30 Days of Writing and Publishing Tips – Day 7 Resources to help you plot books that will sell
Very short post today because of some life issues, but I wanted to post about some resources writers might not know about. I often have people ask me how I manage to write and sell books written in several different genres (contemporary adventure, historical and science fiction.) The answer is that I plot them out much the same way no matter what the genre. I use a combination of something called Save the Cat, along with aspects of The Hero’s Journey. These two resources have helped me get eight books published so far, not counting the Boxcar Children series.
*of course, I, being a cat person, love the title of Save the Cat.*
The Save The Cat method, which was originally written for screenplays. It lays out a sequence of types of plot points to write an engaging screenplay. There is now a version for novel writers: SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody. In the novel version, the author lays out ten different types of basic plots and what you need within those plots to hook a reader. Once you read it, it may help make outlining seem less like something that is a big muddle of ideas to a clear path to a complete story idea.
I also use aspects of The Hero’s Journey. The hero’s journey is a classic structure used for thousands of years in storytelling in which a person goes on an adventure and overcomes a crisis to succeed, becoming changed in the process. It still works today because it’s very satisfying for the reader to read. We follow along with the main character, rooting for them, and celebrate when they are successful. Joseph Campbell wrote of the hero’s journey (though he wasn’t he first) in his book THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. George Lucas was influenced by Campbell’s book in developing the Star Wars series. If you don’t have access to the book or just want an overview, the Wikipedia article on this is surprisingly good.
People have been listening to stories for thousands of years and certain stories appeal to broad segments of readers more than others. I like the idea of following in the path of generations of storytellers who once sat around campfires enthralling their audiences.
And I did put a literal Save the Cat scene in one of my books, ALL IS FAIR, based on a real life cat who lived on British navy ships.
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If you’d like to read more writing and publishing tips, the post for Day 1 is here.
