Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel Writing You'll Ever Need
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2022-04-20 08:54:56
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Jessica Brody
- ISBN：0399579745
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Summary
The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat！ story-structure series， which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success。
Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat！ screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing。 Revealing the 15 "beats" （plot points） that comprise a successful story--from the opening image to the finale--this book lays out the Ten Story Genres （Monster in the House; Whydunit; Dude with a Problem） alongside quirky， original insights （Save the Cat; Shard of Glass） to help novelists craft a plot that will captivate--and a novel that will sell。
Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat！ screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing。 Revealing the 15 "beats" （plot points） that comprise a successful story--from the opening image to the finale--this book lays out the Ten Story Genres （Monster in the House; Whydunit; Dude with a Problem） alongside quirky， original insights （Save the Cat; Shard of Glass） to help novelists craft a plot that will captivate--and a novel that will sell。
Reviews
Sandra Bunting
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Gives one direction when writing a novel， clarifies one's thoughts and helps in planning a manuscript。Even gives advice in how to write a strong summary and one line pitch。 Excellent resource。 Gives one direction when writing a novel， clarifies one's thoughts and helps in planning a manuscript。Even gives advice in how to write a strong summary and one line pitch。 Excellent resource。 。。。more
Jacqui Morrison
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A good book on outlining a novel。 i learned a lot。
Laura
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Actual rating 4。5 stars。This is really interesting and I've learned a lot ^^ Actual rating 4。5 stars。This is really interesting and I've learned a lot ^^ 。。。more
Wombo Combo
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I'm actually shocked by the fact that I think this is pretty good， just because I certainly wasn't in love with the original。 I've had to read both of them for classes， and this is easily the better of the two， just because Brody comes off as likable unlike Snyder。 Lots of good advice。 Definitely not a bad read if you're interested in writing。 I'm sure I'll read parts of this over in the future。 I'm actually shocked by the fact that I think this is pretty good， just because I certainly wasn't in love with the original。 I've had to read both of them for classes， and this is easily the better of the two， just because Brody comes off as likable unlike Snyder。 Lots of good advice。 Definitely not a bad read if you're interested in writing。 I'm sure I'll read parts of this over in the future。 。。。more
Russell Hirsch
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Thank you Jessica Brody for doing yeoman's work for fiction writers of all stripes！ I'm so grateful to see a successful authors share their process， when so often all we see is the finished product。 This will become a treasured resource for me！ The discussion of genres was especially useful， as Brody goes into much greater detail than the original screen-oriented "Save the Cat" book。 The 3 key ingredients for each genre and detailed beat sheet for representative books were magnificent。 I'm a big Thank you Jessica Brody for doing yeoman's work for fiction writers of all stripes！ I'm so grateful to see a successful authors share their process， when so often all we see is the finished product。 This will become a treasured resource for me！ The discussion of genres was especially useful， as Brody goes into much greater detail than the original screen-oriented "Save the Cat" book。 The 3 key ingredients for each genre and detailed beat sheet for representative books were magnificent。 I'm a big fan of Christopher Vogler's "The Writer's Journey" and other story structures inspired by the hero's journey， but found Save the Cat's precision clarified some structure issues for me。 In particular， the distinction between single-scene beats and beat sequences has proven invaluable！Merci！ 。。。more
Addie Bushnell
