Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

by Jessica Brody

And that’s internal bad guys. By this, I mean your hero’s flaws. Those pesky things you set up all the way back in Act 1 that you promised (via your Theme Stated) that your hero would eventually deal with.

This is a prime example of Louisa’s internal bad guys—those flaws from Act 1—closing in and stopping her from making any real change.

And that’s what the Bad Guys Close In beat is all about. No matter what strides your hero has been making in Act 2, those internal bad guys are still hard at work inside your hero’s psyche. Messing up relationships, sabotaging successes, destroying happiness. Because until your hero learns the theme and fixes their life the right way, those internal bad guys are going to keep wreaking havoc, pushing your hero toward that lowest-of-the-low point. Welcome, my friends, to the All Is Lost.

Because until they’ve tried everything else, until they’ve lost everything that’s important to them, they can’t see the true path. It’s a human condition. And therefore it’s a hero condition. Because our heroes are, if nothing else, human. That’s why they resonate with us.

Your hero must be worse off than they were at the start of the book.

We insert something called the whiff of death. Nothing spells despair more than death itself. So this is the point in stories where a lot of characters die or almost die. I’m not trying to sound callous here; it’s just the way it is. In The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus dies at the All Is Lost. In Me Before You, Will tells Louisa that, despite her efforts, he has not changed his mind about ending his own life.

It forces them to look deep inside and realize that they had the answers—the power, the ability, the “force”—in them all along.

Basically, something must end here. Because the All Is Lost is where the old world/character/way of thinking finally dies so a new world/character/way of thinking can be born. I like to think of the All Is Lost as yet another Catalyst. It’s an action beat that serves a very similar function to the Catalyst beat in Act 1. If the first Catalyst pushed your hero into the Debate and then into the Break Into 2, then the All Is Lost will push your hero into the Dark Night of the Soul and finally into the Break Into 3.

And even though whatever happens in the All Is Lost is happening to your hero, it should be, at least somewhat, your hero’s fault. Why? Because that stubborn fool still hasn’t learned the theme! Your hero’s internal bad guys have been working behind the scenes, tripping them up, causing them to make mistakes. And now it’s led to disaster. Even if the action itself isn’t their fault, their dismal predicament is.

Now your hero has nothing else to do but wallow in their defeat and reflect upon their choices and their life. Little do they know that it’ll be the most powerful, life-changing reflection they’ve ever done.

If the All Is Lost is another Catalyst, then naturally, the Dark Night of the Soul beat is another Debate. After hitting rock bottom, what does your hero do? What does anyone do? They react. They think about everything that’s happened. They ponder. They contemplate. They wallow.

Your hero’s specific reaction depends solely on who your hero is as a person. How do they react to this low point in their lives?

The All Is Lost was a single-scene beat. It happened fast. It was one scene or one chapter and then it was over. Now your hero needs time to process it all. That’s why the Dark Night of the Soul is a multi-scene beat. You get several scenes or chapters to show how your hero is dealing with this defeat.

It’s the darkness before the dawn. It’s the moment before the big breakthrough realization. It’s the last moment before the real change occurs.

That’s why most revelations in stories happen in this beat, during what I call the Dark Night epiphany.

So even though your hero is pretty down and depressed about their life right now, something deep inside of them is working. Analyzing. Processing. They’re breaking down their life and looking at their choices; they’re thinking about everything they’ve tried thus far and failed to achieve. They’re slowly coming to an ultimate conclusion. Which is why, similar to the Debate, the Dark Night of the Soul will often revolve around a question. What will the hero do now? How will they cope with this despair? How will they Break Into 3?

site to rendezvous with his crew?” This is also the one beat in the novel where your hero is allowed to move backward, instead of forward. I call it the return to the familiar.

back in with her family.

If possible, take your hero back to where they started. Reunite them with an old friend.

Somehow return them to their original status quo Act 1 life. Because when you’re wallowing and feeling lost, it’s only natural that you’d start searching for something familiar and safe. But here’s the clincher: it doesn’t feel fami...

