Formulaic. This is a word I’ve found to be taboo in the minds of many writers. The fear of one’s writing being predicable or unoriginal even had me steering clear of plots or character types that smacked of being overly used or cliché. To that end, I hadn’t even considered using structures such as the three act or the hero’s journey.

Earlier this year, I’d heard about something called Save the Cat!, a type of plotting often used in successful screenplays and movies. I didn’t give it too much thought, thinking that I would never take the time to look into it. I was completely disinterested. Meanwhile, I continued to try and plot my story. There were a lot of good things that came from trying the seven point plot structure, but I was still struggling to get a hold on this unwieldy story that couldn’t decide what kind of novel it wanted to be.

Enter my novel writing class. I was intrigued when I saw the required text list and found Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Learning a new kind of plotting would be interesting, but I didn’t intend to go in and change my story after I already knew where it was going. Only a few weeks into the class, and I realized how wrongly I had judged this method of plotting. Yes, it does follow the three act formula, and yes, it is recognizable, but it turned out to be the right method for The Baronessa Chronicles. This plotting method really relies on having certain beats staked down that the story will pivot on. Using Save the Cat! helped me to make the story less muddled and more focused on what I wanted it to be about. While I already knew about beats such as the catalyst and the finale, I now had to find the midpoint and the all is lost scenes. This method also gives estimates for how long these beats should be, helping to add scenes where needed or discard ones that don’t serve the story. Having a formula won’t lessen the impact of a story as long as the events and characters in it aren’t overshadowed by the beats.

Now, I already know that I won’t be using Save the Cat! to plot all of my stories. I can even think of a few that wouldn’t benefit from it. There were moments in the book that I didn’t completely agree with the author, but I am glad that I looked into this and applied it to my current project. I now have a story that is manageable and focused, one that won’t be so overwhelming to tackle.

The morale I learned, I suppose, was that it’s worth at least applying different plotting methods to a story. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be the right one for the novel, I’ll still learn something about the story that will be helpful in my attempt to make it shine on the page. Sometimes I’ll even be surprised by what actually works.