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I’m not a huge fan of “craft” books when it comes to writing， and this wasn’t an exception。 Most of what this book covers is the type of thing that the majority of writers will already intuitively know if they’re doing their due diligence （aka reading a diverse array of fiction）。 The advice in this book， as well as the perspective the author seems to have on narrative， character， theme， etc。， often feels simplistic and lacking nuance。 After having a quick look at the author’s past work， I can se I’m not a huge fan of “craft” books when it comes to writing， and this wasn’t an exception。 Most of what this book covers is the type of thing that the majority of writers will already intuitively know if they’re doing their due diligence （aka reading a diverse array of fiction）。 The advice in this book， as well as the perspective the author seems to have on narrative， character， theme， etc。， often feels simplistic and lacking nuance。 After having a quick look at the author’s past work， I can see she’s writing commercial fiction， and that makes sense for the context of Save The Cat - but I think that upmarket and literary authors would find the guidelines laid out here to be a bit stiff and shallow。 I think this book would be best for beginners。 The beat sheet is a good way to get a feel for the structure of a narrative。 While I didn’t find this book very helpful overall， it definitely was useful for me in terms of just getting back into the mindset of beginning to think more seriously about my novel， and I had some good brainstorming sessions while reading the beat sheet chapters。 。。。more
Maria S Haneef
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Thank you Jessica for writing this savior of a book！。 Thank you for whatever time and effort and research that you would have done in order to bring together the ideas of this book because for one， it has helped me or should I say nudged me in the right direction。 I have been so confused about where to begin with the journey of writing my novel & my pantser self having no idea about how to do even the 'o' of outlining。 So， thank you！ I don't know how much help will the beats really do me because Thank you Jessica for writing this savior of a book！。 Thank you for whatever time and effort and research that you would have done in order to bring together the ideas of this book because for one， it has helped me or should I say nudged me in the right direction。 I have been so confused about where to begin with the journey of writing my novel & my pantser self having no idea about how to do even the 'o' of outlining。 So， thank you！ I don't know how much help will the beats really do me because I am yet to start writing my book but I'd still thank you for the motivation I desperately needed & got from this。 Not to mention this specific paragraph: Nora Roberts says， “You can’t fix a blank page。” And how true is that？ Write something bad so Future You has something to fix！ Otherwise Future You will be very bored and disappointed that Past You didn’t live up to your end of the bargain and put something down on that page。 Don’t disappoint Future You。 Don’t put Future You out of a job。 Write something awful and let Future You deal with it。 That’s what Future You does best。 So don’t be afraid to write badly。 Embrace the bad！ Or as I like to say， “Don’t be afraid to write crap。 Crap makes great fertilizer。”Thank you very much！ I'm fully determined to put down crap now 🤣 。。。more
Atlas J Stormzand
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This book can be extremely helpful！ I am notoriously bad at plotting and character and literally everything because I am new to writing， but this book is full of useful suggestions that can be taken as they are or used as a springboard to guide you to new ideas。 Would recommend for writers who are new or are struggling to plot。
Steven D Ramirez
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I've given this book 5 stars because if anyone were to approach me， saying， "I'd like to write a book， but I don't know where to start，" I would immediately recommend Save the Cat！ Writes a Novel。 At this point in time， this book feels like the gold standard in teaching the reader how to approach writing a novel。 Intuitive， well thought out， and functional， this book will guide a writer from the first page to the last， and create a structure that insulates against writer's block and dead-end sub I've given this book 5 stars because if anyone were to approach me， saying， "I'd like to write a book， but I don't know where to start，" I would immediately recommend Save the Cat！ Writes a Novel。 At this point in time， this book feels like the gold standard in teaching the reader how to approach writing a novel。 Intuitive， well thought out， and functional， this book will guide a writer from the first page to the last， and create a structure that insulates against writer's block and dead-end subplots。 It also enlightens the reader on exactly what the industry standards are for stories and storylines， enhancing the query process for those to aspire to be traditionally published。 For the self-published crowd， this will ensure your book is at the professional standards of the literary industry。 This will be one of the best purchases any writer can make on their journey toward the last page of their manuscript。 。。。more
Brieanna Wilkoff
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For any writers out there， this book changed my writing life。 Seriously。 It makes so much sense - everything is explained in an easy-to-follow way with great examples to illustrate and quick reference points I keep coming back to again and again。 HIGHLY recommend it。
Laura
