It’s no secret that I love Blake Snyder and his Save the Cat books. I own them all. I’ve read and dogeared them all. I’ve even taught workshops on his process at writing conferences! And I’ve blogged about it here, often. If you search for “Save the Cat” or “Blake Snyder” in our Go Teen Writers blog search box, you’ll find multiple posts. I’m kind of obsessed.
While I’ve learned so much about loglines, pitching, story genres, and structure from Blake’s genius, I’ve always found it challenging to really fit a novel into his famous Beat Sheet, even though I made my own version of his beat sheet with novel page numbers to help me.
But then my husband gifted me Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody, and I finally got around to reading it.
I loved it!
As I mentioned, for years I’ve been trying to use Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet to plot out novels, but I never quite got it right. Well, over Christmas break, I was seized with the inspiration to try and plot out a new story idea. I set about doing it the three-act structure way. I got stuck. I got frustrated. As this was a contemporary project, I saw the scenes in my head like a movie, so I grabbed my copy of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You’ll Ever Need–which I had yet to read! I started flipping through the pages. I got hooked. I turned back to the beginning and started reading. (I was delighted by the examples of novels broken down in the book, many of which I’ve seen.) A few major “Ah ha!” moments clicked in my brain, and I went back to my broken synopsis, and started writing.
And it started working!
I was soooo excited about this. It was delightful. Of course, it could be that project was special and just had all the right pieces. Only time will tell. But I still loved this book so much and wanted to tell you all about it. I highly recommend it for writers who need help with plot arcs and character growth arcs. This book helped me with both. I’m so excited about this book that I decided to give away a copy today.
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think?
Like I said, I’m giving away a copy of this book to one of you. Enter on the widget below. International entries are welcome, but any international winners will receive an ebook copy instead of a print copy.
Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I started reading the save the caat book on screenwriting, but it ddn’t really resonate with me (or maybe I wasn’t in the right space). I’m intrigued to see how this is different!
I’ve never read this, or even heard of it, but you put it on my radar!
I can’t wait to read the cat’s book on writing.
I needed a recommendation like this, thank you!
Ah, I’ve wanted to read this for such a long time! Your recommendation just bumps it even higher on my TBR list, haha. Thank you!
This book sounds so intriguing, I’ll have to read it!
Oh I’ve wanted to read this for so long! Thanks for the recommend!
I’ve read Save the Cat and it was so helpful! Such an exciting giveaway!
Excellent post! I agree, this book is very helpful with plotting. I’ve read it though I don’t own it, and I’d also recommend it.
This book sounds great! Structure can be such a struggle sometimes so definitely looks like a valuable resource.
Oh man, I know other people have already said this, but this is really high on my TBR list, but I can never find an affordable copy. Fingers crossed!!
Awesome and extremely helpful post, thank you! I’ve been needing a book recommendation like this so thank you!
I have visited the website and printed the beat sheets, but like you said, without the book it is hard to figure out how to use them. I would love to have the book .
Interesting! (Btw, your sweatshirt in the pic is so cute, Ms. Jill! It looks so soft and warm!)
I haven’t read it, but it sounds like a book that my daughter would love.
This looks like a great book.
I’m not much of a plotter, but this looks really useful!
I’ve been wanting to read this book for the longest!
Sounds cool!
I’m really excited to read this! I know my library has a copy but I’ve never actually gotten around to getting it 😛 I just might do that!
Being a writer with my parents work overseas makes it hard for me to get recourses, but I’ll definitely look into it!
I have heard so many authors recommend this book! It looks super helpful!
I love plotting and have tried Blake Snyder’s beat sheets, but I think I had a similar experience as you. I hadn’t heard about this book until this blog post, but now I want to try it out! Definitely going on my “want to read” list!
I’m in the middle of reading this book and love it so far.
I have this book; highly recommend. It’s very helpful for plotting my novels.
I haven’t read it yet, but many have recommended it, so it’s DEFINITELY on my reading list!
I need to read this!! It has been recommended by so many authors… plus, I need motivation to write, lol
I’ve seen this book at my local library, but haven’t touched it yet–the original Save the Cat! just didn’t quite work for me. I think I’ll take a peek at this one, though, since it’s specifically tailored for novels. Always good to collect more craft book recommendations, thanks!
That series of books was on my periphery but I’ve never read them. Your post is inspiring me to try them out!
I’m always skeptical when it comes to novel crafting books, but your the third author I follow who I’ve seen reading/promoting this book so I guess I have to give it a try now.
Nice! I haven’t read the book before, but I’ve been to a conference session where someone used it as the basis for their talk, so it sounds really awesome.
I’m so excited about this new Save the Cat book.
This one was only recently on my radar. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
I’ve heard so much about this book! I’ve wanted to read it for a few years and just haven’t done it yet.
This has been on my wish list for over a year! Thank you for this post!
Writing comes easily for me because I am way over UBER creative lol. But I do struggle with structure and sometimes transition. This book sounds like it could really help with that.
I’ve heard such good things about “Save the Cat” and this sounds so good!
I’ve read fragments of this in the various how-to’s scattered around the net, and it would be awesome to read the book in full.
Thank you for doing this!
I’ve heard a lot of awesome things about this book and have been wanting to try it out for a while now!!!!
I really enjoyed the Save the Cat book on screenwriting, but I had no idea they had one on this!
Since writing is not a full time job or anything, I don’t usually get to devote much money to finding writing resources like classes or the like. This book sounds so good, though, so it’s definitely on my buy list!
i am looking forward to reading the book and continuing to follow your blog…
This sounds like a great book to read.
So many of my favorite authors and a bunch of my writer friends have recommended this book! I love K.M. Weiland’s books on using the 3-Act Structure, but I can’t say a different perspective on looking at things isn’t intriguing :O
I have not heard of Save the Cat, but it sounds interesting!
CutePolarBear
I haven’t read it but have wanted to for a while! I love everything story structure so I’m sure it’s very interesting 🙂
I read this book a while ago, and wow. . . it was amazing! I loved it and would totally recommend it. =D
Cats and writing sound like a good combination to me XD
looks interesting
I haven’t read it yet but I’m very excited to read it myself sometime, and for the chance to win a copy!
This sounds very helpful! I’d appreciate a chance to win!
Well, this is exciting! I was recently told about Save the Cat, but haven’t been able to actually look at it, so this has potential to work out well!
I have not read any of theses books yet-all of the comments and reviews have me wanting to read these books
I know I’ve seen you talk about Save The Cat before, but a version specifically for novels sounds intriguing!
Cool, I have seen a lot about this book but never read it.