Save the Cat

by Blake Snyder

In Waiting for Tom Hanks, the heroine refers to Save the Cat, a famous book on screenwriting. I checked out a battered copy from the library and concluded that this guide to screenwriting is dated, obsessed with blockbusters and making sales, and irritating. I also found that when I tried applying ideas from the book to stories that I like, they fit perfectly. I recommend this book for people interested in story structure in any medium who are willing to take the advice as a good introduction to the form, remember what they like, and toss the rest aside.

In this short book, Blake Snyder talks about structure and about how to pinpoint common flaws in a script. I especially liked his breakdown of movies not into genres like science fiction or romantic comedy, but into broader categories (Monster in the House, The Golden Fleece, Out of the Bottle, Dude with a Problem, Rites of Passage, Buddy Love, Whydunit, The Fool Triumphant, Institutionalized, and Superhero). I also liked his observations about keeping everything tied to primal needs and desires, and his observations about arcs and emotional beats. Anyone trying to sell something (anything) will appreciate his advice with regard to developing a logline (a one or two sentence description of the story you want to sell).

If you are the kind of person who likes to dig into story structure, or you get lost for days on end on TVTropes.org, or you are trying to finesse and/or sell a story, check this book out – it’s strictly for people who like the nuts and bolts of things.

– Carrie S

Nonfiction