Before you can write a story about a character that changes, you need to have a character that has lots of room to grow. The Save the Cat! (Save the Cat! Writes a Novel) outline is a character transformation machine, and only works if you have a character that changes. There are three main elements to nail:
Fixate on a main flaw or two that cripple your main character. They need to have enough potential that it's obvious they need to change. Pride, shopaholic, alcoholic, a coward, bitter. Don't let that problem stay contained to one area of their life, it needs to seep.
This is something external/tangible they really really want, and they need to proactively be trying to get it. The kicker here is that the hero thinks the external want is going to fix their problems (because of their narrow thinking and limited worldview). But in reality it won't fix their problems.
Just as in real life, the hero doesn't really know what will bring them happiness and fix their problems. That's what the need is for, to be the real answer to their problems. But it's like a persistent thorn in the hero's side that they really really don't want to do, or accept, or put into practice.
Conveniently, this need is also the theme of the book. Everything should highlight the theme and how important it is, and how much the main character doesn't want to adopt the theme.
#toolong #writing
The *Save the Cat* ([[202009131419 Save the Cat! Writes a Novel]]) outline is made up of 15 story beats that focus on bringing the main character thro...
The second *Save the Cat* ([[202009131419 Save the Cat! Writes a Novel]]) beat is **Theme Stated** ([[202009132005 15 Story Beats]]). Somewhere within...
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In this beat, an introduction must be made. Act 2 ([[202009142104 Break Into Act 2 Beat]]) comes with Act 2 characters. If Act 1 is filled with Story ...
Act 2, with all its length and turning points, can get a little confusing as to what goes where. In an attempt to simplify things a bit, let's summari...
The All Is Lost beat is a real doozie of a beat. No more playing nice to your hero. The purpose of this beat is to show the hero at their lowest point...
Act 3 is a cool part of the book ([[202009132005 15 Story Beats]]). It might be tempting to wrap up the book quickly now that the character has change...