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the reader should be able to very clearly identify how this story has changed your hero for the better. If the Opening Image and the Final Image aren’t starkly and obviously different, then it’s time to rethink your beats. The farther apart these two versions of your hero are, the more you’ve proved that there was a point to this journey.
The Transformation Machine
Opening Image ❏ Is your Opening Image one scene or one group of interconnected scenes? ❏ Is your Opening Image visual? (Are you showing, not telling?) ❏ Is one or more of your hero’s flaws evident in this scene?
Theme Stated ❏ Does your theme directly relate to your hero’s need or spiritual lesson? ❏ Is your theme stated by someone (or something!) other than the hero? ❏ Can your hero easily and believably dismiss this theme?
Setup ❏ Have you shown at least one thing that needs fixing in your hero’s life? ❏ Have you introduced at least one A Story character? ❏ Did you clearly establish your hero’s want or external goal somewhere in this beat? ❏ Have you shown your hero in more than one area of their life (such as home, work, and/or play)? ❏ Are your hero’s flaws evident in this beat? ❏ Have you created a sense of urgency that imminent change is vital (stasis = death)?
Catalyst ❏ Does the Catalyst happen to the hero? ❏ Is it an action beat? (No revelations allowed here!) ❏ Is it impossible for the hero to go back to their normal life after this? ❏ Is the Catalyst big enough to break the status quo?
Debate ❏ Can you sum up your Debate with a question? Or if it’s a preparation Debate, have you clearly defined what your hero is preparing for and why? ❏ Have you created a sense of hesitation in your hero? ❏ Have you shown your hero debating in more than one area of their life (such as home, work, and/or play)?
Break Into 2 ❏ Is your hero leaving an old world behind and entering a new one? ❏ If your hero isn’t physically going somewhere, are they trying something new? ❏ Is your Act 2 world the opposite of your Act 1 world? ❏ Is the break between Act 1 and Act 2 clear and distinct? ❏ Does your hero make a proactive move or decision to enter Act 2? ❏ Is your hero making a decision based on what they want? ❏ Can you identify why this is the wrong way to change?
B Story ❏ Have you introduced a new love interest, mentor, friend, or nemesis character? ❏ Can you identify how your B Story character (or characters!) represents the theme? ❏ Is your new character in some way a product of the upside-down Act 2 world? (Would they stick out like a sore thumb in the Act 1 world?)
Fun and Games ❏ Do you clearly show your hero either floundering or succeeding in the new world? ❏ Does your Fun and Games deliver on the promise of your premise? ❏ Does your Fun and Games visibly illustrate how your Act 2 world is the upside-down version of your Act 1 world?
Midpoint ❏ Can you clearly identify either a false victory or a false defeat? ❏ Have you raised the stakes of the story? ❏ Do your A (external) and B (internal) stories cross in some way? ❏ Can you identify a shift from the wants to the needs (even if it’s subtle)?
Bad Guys Close In ❏ Is the path of this beat a direct opposite of your Fun and Games? (That is, if your hero was succeeding in your Fun and Games, are they floundering here? And vice versa?) ❏ Have you shown or identified how the internal bad guys (flaws) are working against your hero?
All Is Lost ❏ Does something happen to the hero in this beat? ❏ Is your All Is Lost big enough to push your hero into Act 3? (That is, have they really hit rock bottom?) ❏ Have you inserted a whiff of death? ❏ Does this beat feel like another Catalyst for change?
Dark Night of the Soul ❏ Is your hero reflecting on something in this beat? ❏ Is this beat leading your hero toward an epiphany? ❏ Does your hero’s life seem worse off than it did at the beginning of the book?
Break Into 3 ❏ Does your hero learn a valuable universal lesson (theme) here? ❏ Does your hero make a proactive decision to fix something? ❏ Is the decision based on what your hero needs? ❏ Can you identify why this is the right way to change? ❏ Is your Act 3 world a synthesis of Act 1 and Act 2?
Finale ❏ Does your hero struggle to enact their plan? (That is, does your Finale have conflict?) ❏ Is there a Dig Deep Down moment when your hero proves they’ve really learned their theme? ❏ Do the A Story and B Story somehow intertwine in this beat?
Final Image ❏ Is your Final Image one scene or collection of interconnected scenes? ❏ Is your Final Image visual? (Are you showing, not telling?) ❏ Is it evident how your hero has transformed? ❏ Does your “after” snapshot somehow mirror your “before” snapshot (Opening Image)?
Ten Genres to Fit Any Story (Yes, Even Yours)
In short, the first step to being a successful writer is being a reader.
here is a quick overview of the ten Save the Cat! story genres.
