Get 5 Bonus Beat Sheets when you purchase Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel! Plus, also get a free ticket to Jessica’s one-time-only “Plot-Along” Workshop when you purchase a paperback copy from a U.S. Independent bookstore (Open Internationally).

It’s here! Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel is now out in the world and in this post, I’m thrilled to share all the juicy details. Are you ready? Let’s dive in! First off… There’s a new Save the Cat book? Yup, in case you haven’t heard, there’s a new Save the Cat!  … Read more

My first official copy of SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A YA NOVEL has arrived! Of course, I couldn’t do just a regular unboxing video. See how many of Save the Cat! references you can catch!   Also, don’t miss out on your chance to nab 5 Bonus Beat Sheets (100 pages of extra content) when you preorder  … Read more

 Attention Save the Cat! Fans! I’ve got BIG NEWS!  In this post, I’m revealing all the juicy details about the next book in the Save the Cat! Series, Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel, written by yours truly, including a first look at the cover! So, yes, it’s true. I wrote another  … Read more

If you’re writing a novel or short story using the Save the Cat! beat sheet and wondering exactly where your beats should fall, then have I got a cool tool for you! (Not to mention a nice rhyme there.) When outlining, writing, or revising a novel, it’s helpful to know not only what story beats  … Read more

Writing a book outline is hard. Writing a book in general is hard. Plotting a compelling character arc and figuring out what happens next is a challenge for any writer, professional and newbie alike! Fortunately, I’m here to make it WAY easier for you. This blog post features my tried and true 15 steps to  … Read more

Prologues! Prologues! Prologues! It seems like everywhere I turn these days, I’m being asked about prologues. Namely, how do prologues fit into the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet? And whenever I get asked the same STC-related question an uncanny amount of times it makes me A) Wish I could go back in time and write  … Read more

As we hit the two-year anniversary of the release of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, I’m still constantly learning new things about the magic of the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet. And those new things are usually inspired by questions I get from other writers. This particular writing tip was not inspired by one  … Read more

At the center of your story’s universe lies the answer… Every solar system has a sun at its center. Every atom of matter has a nucleus at its core. Every swarm of alien space pods has a mothership to guide them all back home. And every story has a center point around which all other  … Read more

Taylor Swift’s new album, folklore, is here and critics are already calling it her “storytelling album”. That seems to fit given that her first released video from the album, “Cardigan,” follows ALL of the key story beats!  I realize there’s about a zillion analyses and lyric interpretations floating around out there, as Swifties everywhere attempt  … Read more

So, here’s the problem: If you’ve read Save the Cat! Writes a Novel or taken my Save the Cat! Novel Writing Online Course, you know that the Catalyst (literally defined as the moment your story finally gets “going”) doesn’t come until 10% of the way in. So, mathematically speaking, if you have a story that’s  … Read more

If there’s one question I get more than any other when it comes to plotting (particularly using the Save the Cat! method), it’s this: But what about series? So, I do talk a little bit about the “series beat sheet” in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, but clearly not enough because the questions keep  … Read more

Everyone in the world wants something. Well, except maybe a few Buddhist monks who live in the mountains and meditate all day. They might not want anything. But the rest of us—we want things. We want a new job, a new car, a nicer house, to ask the cute boy to the movies, to win the  … Read more

A question I get a lot from novelists following the Save the Cat! plotting method is this: What’s the relationship between beats and chapters? Or in other words, how do the beats break down into chapters and vice versa? The answer, as is usually the case, is: It depends.  Super helpful, right? 😉 Well, let  … Read more

Today we’re talking about heroes…plural. What do you do when you have multiple points of view in your novel and need to juggle multiple Save the Cat! beat sheets (and character arcs!) Here’s another question I get a lot from writers who have read Save the Cat Writes a Novel or enrolled in my Save the  … Read more

I’ve been using the Save the Cat! methodology to structure and plot my stories for more than ten years and  17 novels now. I even wrote a book on this very topic and created a Save the Cat! companion course. And yet every day, I feel like I’m still learning and expanding my knowledge about  … Read more

Here’s a little secret. Readers don’t like reading about perfect heroes who have all their stuff together. Perfect heroes without any flaws or problems whatsoever are bo-o-oring. Not to mention, completely unrealistic. (I, for one, have yet to meet a human being whose life is entirely flawless.) . So if you want to create a  … Read more

My first piece of advice to anyone who wants to write a novel is to start with an outline. But I know that’s easier said than done. Especially if you’re writing a novel for the first time, or if you’ve always considered yourself a “pantser” (a writer who writes by the seat of their pants)  … Read more

I can’t believe this is actually happening! I’ve been in talks with the lovely people at Blake Snyder Enterprises for over TWO years about writing an installment in the Save the Cat! series geared exclusively toward novelists, and now it’s FINALLY real! Last month, we sold SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL to the amazing  … Read more

Taylor Swift. Whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit, she’s taken the world by storm. To be blunt, she’s popular. VERY popular. She’s sold 22 million albums, and 50 million downloads of her songs worldwide and her last three released songs shot straight to the top of the iTunes bestseller chart.  … Read more