Save the Cat! Falls in Love

As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a great believer in cross-disciplinary exploration.

Too heavy for a Monday?

All I mean is: I think if you’re a screenwriter, you can learn from all creative enterprise — and I have! Painting, photography, literature, poetry, even the essence of what makes a good TV commercial, are all ripe with A-ha! moments for storytellers. The excursion almost always sends me back to my three-hole punch world with fresh enthusiasm.

So when I was given the opportunity to speak to the Greater Seattle Romance Writers this past Friday, I jumped at the chance. After receiving many emails from Romance writers telling me they’re using Cat!, (particularly the BS2), in their work, I had to find out more.

My talk was titled “Save the Cat! Falls in Love” and I took the approach that screenplay structure can be used in organizing a Romance Novel — and vice versa. What I found is an amazingly diverse and popular style (half the paperbacks published in the U.S. are Romance novlels) that involves a wide range of opportunities for the writers pursuing them.

So we have a lot in common right there.

In screenwriting, most love stories fall into what I call “Buddy Love.” This is a genre where “My life changed for having met another” is the driving force. In my new book, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies, the Buddy Love chapter includes breakdowns on Black Stallion, When Harry Met Sally…, Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, yes, and even Lethal Weapon.

Any story where two people need each other — but can’t admit it, or are stopped from being together by an outside force — is what a BL covers, and is more about “completion” than anything else. The great love story is where one person brings out a special quality in another, and in the process of meeting halfway, discovers a specialness in themselves, too.

That general rule holds true in Romance as well — but with unique additions!

Both screenwriting and Romance use structure, and they even share some common links: The Romance writer’s “Black Moment” is very similar to my “All Is Lost” point. And, like in screenwriting, the use of structure is only a springboard for creating any story imaginable.

For my talk, I found the “15 Beats” of Nora Roberts’ novel Born in Fire, and also discussed the more rom-com-like It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and the time-tripping Son of the Morning by Linda Howard. And I can’t wait to get deeper into this new area of study.

For anyone writing a rom-com, love story, or any other form of Buddy Love, I suggest a little cross-disciplinary research, too.

I also had a ball!

I want to thank Pat White for inviting me and for arranging everything that made my talk possible, GSRW President Shelli Stevens, and former board member, Barb Weismantel, for being so welcoming, and thanks to the members of the Eastside and Peninsula chapters of RWA who also attended, the nicest, most positive, and focused group of writers around, who are pursuing their dreams with such generous spirit.

p.s. Another great showing for the Seattle Cats! too, and this weekend Aadip, Luanne, Randy, Tom, and Sandra dug deep and proved why they are up to the challenge! The two-day Master Class was just that, but everyone passed with flying colors! I am so proud of these writers and so pleased to be able to come to Seattle again. Two paws up!

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