Why you should always save the cat when you are writing

Blake Snyder, in his book  Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, wants you to write a scene where a cat is saved. I agree with Mr. Snyder, always save a cat.

Mr. Snyder’s book has a lot of wisdom about screenwriting: how to write a log line, how to structure a screenplay, what scenes to include, and the ten genres every movie ever made can be categorized by. However, the most valuable advice he has on writing screenplays is to have a “Save The Cat” scene.

The wisdom of the save the cat scene can be applied to any form of writing: a screenplay, a story, a poem, a novel. If you want your audience, your reader, to like your hero, have them save a cat. The hero’s kindness towards cats, perhaps saving a cat from a dog, or from a veterinarian who is about to declaw the cat, shows us their character. Saving a cat, defines the hero’s character.

“Save the what? I call it the “Save the Cat” scene. They don’t put it into movies anymore. And it’s basic. It’s the scene where we meet the hero and the hero does something — like saving a cat — that defines who he is and makes us, the audience, like him.”
― Blake Snyder, Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need

Your hero, might have not paid their taxes on time, forgot to brush their teeth, or not cleaned out the litter boxes in weeks, but if they saved a cat, we will like them.

Or at least I will.

The book is not called, Save the Fish, Save The Dog, or Save The Mouse.

(I think I would eat a mouse if it was in my story. I am, after all, a cat.)

What do you think? Do you agree with Mr. Snyder? Should you always save a cat?

As always I love to hear from you.

xo
Love Harper