Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

Yes, my beat sheet always changes along the way as I get into the story and learn more about the world and the characters (see this page for an example).

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Author Terry Pratchett says, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

Plotting a novel and thinking you can stick to everything you planned is about as delusional as plotting your life and thinking nothing will ever go astray.