Save the Cat
Author: Blake Snyder
The human experience started with cavemen and women sitting around a campfire telling stories. Those stories were then passed down from generation to generation and formed the basis of our shared experience of being human.
The more effective the storyteller, the easier it is to get your message across and be remembered. This is equally important in your personal as well as professional life. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder is an iconic guide to storytelling.
Specifically the book is a guide for screenwriters of Hollywood movies, however the principles are applicable for anyone who wants to tell an amazing story. The method of storytelling described in the book is now used by many outside of the movie industry as a guide to story development and structure.
The book’s title comes from a technique of having the story’s protagonist do something admirable (i.e. save a cat stuck up in a tree, fireman style) at the beginning of your story to then have the audience root for the character. This is the first of many techniques the book lays out.
Snyder’s thesis is that storytelling needs some structure for set up, character development, plot development, climax and ending. These specific moments in the story are called “beats” and Snyder described how the beats can resonate with an audience.
The book dives into each of the fiveteen main beats Synder identifies as the components of a major story and how to develop them. The book provides a framework for linking the beats together to help a writer tell the effective story. Synder describes each of the beats with fun examples, including dissecting scenes from popular movies and other well knows stories. The fifteen beats consist of techniques you may be familiar with such as: a hesitant hero or “all hope is lost” but the book lays them out as tools for any storyteller to use.
Save the Cat is very prescriptive for a screenwriter. It describes how long ceratin beats should last for (including page numbers on a typical 110 page Hollywood script!), outlines what beats work best with certain genres, and even how to construce a movie trailer. It is a behind the scenes look at how to write a movie script, but more importantly, a guide to storytelling that everyone should understand.
Once you read Save the Cat, you will not only be an expert storyteller, but also have an inside look at the creative process of Hollywood movies.
Why I recommend this book
While you may not be an aspiring screenwriter, Save the Cat will help you think about structuring your story and puts you in the audience’s shoes. I was skeptical about reading a book about screenwriting as I am a computer programmer turned Venture Capitalist. It was recommended to me by a good friend of mine and he gave me no context other than “you need to read this book.” After reading the early section in the book that describes how Save the Cat gets its name, I was hooked. I wanted to use these techniques in my own storytelling, specifically in my technical keynotes at conferences. The book helped me refine my public speeches as well as my private investor pitches.
After reading Save the Cat, watching a big budget movie was never the same for me. I am constantly looking for how the writers are leaving us clues as what is about to happen or how they will develop the story. I am constantly telling my wife how a story is being set up and my predictions on how it will all unfold when we watch a movie. Usually she appreciates this, but sometimes it is unwelcome, so buyer beware!
