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

When I look back at the 185 rejection letters I got from agents when I was trying to sell a book to a publisher, I can find one common theme throughout. And it usually looked something like this: “Great voice! No story.”  At the time, I didn’t understand this critique. I was like, “What are  … 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

Oftentimes I find that sharing finished Save the Cat! beat sheets with writers can be misleading and intimidating — especially if you’re just starting out with a new novel or screenplay and trying to implement the Save the Cat! method to your story for the first time. It can be frustrating to read a completed  … Read more

Hey crazy writing people! I’ve been wanting to do a writing tip vlog for a while now and I finally had to time to sit down and film it after a whirlwind UNREMEMBERED tour. I get asked the “structure” question a lot. How do you “structure” your novels or how do you “plot” your novels.  … Read more

How do you make unlikable characters more likeable? Or at the very least more relatable? Great question. In this blog post, I’ll break down three actionable strategies for taking even the most unlikable characters and making your audience root for them. But first, let’s talk about why you’d want to do this. First of all,  … Read more

We’ve received MANY requests from novel writers in Austin, asking us to bring the Save the Cat! Novel-Writing Workshop to Texas! So…we are! Ask and you shall receive! Ahem…Announcing the very first SAVE THE CAT! Novel-Writing Workshop in AUSTIN! The workshop will take place on the weekend of April 14th and 15th, 2012.  All the  … Read more

Attention, writers!!! Back by popular demand (I’ve always wanted to say that!), I’m doing another SAVE THE CAT Novel-Writing Beat Sheet Workshop! I was thrilled when the kind people over at Blake Snyder Enterprises (publishers of the SAVE THE CAT books and software) asked me to teach another class. And of course, I said yes! The  … Read more

A lot of people ask me how I write and outline my novels and I always have one response: Save the Cat! I owe my entire novel-writing career to Save the Cat! A book series by the genius Blake Snyder about how to outline any story in the world. He calls his trusty “formula,” the  … Read more