking a chance on this project and for guiding me through the writing of my very first nonfiction book (which often felt like an All Is Lost). Your patience, wisdom, and gentle nudges in the right direction were always exactly what I needed. Thank you! Also thank you to my exquisite copyeditor, Kristi Hein, who whipped this book into shape and delighted me with our amusing sideline exchanges about jacket flap spoilers, vampires, and corkscrews. And to the wonderful people at Ten Speed Press who have worked so hard to get this book out into the world. That includes, but is by no means limited to, Daniel Wikey, Eleanor Thatcher, and Chloe Rawlins.

  Giant, overflowing buckets of gratitude go to Joanne Rendell, Jessica Khoury, José Silerio, and Jennifer Wolfe for not only listening to me whine incessantly about the genres, but also offering sage advice just when I needed it most and for guiding me down the path to finding “the perfect ten.” But when it comes to the writing process, my husband, Charlie, always deserves the most thanks of anyone. After all, he has to live with me during the Fun and Games and the Bad Guys Close In and the All Is Lost. Thank you for being my constant Break Into 3, my B Story, and my heart. And as always, thank you to my parents, for being my first and still most fanatic cheerleaders, and especially to my dad, Michael Brody, for passing on the “writing gene.”

  But most of all, thank you to all my students. All of you. Whether you came to my writing workshops, or took one of my online classes, or we’re just meeting now, for the first time, through this book. Just know that this book was inspired by you, is made possible because of you, and is wholeheartedly dedicated to you. Your creativity, energy, and determination to fill the world with stories are what keeps me going through the darkest nights of the soul. I wrote this book for you. Go forth and tell beautiful tales.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Since leaving her job as a studio executive for MGM Studios in 2005, Jessica Brody has sold more than fifteen novels to major publishers. She writes books for teens, tweens, and adults, including The Geography of Lost Things (Golden Fleece), The Chaos of Standing Still (Rites of Passage), Better You Than Me (Out of the Bottle), 52 Reasons to Hate My Father (Fool Triumphant), the Unremembered trilogy (Superhero), and the forthcoming Sky Without Stars (Institutionalized), the first installment in a new sci-fi series pitched as “Les Misérables in space.” She also writes books for Disney Press, including the Descendants: School of Secrets series, based on the hit Disney Channel original movies, and the LEGO Disney Princess chapter books. Jessica’s novels have been translated and published in over twenty-three countries, and Unremembered and 52 Reasons to Hate My Father are currently in development as major motion pictures. When not working on her own novels, Jessica teaches online writing workshops at Udemy.com. Sh
e lives with her husband and three dogs near Portland, Oregon.

  Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @JessicaBrody.

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