Writer on the Side: Can you explain "SAVE THE CAT"?

Sometimes when you're struggling with?a new manuscript, it helps to read?a how-to?book like Anne Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD or Steven King's ON WRITING.? This past week, I?picked up SAVE THE CAT by the late Blake Snyder.? It's really a screenwriting book but is highly recommended by?fiction writers I know.

Clear,?concise,?filled with easy-to-follow examples, it was?just what?I needed to read.? In fact, I was so excited, I started trying to explain THE WHOLE TECHNIQUE to a writer friend.? Without Snyder's wit and examples, I think I came off as a very dull half-wit?repeatedly saying, "And he's so right about X, Y or Z." (My friend listened patiently all the same.)

??

Why am?I telling you about my retelling? Because as I?spoke aloud?the points that stayed most firmly in?my brain, I realized a weakness in my work.? The erstwhile CAT-SAVE (aka GIVING YOUR MC AN ACTION or CHARACTERISTIC THAT MAKES THEM LIKABLE AT SOME LEVEL (even if s/he's a criminal)) was missing.? Not that my character wasn't relatable, even nice--I just hadn't shown it in any early scene in the manuscript.

Now, I tend to be skittish about discussing works-in-progress?because?I it sometimes feel?like my lovely idea, as I speak it aloud, is dissolving into a mound of ugly, unwritable dust. In the face of my listener I see disbelief, uncertainty or, worst of all, boredom. Yet, talking about Save the Cat in the context of learning about my own writing was helpful.

Herewith I will a?draw a few conclusions from my?Cat-retelling exercise:

1. Saying aloud what you read helps clarify what you really learned.
2. If you're afraid to share an idea, maybe it really isn't all that great.
3. Sometimes talking through a plot actually helps you see AND FILL some gaps.

What's your favorite how-to book?? What parts of TALKING OUT LOUD help you improve what's on the page?

Source: http://swardkehoe.blogspot.com/2012/08/can-you-explain-save-cat.html

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