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One of the best books on writing I've read so far （as a beginner in creative writing）。 Very thorough and full of useful information and tips！ One of the best books on writing I've read so far （as a beginner in creative writing）。 Very thorough and full of useful information and tips！ 。。。more
Louisa Birk
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Really helpful tips。
Nicole
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I appreciate this book so much！ It has helped me think bigger about my scenes， plot points， story arcs， and connections。 It confirmed for me that I've been going in the right direction， as far as the different 'beats' are concerned。 This book is not about what kind of writer you are or what kind of stories you write。 It's about the various parts of a story that make it exactly that。 I recommend it to any writer who wants to learn about story & novel structure as it applies to any story out there I appreciate this book so much！ It has helped me think bigger about my scenes， plot points， story arcs， and connections。 It confirmed for me that I've been going in the right direction， as far as the different 'beats' are concerned。 This book is not about what kind of writer you are or what kind of stories you write。 It's about the various parts of a story that make it exactly that。 I recommend it to any writer who wants to learn about story & novel structure as it applies to any story out there。 。。。more
Amy Kirkeide
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This was one of the most helpful books I've read！ If you struggle with plotting and developing character arcs， it's a must read This was one of the most helpful books I've read！ If you struggle with plotting and developing character arcs， it's a must read 。。。more
Linnea K。 Archibald
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4 STARSI admit I was rather wary of this book， but after nearly every person in my writing group recommended it， I picked it up at the library。 My main concern was that I don't typically love the idea of story "formulas" and I often feel they simplify nuanced works in a way that discounts the complex creativity needed to tell a good， compelling story。 Plus， in all honestly， the cover of this book is not doing it many favors。 Despite my hesitation， I ended up finding this book extremely helpful。 4 STARSI admit I was rather wary of this book， but after nearly every person in my writing group recommended it， I picked it up at the library。 My main concern was that I don't typically love the idea of story "formulas" and I often feel they simplify nuanced works in a way that discounts the complex creativity needed to tell a good， compelling story。 Plus， in all honestly， the cover of this book is not doing it many favors。 Despite my hesitation， I ended up finding this book extremely helpful。 Brody's discussion of story beats almost instantly clarified why I was struggling with a draft in a particular spot and helped me clarify the necessary elements to fix that issue。 This is no small triumph when you've been staring at the same dang chapter for weeks wondering why it just wasn't working。 While I found the story beats helpful， the genre types didn't clarify much for me。 And that's okay。 Not every piece of writing advice will resonate with every person。 If you've gotten stuck in the middle of a draft or had issues with pacing， I would highly recommend picking this one up。 Will you adhere to every beat， every genre convention perfectly？ Absolutely not。 It can still be a valuable tool though。 。。。more
MilkywayCrossing
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I don’t plan on writing a novel， but reading analysis of novels is interesting。 This book breaks novels down into their structure and by type of story。
Teresa
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2。5 stars
Mitri
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Aku menemukan cercah untuk membangun sebuah plot dalam semesta cerita。 Kupikir， buku ini bagus untuk siapa saja yang ingin mencoba menulis cerita dengan plot yang menggigit。 Bahkan ketika baru membaca bab-bab awal， sinopsis cerpen berdasarkan kaidah dalam buku ini mengantarkan tulisanku pada kesempatan terpilih untuk diwujudkan。Kurasa， pendapat orang-orang terkait writers block emang benar， semakin lama， aku pun meyakini bahwa hal tersebut merupakan mitos atau bentuk lain dari kemalasan。 Semoga Aku menemukan cercah untuk membangun sebuah plot dalam semesta cerita。 Kupikir， buku ini bagus untuk siapa saja yang ingin mencoba menulis cerita dengan plot yang menggigit。 Bahkan ketika baru membaca bab-bab awal， sinopsis cerpen berdasarkan kaidah dalam buku ini mengantarkan tulisanku pada kesempatan terpilih untuk diwujudkan。Kurasa， pendapat orang-orang terkait writers block emang benar， semakin lama， aku pun meyakini bahwa hal tersebut merupakan mitos atau bentuk lain dari kemalasan。 Semoga kamu tak semalas diriku， Kawans 😁https://mitrikomalasari。wordpress。com。。。 。。。more
Donald Firesmith
