
BJ Markel worked with Blake beginning in 1986 and misses him every day. He edited Blake’s three books, his blogs, and together they started Blake Snyder Enterprises soon after the publication of Save the Cat! in May, 2005. BJ continues editing today, and realized that the advice he just gave an author who was writing a non-fiction book — and feared a chapter “wasn’t congealing” — can also be applied to film and fiction.
Blake and I literally “threw out” more than a third of his original manuscript for Save the Cat! What we did NOT include in the final draft was all valuable advice, but we didn’t think twice about removing it because it wasn’t pertinent to what we were trying to accomplish in each and every chapter. We wanted the book to move like a bullet. And we both thought those deletions which made the book a “fast read” paid off.
The same goes for writing a lean and mean screenplay that sticks to its “spine.” So here’s what you need to do after you’ve written every chapter/scene:
Write down:
1) the primary objective of the chapter/scene
2) the secondary objective
3) two lesser objectives
(For filmmakers, 1 and 2 are probably enough per scene.)
Then you need to evaluate how you satisfied these objectives — and if you didn’t, what you must do to satisfy them.
This also means that if you have stuff in the chapter/scene that doesn’t meet any of the objectives, that material does not belong; the chapter/scene is trying to do too much. If the chapter/scene is trying to do too much, you’re asking the reader/audience to do too much. And if they’re doing too much, you’ve got a story that won’t resonate and a book or script that won’t be successful.
So understand your objectives and methodically evaluate every chapter or scene. Determine if it is “congealing” and what work, if any, is needed to make it successful.
With Save the Cat! consistently in the top 1,000 of all book titles on Amazon more than seven years since it was first published, Blake and I accomplished our goal. “It’s easy,” he would say (or maybe even shout). Well, of course it isn’t… but you can do it if you try.
BJ Markel
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BJ,
You and Blake accomplished great things with the Save the Cat! series — every chapter is focused, incredibly helpful and easy to follow, which is why I love those books so much!!
Thanks for this post and for the added advice. I’ll be keeping it in mind as I work on revisions ;).
Well said! I’m so glad you both started Blake Snyder Enterprises. I’m a HUGE fan and learned about it after Blake passed away. I wished I would had known before. I would have loved to meet him or get to know him online. Such an awesome soul!
BTW That was one of my fav things about STC. It was a fast read. This is a great reminder!
I was lucky enough to meet Blake at a SAVE THE CAT weekend here in Los Angeles and I had some one-on-one coaching from him as well. I can well understand you missing him every single day. And I use all your books and software for every script I write. Would not even think about starting on page one without them by my side
I missed meeting Blake as well but love the books, software and have attended the weekend class. His spirit of writing amazing stories using the principles and structure of Save The Cat lives on through all of us devoted Cats! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience as an Editor. We greatly appreciate it!
Great piece of advice, BJ! I can totally relate to falling in love with my own writing… and then throwing it out for the best! Really, one of the best friends a writer can have is an editor who tells you which doesn’t work on the page… and we better listen!!
Cheers!!
Salva
I can’t say enough how thankful I am that you and Blake gave us Save the Cat! and its sequels. It has made me a better writer, and it has spread to my students. There’s something fun and engaging about breaking down a story piece by piece. Your work has truly set a standard. I especially love how the community here can debate and discuss ideas, learning from each other. Thank you!
Perfect timing. I’m in analysis mode tonight. My poor Save the Cat books are not that old but they are so full of notes, stickies, highlighting, index cards and underlining they look like war game maps. I suspect I’m guilty of throwing too many objectives in my scenes/chapters. Am about to find out…