A return to the familiar essentially shines a giant spotlight on how much your hero has already changed. They’re no longer that Act 1 thesis person anymore. They’ve gone through the upside-down antithesis world, and it’s altered them. Therefore, inserting them back into that Act 1 world only exaggerates how much it’s altered them. They feel like a complete stranger in a place that once felt familiar. This points out to the hero (and the reader) that they don’t belong there anymore. That they can’t go back to the way things were. That it’s time to make the tough c...

Here’s another way I like to look at it: Who the hero was in Act 1 + What they’ve learned in Act 2 = Who they will become in Act 3

The hero will combine their Act 1 self with their Act 2 self, to create a brand-new and improved Act 3 self. Friendships are repaired. Relationships are mended. Jilted lovers are reunited. The A and B stories will meet again, but this time they will intertwine and become one. It’s the ultimate combination: the fun and excitement of the external story, combined with the knowledge and wisdom of the internal story to create a dynamic, engaging, and powerful third act that will resonate and leave your readers breathless!

they will finally fix things the right way.

a breakthrough.

your hero finally realizes what they must do to not only fix all of the problems they’ve caused in Act 2 (and there are plenty!) but also, more important, how to fix themselves.

It was never them who had to change; it was always me.

They’ve ignored the Theme Stated, they’ve chased after what they want instead of what they need, they’ve tried to fix their life the wrong way and failed, they’ve blamed everyone else but themselves. It’s time to wise up and face the cold, hard truth: I am flawed. But now that I know that, I can fix it.

Can they pull it off? We’ll soon see.

The hero is enacting their new plan, yes. But how do we stretch that out over the entire third act so it feels compelling and exciting and not too rushed?

Five-Point Finale,

We need smaller goals and shorter driving distances to get us to the end.

The Five-Point Finale is a blueprint for what every third act is essentially all about: storming the Castle! The castle is a metaphor. It can be anything.

Basically, the castle is the plan. And the Five-Point Finale helps you masterfully execute that plan to give you the most compelling third act possible. So let’s take a look at it, point by point.

As your hero and their team (if they have one) execute the plan, there should be a sense of impossibility in their endeavor. A Can this really work? moment. The plan should at first seem crazy. But then, as the team works together and makes progress, there’s a growing sense of accomplishment.

They may not realize it just yet, but there’s something deep down inside of them that will turn out to be the most important weapon of all. It’s the theme of the story. It’s the flaw they’ve overcome. It’s the proof that they’ve changed. And above all else, it’s something your hero would never have done at the start of the book. They’ve come a long way since their days as that flawed little caterpillar. It’s time to show us what a beautiful, powerful butterfly they’ve turned into.

Well, now it’s time for your hero to dig deep down and pull out that shard of glass. Remove their flaws at the source and become victorious.

This sub-beat is also called a touched-by-the-divine moment.

Only now, when your hero has dug deep down to find the truth, removed that shard of glass, and leaped off the bridge with no net to catch them, can we really see them triumph.

Clark says goodbye to Will (Me Before You). In this final sub-beat, your hero puts their bold, innovative, new plan into action—and of course, it works!

That’s how we resonate with readers. We take our heroes to hell and back, we make them work for every last victory, we force them to search deep within themselves to find the answers, and only then do we give them the ending they now rightly deserve.

Make them work for their transformation.

If you put in the extra work to make your third act just as dynamic and turbulent and wrought with action and emotion as the rest of your story, your novel as a whole is going to be elevated to another level. And your very last, final beat is going to feel all the more earned for your hero, your reader…and you.

In this one scene or chapter, the reader should be able to very clearly identify how this story has changed your hero for the better.

Opening Image and the Final Image aren’t starkly and obviously different, then it’s time to rethink your beats.

We didn’t just travel in circles. We went somewhere.

EXERCISE: THE TRANSFORMATION TEST Is your hero’s transformation as big as it can be? Have you hit all the beats hard enough? Use this handy Self-Workshop Checklist to make sure your beats pass the transformation test! 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?