#261. 5 Mistakes Writers Make Using the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet
episode
Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
23 min
1 speaker
2 chapters
transcribed 1 month ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Why does my novel feel flat even after filling out the Save the Cat beat sheet?
If you've been working on a novel but keep getting stuck, starting over, or wondering why the story in your head isn't quite working on the page, then I want to invite you to a free live training I'm hosting next week. It's called Why You Keep Getting Stuck and How to Finally Finish Your Novel. And in this training, I'm going to show you why getting to the end has a lot less to do with discipline or talent than you might think, and what you actually need to move forward and finish with confidence. There are multiple dates and times available and you can save your seat at savanagilbo.com forward slash training. One more time that's savanna gilbo.com forward slash training. And I hope to see you there.
If you've ever filled in all 15 beats of the Save the Cat beat sheet and thought, okay, I did it, so why does my story feel like it's still not working? If you've ever thought that, then this episode is for you. Because having a catalyst, a midpoint, an all-is lost moment, and all the other beats in roughly the right places doesn't automatically give you a story that works. And in today's episode, I'm breaking down five of the most common Mistakes I see writers make with Save the Cat, including one that can leave you completely stuck in the middle of your draft and another that can make your outline fall surprisingly flat. So if you use Save the Cat to plot or outline your novel, then Then this episode is for you.
Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo and I'm here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming. So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, this podcast is for you. So pick up a pen and let's get started. If you're using save the cat right now. There's a good chance that you picked it up for the same reason that so many writers do. It makes this enormous, overwhelming task of plotting a novel feel a little more manageable.
Because instead of staring at a blank page, wondering what's supposed to happen over the course of 80,000 words, you now have 15 landmarks to aim for. You have a catalyst, a midpoint, an all is lost, amongst other ones, and suddenly there's a little more shape to this thing you're trying to create. But I've worked with a lot of writers who fill in those 15 beats and then hit a really frustrating point. Because sometimes what happens is on paper, the outline looks right. All the beats are there, everything seems to be where it's supposed to be, and yet something still feels off. Maybe the plot feels like a collection of events rather than one connected story. Maybe the middle just seems to drag, or maybe you sit down to draft and realize the outline isn't actually giving you enough direction to know what happens scene by scene.
And when this happens, it's really easy to assume that maybe you've just done something wrong, or that maybe this Particular plotting method just doesn't work for you. But usually that's not the problem. More often than not, it comes down to how you're interpreting what those 15 beats are actually asking you to do. So that's what we're going to talk about today, and I'm going to walk you through the five mistakes I see most often when writers use Save the Cat to plot their novels, as well as what to think about instead. Now, real quick before we dive in, I have a free guide. all about using save the cat to plot your novel. It lists out all 15 beats and there are examples in there from popular stories so you can see how it all works.
If you don't already have a copy go to savanna gilbo.com forward slash save the cat all one word. So savanna gilbo.com forward slash save the cat to grab your free guide to help you plot your novel with Save the Cat. All right, now let's go ahead and dive into the first mistake I see writers make when using Save the Cat to plot their novels.
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Chapters
2 chaptersSpeakers
1 identifiedMore from Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
#260. Student Spotlight: From Stuck at 25k Words to a Finished Draft With Lindsay Sfara
#259. How to Finish a Novel With Kids at Home & Limited Writing Time
#258. 5 Myths Keeping You From Finishing Your First Draft
#257. Stuck in Chapter One or the Messy Middle? What Your Stuck Point Reveals
#256. Why “Just Start Writing” Can Be Terrible Advice for New Writers
#255. Student Spotlight: How Grace Draven Learned to Write Faster (Without Sacrificing Quality)