Savannah Gilbo

speaker

3,356 appearances 13 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 18 Aug

Savannah Gilbo’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 13 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 5.

Appearances

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Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice · #261. 5 Mistakes Writers Make Using the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet · 18 Aug 2026 podcast

That is okay, now is a good time to pause, figure out those foundational elements, and then come back to the beat sheet when you have a little more clarity. podcast-host

So that is mistake number one: filling in the beat sheet before developing your story's foundation. podcast-host

Mistake number two is losing track of the central story question. podcast-host

Another common mistake I see all the time is that writers will lose track of their central plot thread while they're mapping. podcast-host

out their story beats. podcast-host

Now we all know that most stories are going to include multiple plot threads. podcast-host

You'll have your main plot thread and multiple subplots, right? podcast-host

If you have a protagonist who's a detective, they might be trying to solve a murder while their marriage falls apart. podcast-host

You might have a character who's falling in love while also trying to save their family business, right? podcast-host

We typically have a main plot and then various subplots. podcast-host

Now all of these threads of course matter. podcast-host

But if you're not clear on the main story you're telling, like we just talked about in mistake number one, then it's really easy to lose track of which one is your main plot thread or the one that your big picture story is built around. podcast-host

So for example, if you're writing a mystery and the central question of a mystery is something like, is this character gonna solve the crime or the murder or whatever it is? podcast-host

Then that means the major beats of your story should revolve. podcast-host

Around your character's attempt to figure out who done it, right? podcast-host

That makes sense. podcast-host

But here's what I see happen to a lot of writers. podcast-host

Imagine that you're working on your beat sheet and you're trying to brainstorm the all is lost moment. podcast-host

So you know that the all-is lost moment is typically this point in the story where something really bad happens. podcast-host

So you start brainstorming and you start asking questions like: what's something terrible that could happen to my protagonist at this point? podcast-host

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