Save the cat!
Save the Cat! is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying, including: The four elements of every winning logline The seven immutable laws of screenplay physics The 10 genres that every movie ever made can be categorized by — and why they're important to your script Why your Hero must serve your Idea Mastering the 15 Beats Creating the “Perfect Beast” by using The Board to map 40 scenes with conflict and emotional change How to get back on track with proven rules for script repair This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a showbiz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat.
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- You are trying to bypass years of experience. It doesn't work that way.
Go read Blake Snyder' "Save the cat". And all the derivative works. And keep rereading them until things start clicking.
The entire ecosystem of "Save the cat" is about being a writer of sorts: movies, novels, theater plays etc. But it describes a very important point: every piece of creative work has a pattern. There are patterns on how to report news, there are patterns on how to write a movie, there are patterns on how to write a novel.
Therefore, there are patterns on making good video games. So go build the knowledge to write your own "Save the cat" for video games.
- Blockbuster movies were ruined for me when I read "Save the cat". I then went on to ruin them for others by recommending the book :-)
In all honesty though, the most enjoyment I get from large-budget movies now is the visual effects. The plot is basically the same shape: all 21 of the Marvel movies have the same basic shape, and that is because that shape sells really well.
- Fellow writers who came here hoping for writing insight and maybe got not as much as you were hoping because you've read about elemental western story design before, wanna trade books that helped you write better?
Techniques of the Selling Writer
Fantasy Fiction Formula (how I learned said elemental western story design) and its more generic Fiction Formula Plotting
Scene & Structure
Save the Cat writes a novel
Body beats to build on
Getting Things Done (not specifically writing but keeps me on track)
- Tvtropes as others have said, but for structure what you want is an intro screenwriting book. “Save the Cat” is a good one, and Syd Field is a classic (although dated).
- The late Blake Snyder wrote a couple of books ("Save The Cat!", recommended) on screenwriting with the hypothesis that there are only ten basic story paradigms, and Alien is the classic "Monster In The House" example, along with Jaws.
In short, a MITH movie has our heroes trapped in a space due to a sin not of their making, there's a monster, and at least one character who is a wounded half-man harbinger of doom.
Once you know the ten categories, movies become pretty predictable after the first reel or so, so maybe you don't want to learn them.
- They are, it's called "Save the cat".
https://slate.com/culture/2013/07/hollywood-and-blake-snyder...
