Save the Cat beat sheet
Blake Snyder's screenwriting beats, as Jessica Brody laid them out for novels.
Use it with your book's length
How it works
Blake Snyder wrote Save the Cat in 2005 as a guide for movie scripts. The name comes from the idea that a hero should do something likable early on, like saving a cat. In 2018 Jessica Brody adapted his 15 beats for novels in Save the Cat Writes a Novel.
It's three acts in fine detail. It puts a name on the parts that three acts leaves vague, like the Debate after the Catalyst and the Fun and games that readers came for.
Good for: Commercial fiction of all kinds: thrillers, young adult, romance and fantasy.
Watch out: Fifteen beats can feel like a paint-by-numbers kit. Treat the places as guides and let your story move them.
The 15 beats, and where they fall
| Beat | Where | In 80,000 words |
|---|---|---|
| Opening imageA snapshot of the hero before the story changes them. | 0% to 1% | 0 to 800 |
| SetupThe hero's world, their people and their flaw. | 1% to 10% | 800 to 8,000 |
| Theme statedSomeone hints at the lesson the hero needs to learn. | 5% | 4,000 |
| CatalystThe event that starts the story. | 10% | 8,000 |
| DebateThe hero doubts, stalls or argues about what to do. | 10% to 20% | 8,000 to 16,000 |
| Break into twoThe hero chooses to act and enters a new world. | 20% | 16,000 |
| Fun and gamesThe promise of the premise. The scenes readers picked up the book for. | 20% to 50% | 16,000 to 40,000 |
| B storyA new character arrives who helps the hero learn the theme. Often a love interest or friend. | 22% | 17,600 |
| MidpointA false win or a false loss. The stakes go up. | 50% | 40,000 |
| Bad guys close inTrouble from outside, and the hero's flaw from inside. | 50% to 75% | 40,000 to 60,000 |
| All is lostThe worst moment. Often a death of some kind. | 75% | 60,000 |
| Dark night of the soulThe hero sits with the loss and finally sees the truth. | 75% to 80% | 60,000 to 64,000 |
| Break into threeA new idea, using what the hero learned. | 80% | 64,000 |
| FinaleThe hero fixes things, the changed person they are now. | 80% to 99% | 64,000 to 79,200 |
| Final imageA snapshot that mirrors the opening and shows the change. | 99% to 100% | 79,200 to 80,000 |
The places are rough guides, not rules. Plenty of good books move a beat by a chapter or two. Put in your own word count and chapters to see your book's numbers.
Other story shapes
- Three acts beat sheetThe classic shape. Act 1 sets things up, act 2 is the long middle, act 3 is the end.
- Four acts beat sheetThree acts with the long middle cut in two at the midpoint.
- Five acts beat sheetRising action to a turning point in the middle, then the fall to the end. The shape of Shakespeare's plays.
- Hero's journeyJoseph Campbell's journey, in Christopher Vogler's 12 steps. A good fit for quests and fantasy.
- Heroine's journeyA journey where the lead wins by building a team, not by fighting alone. After Gail Carriger's book.
- Story CircleDan Harmon's eight steps around a circle: you, need, go, search, find, take, return, change.
- Seven-point story beat sheetDan Wells's plan: decide the ending first, then build back to the start.
- 27-chapter methodThree acts, each cut into three blocks of three chapters. Fill in 27 chapters and you have a plan.
- Fichtean curveStart in trouble and never let up. One crisis after another, climbing to the climax.
- KishōtenketsuA four-part shape from China and Japan with no fight at its center: introduce, develop, twist, bring together.
- Romance beat sheetThe usual shape of a love story, in four parts: meet, fall, pull apart, come back together.
- Mystery beat sheetThe usual shape of a whodunit: crime, clues, a wrong answer, then the truth.
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