WHYDUNIT: A mystery must be solved by a hero (who may or may not be a detective) during which something shocking is revealed about the dark side of human nature. (See chapter 4.)
RITES OF PASSAGE: A hero must endure the pain and torment brought about by life’s common challenges (death, separation, loss, divorce, addiction, coming of age, and so on). (See chapter 5.)
INSTITUTIONALIZED: A hero enters or is already entrenched inside a certain group, institution, establishment, or family and must make a choice to join, escape, or destroy it. (See chapter 6.)
SUPERHERO: An extraordinary hero finds themselves in an ordinary world and must come to terms with being special or destined for greatness. (See chapter 7.)
DUDE WITH A PROBLEM: An innocent, ordinary hero suddenly finds themselves in the midst of extraordinary circumstances and must rise to the challenge. (See chapter 8.)
FOOL TRIUMPHANT: An underestimated, underdog hero is pitted against some kind of “establishment” and proves a hidden worth to society. (See chapter 9.)
BUDDY LOVE: A hero is transformed by meeting someone else, including (but not limited to) love stories, friendship stories, and pet stories. (See chapter 10.)
OUT OF THE BOTTLE: An ordinary hero is temporarily “touched by magic,” usually involving a wish fulfilled or a curse bestowed, and the hero learns an important lesson about appreciating and making the most of “reality.” (See chapter 11.)
GOLDEN FLEECE: A hero (or group) goes on a “road trip” of some type (even if there’s no actual road), in search of one thing and winds up discovering something else—themselves. (See chapter 12.)
MONSTER IN THE HOUSE: A hero (or group of heroes) must overcome some kind of monster (supernatural or not), in some kind of enclosed setting (or limited circumstances), and someone is usually responsible for bringing the monster into being. (See chapter 13.)
What is achievable is fresh.
Whydunit
To recap: If you’re thinking of writing a Whydunit novel, make sure your story includes these three essential ingredients:
A DETECTIVE: whether that’s a professional, an amateur, or even the reader! It just needs to be someone with a case on their hands. A case that they are not fully prepared for (whether they realize it or not!).
A SECRET: the key to unraveling the whole thing. What is inside the last, darkest room of our hunt for the truth? It should illuminate something about the dark side of humanity. Something we didn’t think was possible before the case began.
A DARK TURN: the moment when the hero or detective finds themselves so deep into the mystery that their own rules, morals, and/or ethics are compromised. The hero must do something (usually in the second half of the novel) that somehow breaks the rules or threatens their integrity or even their innocence. These are the harrowing stakes of a good mystery. And the dark turn is why readers care about this particular case. Because the pull of this secret has become so strong, even the straightest arrows are helpless against it.
Popular Whydunit Novels Through Time: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew series) by Carolyn Keene Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin A Is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone series) by Sue Grafton The Black Echo (Harry Bosch series) by Michael Connelly Along Came a Spider (Alex Cross series) by James Patterson One for the Money (Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovich The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson In the Woods (Dublin
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THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN BY: Paula Hawkins STC GENRE: Whydunit
Rites of Passage
you’ll need three essential ingredients: (1) a life problem, (2) a wrong way to attack the problem, and (3) a solution to the problem that involves acceptance of the hard truth the hero has been avoiding.
heroes are infamous for trying to fix things the wrong way first, and nowhere is that more true than for heroes of this genre.
To recap: If you’re thinking about writing a Rites of Passage novel, make sure your story includes these three essential ingredients:
A LIFE PROBLEM: a universal challenge that often results from nothing more than just being alive (such as puberty, adolescence, midlife, separation, death, and so on).
A WRONG WAY TO ATTACK THE PROBLEM: Your hero can’t face this challenge head-on (at least not at first!). There needs to be some level of avoidance happening, usually as an attempt to evade the pain.
AN ACCEPTANCE OF THE HARD TRUTH: This is the real solution, and it usually comes with the understanding that it’s the hero who must change, not life itself.
Popular Rites of Passage Novels Through Time: Emma by Jane Austen Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume About a Boy by Nick Hornby Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (beat sheet following) The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin The Shack by William P. Young The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny
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The Kite Runner BY: Khaled Hosseini STC GENRE: Rites of Passage
Institutionalized
THE SAVE THE CAT! SHORT SYNOPSIS TEMPLATE PARAGRAPH 1: Setup, flawed hero, and Catalyst (2–4 sentences) PARAGRAPH 2: Break Into 2 and/or Fun and Games (2–4 sentences) PARAGRAPH 3: Theme Stated, Midpoint hint and/or All Is Lost hint, ending in a cliffhanger (1 to 3 sentences)
The Five Foundation Beats are Catalyst Break Into 2 Midpoint Break Into 3 All Is Lost
