Story Structure from Blake Snyder

Presentation: Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need
Presenter: Blake Snyder
Date: January 18, 2008, 7 pm
Organization: Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America

I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up to the crowded classroom at the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center Friday night. I wasn’t writing a screenplay. What could a screen writer teach me about writing a romance novel? As it turns out – a LOT. Mr. Snyder was funny, inspiring, and informative. I recommend attending one of his talks no matter what medium or genre you write. Move over Joseph Campbell, Blake Snyder’s 15 beats are straightforward and essential to developing a successful story line! (Threshold Guardian? Meeting with the Goddess? Yeah, ’bout time someone simplified it!)

What does “Save the Cat!” refer to? It is a ritualistic moment early on in the story where the hero does something noble, like saving a cat, making the audience like him and root for him for the rest of the story. It is a vital part of introducing the hero.

Mr. Snyder started off by listing similarities between screen writing and romance writing. Both are structured, targeted at specific markets, and criticized at being formulaic. Neither genre is formulaic: both use particular types of a wide variety of stories but follow the same structure. Structure does not equal formula.

“All stories are about transformation,” he argued. “In every story a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.”

Love stories are about transformation in which the hero and heroine’s lives change for having met the other. There are 5 types of love stories: Romantic-Comedy (romcom) Love, which features mistaken idenity, confusion or lies that keep the hero and heroine apart through the story despite their attraction; Epic Love, such as Lord of the Rings, Titanic, and Last of the Mohicans; Pet Love, such as Free Willy, Black Stallion, or ET; Forbidden Love, such as Romeo and Juliet and Brokeback Mountain; and Professional Love, such as Lethal Weapon.

The rules of love stories are that the hero and heroine must hate each other but also have to be together. These two warring desires create the tension and conflict that drive the story. If the hero is a fireman, the heroine should be a pyromaniac. There must be sufficient conflict so that both main characters must transform to achieve their Happily Ever After.

Mr. Snyder stressed the importance of starting off with a poster or hook before writing the story. If you can’t sum up your story in one or two sentences, or with a movie poster, then you don’t have a story. You should never have to explain scene by scene to tell what your story is about. He suggested hitting up the local Starbucks to test your hook on a random stranger in line. His example: “Would you see this movie: Granny – she’s off her rocker?” The poster/hook is usually taken from the Fun & Games section of the story.

Titles are also important. For instance, in Born in Fire by Nora Roberts, the title is referenced all the way through the book. It refers both to Maggie’s glass art, which is made in fire, and also to Maggie herself, who is conceived in passion but not a lasting love. She struggles with this herself – is her relationship with the hero also born in fire? Or is it really love? Does it burn so hot it cannot last? Or is it like the glass teardrops that are born in the fire but are so hard they can’t be broken on rock?

Mr. Snyder used Born in Fire to illustrate his 15 Beats of story structure:

The only person not transformed by the story is Maggie’s mother. Brianna eagerly awaits the sequel (as do I!).

NOTE: The Theme is stated on page 13 by Maggie’s father “A marriage is a delicate thing, Maggie, a balance of two hearts and two hopes. Sometimes the weight’s just too heavy on the one side, and the other can’t lift to it.”

Mr. Snyder also spoke briefly on the “Bad Dialogue Test“, in which you cover up the name of the characters and try to guess who is speaking just by the diction and lexicon. He also told of the “Pope in the Pool” method of burying exposition by drawing the audience’s eye to something startling (like a pope swimming in a pool) to distract them from the background information dump.

I realized during the talk that I have been naturally crafting my story along the lines of the 15 beats, but I didn’t have them cemented in my head. It is incredibly helpful to have them laid out so clearly for me. I was also inspired by the idea of a movie poster as the hook for a story. I definitely have a poster (aka book cover) in mind for my novel: a woman in a Regency ball gown waltzing with a man also in elegant Regency attire; Her back is to us, but she is looking back over her shoulder to give an audacious wink and mischievous smile. One hand is holding up her skirts and her heel is kicked back, displaying the modern running shoes under her ball gown. (It’s a time travel regency romance.) It is very clear in my head, and I’ll do my best to draw you a picture of it in the coming week.

I won a free autographed copy of his book. I can’t remember ever winning a drawing before. It was quite thrilling.

Thank you Blake Snyder for your wonderful talk and thanks to the Greater Seattle RWA chapter for asking him to speak!

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Susan Elizabeth Phillips on Writing
• Seducing the Spy
• Baby, Baby, Baby! Fertility in Romance Novels
• Playing the Numbers Game

Explore posts in the same categories: Writer's Cramp

Tags: "romance novels", Blake Snyder, Born in Fire, GSRWA, Nora Roberts, Save the Cat, story structure, writing

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.