Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Quotes

“Plot, structure, and character transformation. Or what I like to call the “Holy Trinity of Story.” All together, these three elements are pure storytelling pixie dust. The three essential building blocks of every great story ever told.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“THE SAVE THE CAT! LOGLINE TEMPLATE On the verge of a stasis = death moment, a flawed hero Breaks Into 2; but when the Midpoint happens, they must learn the Theme Stated before the All Is Lost.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Herd mentality can defy all logic and reason.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“We call that real problem the SHARD OF GLASS. It's a psychological wound that has been festering beneath the surface of your hero for a long time. The skin has grown over it, leaving behind an unsightly scar that causes your hero to act in the way they act and make the mistakes that they do (flaws!). You, as the author and creator of this world, have to decide how this shard of glass got there. Why is your hero so flawed? What happens to them to make them the way they are?”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“And don’t we writers just love to manipulate?”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Imagine if Harry Potter had started out a confident, powerful wizard. Imagine if the Dursleys had been nice adoptive parents who took Harry under their wing and nourished his magical soul. What a dull first book that would have been!”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“In all of these Midpoint examples, you might have noticed a subtle shift from wants to needs. This is no coincidence. The third essential Midpoint element is the intersection of the A and B stories, when your hero starts to let go of what they want in lieu of figuring out what they need.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“If the Break Into 2 was the hero figuring out how to fix things the wrong way, then the Break Into 3 is when the hero finally figures out how to fix things the right way.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“at the start of the novel, your hero is resistant to change. They hear the theme stated and they go, “What the heck does he know? He doesn’t know me.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“There’s no such thing as writer’s block or plotter’s block. There’s only perfectionist’s block.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“The Golden Fleece genre also includes Epic Quest novels, where the “road trip” is a journey to some far-off treasure, prize, or birthright—like The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien and A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. (Apparently, you need two Rs in your name to be successful in the quest genre.)”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Tender scenes between the hero and the love interest can often be found in what’s called the eye-of-the-storm moment”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Whenever I get stuck on a certain part of my story, I always bust out the old Save the Cat! genre breakdowns, fnd novels and movies that are in my chosen genre, and get studying. Seeing how my predecessors tackled the same genre elements inspires me with new ideas and almost always busts me out of my blockage”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“The wants, regardless of whether they change or stay the same, are what drive the story forward. They’re what keep the plot moving. Otherwise, you’ve got a hero who’s just putzing around, waiting for something to happen. (Very boring plot.) When a hero wants something, it sets them in motion. It gets them of their butt and into the action, which is exactly where we want them to be”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Now, it’s important to note two things about wants (or goals). First, they can change as the novel goes on. And they often do”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“And speaking of your hero getting what they want: Why haven’t they? Why doesn’t Wade from Ready Player One just wake up one day and efortlessly collect all three keys to the Easter egg hidden in the Oasis? Why doesn’t Emma successfully set up Harriet with Mr. Elton in Emma? Because if they did, there would be no story. It would be too easy. There would be nothing left for the reader to root for. That’s why it shouldn’t be easy for your hero to get what they want. It should be hard. They should have to work for it”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Giving your hero a goal and having them proactively pursue that goal is the fastest way to get your reader to root for your hero and latch onto your story”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“How do you create a hero who is interesting, memorable, and relatable, a hero whom readers want to read about? A hero worthy of an entire novel written about them? Easy! You simply give them: 1. A PROBLEM (or faw that needs fxing) 2. A WANT (or goal that the hero is pursuing) 3. A NEED (or life lesson to be learned)”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“what kind of problem(s) is your character facing? That’s the first question you must answer as you begin to create your story-worthy hero.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“We love our "foolish" heroes because they win for the underdog in all of us. And they teach us that believing in yourself is sometimes the only weapopn you need.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Whatever life lesson your hero has to learn, whatever epic transformation your hero has to make, it should be subtly mentioned within the first 10 percent of your story. You don’t want to shout it from the rooftops or spend five pages delving into it. You just want to delicately plant the seed in the reader’s brain.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“If you’re writing a story with multiple main characters and/or multiple points of view and you’re still having problems figuring out who the hero is, or whose arc is the biggest, try asking yourself, Which of my main characters is most like my reader?”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“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)”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“They must in some way represent the upside-down Act 2 world. They must in some way help guide the hero toward their life lesson or theme.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“And this is what I love about the Theme Stated. The hero often ignores it!”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“Act 2 is the opposite of Act 1. If Act 1 is the thesis—the status quo world—then Act 2 is the upside-down version of that. The polar opposite. The inverse. The antithesis.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“There’s something buried deep within our DNA as humans that makes us respond to certain storytelling elements told in a certain order. We’ve been responding to them since our primitive ancestors drew on walls and tribes told stories around campfires.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

“That’s why I like to call Act 2 fixing things the wrong way.”
― Jessica Brody, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel