# Save the Cat beat sheet for novels

From "The Save the Cat beat sheet: 15 beats for novelists" by the Feldar team:
https://feldar.com/guides/save-the-cat-beat-sheet

Free to use, copy and change. The fifteen beats are Blake Snyder's, from
Save the Cat! (2005); the novel percentages follow Jessica Brody's
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (2018). The questions are ours.
Save the Cat! is a registered trademark of Blake Snyder Enterprises, LLC.
This template is not affiliated with or endorsed by its owners.

Positions are shares of the finished book. At 80,000 words, 10% is 8,000.


## The book

Working title and target length (words):
Hero:
What the hero wants:
Theme (what the hero must learn):


## Act one

### 1. Opening Image (0 to 1%)
What one scene shows who the hero is now?

### 2. Theme Stated (about 5%)
Who tells the hero the truth too early, and what do they say?

### 3. Set-Up (1 to 10%)
What needs fixing in this life, and why won't the hero fix it?
Who are the people around them?
What do they stand to lose?

### 4. Catalyst (about 10%)
Chapter:
What arrives that cannot be undone?

### 5. Debate (10 to 20%)
Chapters:
What question does the hero argue with?


## Act two

### 6. Break into Two (about 20%)
Chapter:
What does the hero choose to do?

### 7. B Story (about 22%)
Chapter:
Who carries the theme to the hero?

### 8. Fun and Games (20 to 50%)
Chapters:
What scenes would a reader of your blurb expect?

### 9. Midpoint (about 50%)
Chapter:
False victory or false defeat?
What seems won or lost, and why is it not final?

### 10. Bad Guys Close In (50 to 75%)
Chapters:
What comes for the hero from outside?
Which of their flaws helps it?

### 11. All Is Lost (about 75%)
Chapter:
What is the worst thing that can happen that the story still survives?

### 12. Dark Night of the Soul (75 to 80%)
Chapters:
What does the hero finally admit?


## Act three

### 13. Break into Three (about 80%)
Chapter:
What idea could only the changed hero have?
How do the A story and the B story meet?

### 14. Finale (80 to 99%)
Chapters:
How does the hero act differently from the opening?

### 15. Final Image (99 to 100%)
What does the opening scene look like now?


## Check

Is every beat there because the story needs it?
Where does each beat fall in your draft, and which ones drift far from target?