Save the Cat!

Those who know me well know that I hate cats. Yeah, I realize that statement alienates fifty percent of the population, but cut me some slack here. I grew up with a feline demon from hell who looked for opportunities to jump out of nowhere just to take a chunk out of my flesh with his sharp pointy teeth and used my bed as his litter box.

Nevertheless, my new favorite writing craft book is Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder. Technically it's a screenwriter's how-to but the principles are spot-on for fiction writers as well. It doesn't actually have anything at all to do with cats, crazy cat ladies, kitty litter, cat naps or catsup. The title comes from a principle all great stories should have . . .

"Liking the person we go on a journey with is the single most important element in drawing us into the story."

And that is accomplished by "saving a cat," so to speak. This is the scene, somewhere near the beginning, wherein the reader meets the hero and the hero does something heroic -- like saving a cat. This act defines who the hero is and makes the audience like him.

Need an example? In my current WIP, the reader meets a law officer whose assignment is to go undercover to figure out who the traitor is. That's the first scene, which lets you know who he is and what he's doing. The second scene shows him noticing a scam artist taking the last coin from a young boy at a carnival game. He exposes the scoundrel and makes him give the boy his money back. What's not to love about that heroic act? Bonus: this principle works for heroines as well.

Think about the stories you love most. Did the hero (or heroine) do something that endeared you to him/her at the beginning of the tale? Chances are your answer is heck yeah. Next time you set out to write the Great American Novel, start the story with a cat-saving incident. Your readers will love it.