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This book takes the similarly named Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need and applies its contents to books as opposed to scripts。 It overlaps significantly with the highly popular [[book:The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing， Formatting， and Selling Your Script|284761]， which presents a similar organization for scripts （and novels）。Pros: It provides a great deal of practical information about defining characters and organizing the structure of the book us This book takes the similarly named Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need and applies its contents to books as opposed to scripts。 It overlaps significantly with the highly popular [[book:The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing， Formatting， and Selling Your Script|284761]， which presents a similar organization for scripts （and novels）。Pros: It provides a great deal of practical information about defining characters and organizing the structure of the book using a character sheet and beat sheet。Cons: It is a little dogmatic for the Save the Cat approach， which is similar to （but different than） the approach in the Screenwriter's Bible。Bottom Line: Recommended for all novelists。 。。。more
Heather Wood
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This book does have some helpful information in it， but I take exception to the tagline "the last book on novel writing you'll ever need" and the assumption that all readers are the same in their preference of formulaic story structure。 It is not the last novel writing book you'll ever need， because you can certainly follow the formula and have poor writing and write a poor book。 This book does have some helpful information in it， but I take exception to the tagline "the last book on novel writing you'll ever need" and the assumption that all readers are the same in their preference of formulaic story structure。 It is not the last novel writing book you'll ever need， because you can certainly follow the formula and have poor writing and write a poor book。 。。。more
Lori Puma
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I found this more useful for novelists than Blake Snyder's Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need。I really liked Brody's breakdown of each genre having 3 important ingredients。 It's a very useful shortcut to finding the essence of a story。This book uses tons of examples。 Many of the examples are young adult titles。 I found this more useful for novelists than Blake Snyder's Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need。I really liked Brody's breakdown of each genre having 3 important ingredients。 It's a very useful shortcut to finding the essence of a story。This book uses tons of examples。 Many of the examples are young adult titles。 。。。more
Kiara
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Finished all of the parts of this that I needed to read at this time， and I gotta say: I'm impressed！ Now， do I think that this structure is the end all be all to writing？ Absolutely not。 But I feel that a beginner （like me！） can still learn a lot from it。 I'm a firm believer in knowing the "rules" before breaking them （not that the STC method is the rule）， and this book provides a good starting point。 I've never written any long-form fiction， and I'm writing a fantasy novel （planned trilogy！） n Finished all of the parts of this that I needed to read at this time， and I gotta say: I'm impressed！ Now， do I think that this structure is the end all be all to writing？ Absolutely not。 But I feel that a beginner （like me！） can still learn a lot from it。 I'm a firm believer in knowing the "rules" before breaking them （not that the STC method is the rule）， and this book provides a good starting point。 I've never written any long-form fiction， and I'm writing a fantasy novel （planned trilogy！） now， and I was clueless on where to start。 I'm not a plotter at all。 I had the gist of how I wanted the story to go， but no idea how to fit it all together。 This book has given me a lot of tips。My one gripe is that following this structure to the T will make your story feel a little formulaic。。。because it will be。 Brody gives Beat Sheets for a lot of popular novels， and she states that they all follow the 15 beats， which is good if you want an easy bestseller， but not so great when you want something totally original。 This is where the rule-breaking will come in handy。 Taking beats and structure tips from this book and rearranging them to fit your story as you see it will make for a more enriching novel， in my opinion。 I personally will be using this book as a sort of loose guideline。 I'm still so happy that I read it though！ I can tell that it's one I'll be coming back to again and again！ 。。。more
Gigi Lee
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As an aspiring beginner writer， I needed this。！
Myrihla
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I couldn't get into this book for a long time， but this time round， I found the tips and advice to be invaluable！ I couldn't get into this book for a long time， but this time round， I found the tips and advice to be invaluable！ 。。。more
Terri Jones
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After reading through the first 25% or so， understanding the basic premise and parts of the famous screenplay template， you get to individual sections about each 'type' of story that the author's come up with in her years of teaching her novel-writing course。 I skimmed most because they aren't the kinds of stories I want to tell， and read the ones that resonate with me。 When I got to the logline and pitch section， I found that very helpful indeed。 Ultimately， this is a very good reference book f After reading through the first 25% or so， understanding the basic premise and parts of the famous screenplay template， you get to individual sections about each 'type' of story that the author's come up with in her years of teaching her novel-writing course。 I skimmed most because they aren't the kinds of stories I want to tell， and read the ones that resonate with me。 When I got to the logline and pitch section， I found that very helpful indeed。 Ultimately， this is a very good reference book for beginners and those looking to experiment with different writing methods。 There are a lot of examples， so you may come across spoilers （I didn't care） but she does warn what's coming up in each of those sections。 I am glad I spent the money to own this， since it took me three months to finish it。 Non-fiction。 Always slower！ （For me。） 。。。more
Julianne
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Really useful。 And even if you aren’t a writer， it’s still really interesting to see so many outline breakdowns of books you’ve probably read already。
Morgan Giesbrecht
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I had heard mixed reviews on this book， but I decided to give it a go， and I’m glad I did。 Several years ago now， I was introduced to the Save the Cat！ method and ideology when I took a screenwriting class， so much of what Jessica had to say I was already familiar with。 HOWEVER， screenwriting is different that novel writing （I have done both so I know！）， so reading the novel method of Save the Cat！ was certainly helpful。 The first couple chapters are all about structure and were the most helpful I had heard mixed reviews on this book， but I decided to give it a go， and I’m glad I did。 Several years ago now， I was introduced to the Save the Cat！ method and ideology when I took a screenwriting class， so much of what Jessica had to say I was already familiar with。 HOWEVER， screenwriting is different that novel writing （I have done both so I know！）， so reading the novel method of Save the Cat！ was certainly helpful。 The first couple chapters are all about structure and were the most helpful for me。 The next ten chapters were on Save the Cat！ genres， which I already knew from my screenwriting background。 Was it worth it？ For the chapters on structure alone， yes。 For the chapters on genre， if you aren’t familiar with them， they are helpful， but they were more of a refresher for me than learning anything new。 In terms of content， secular novels are used as examples and not all of them have the best content。 Definitely use discretion， and I used my black pen a few times for a bit of language that was used。 :） 。。。more
Court
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This was a cool book to read。 I read it as I listened to the audiobook， which is narrated by the author。 I believe that it can be helpful to people who have never written a novel before。 That said， I would caution people from thinking that this is the best way to do things。 I would caution people from believing that all of the best novels follow this formula。 （Yes， Jessica， I used the "F" word！） I noticed a few contradictions in this book。 It tries to lead readers to believe that following this This was a cool book to read。 I read it as I listened to the audiobook， which is narrated by the author。 I believe that it can be helpful to people who have never written a novel before。 That said， I would caution people from thinking that this is the best way to do things。 I would caution people from believing that all of the best novels follow this formula。 （Yes， Jessica， I used the "F" word！） I noticed a few contradictions in this book。 It tries to lead readers to believe that following this formula is a surefire way for one to achieve success， and it also tries to convince readers that all novels with the most success have stories that are told in the exact same way （while conveniently acknowledging a few of the works that don't fit this mold）。I'm rating this book three stars because it introduced me to some concepts that I wasn't aware of， and gave me a general idea for how a story could be structured。 It was useful to me， and I've taken everything that I've read as a suggestion。 I'm not sure this book will be useful for those who have already published works。 If you don't like taking advice from people who want to convince you that they have it all figured out， you definitely won't like this。 （。。。Admittedly， Jessica is so enthusiastic in the audiobook that it sounded like a sales pitch at some points。） All in all， I'm glad that I read this！ 。。。more
Ananda Putri
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My fav nonfiction book so far。 Practical， clear， brilliant。
Caelin
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