What it is, in essence, is a system to help you understand which parts of a book does what. It doesn’t require that you follow a strict formula, or use a certain system to plot your future stories.

The beauty of Save The Cat – which it’s colloquially known as a title that comes from the idea that to write an unlikable character, you have to give the reader a reason to root for them, so you make them save a cat – is that it never actually tells you how to write. They include, Goal Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon, Techniques of The Selling Writer by Dwight Swain, and On Writing by Stephen King, among others. But I have read a few books on writing, and I’ve tried to single out my favorites over on my Writer’s Resources page. In my time as a writer I’ve come across a myriad of these sources myself, and the only advice I feel comfortable giving is to be wary of what advice you listen to. I spend a large amount of time on Twitter browsing hashtags like #WritingCommunity and # AmWriting, and if you have a look there you’re sure to find people saying that there are no rules in writing, that there are no rules except their rules, that you have to follow a step-by-step easy-to-follow 732-step on How-to-write-a-book, and everything in between. It can be difficult to take advice from someone on how to do something, especially is that advice feels like it forced onto you, but even when it’s not, the most difficult part is often to figure which advice to listen to.

If you Google How To Write A Novel, you’re sure to be inundated with books, magazine, websites, sage advice from best-selling authors, self-proclaimed writers, readers, and editors, and tips and tricks from everyone who’s ever tried to put pen to a page. If you ever try to do anything creative, there will always be people trying to tell you how you should do that.

The cat writes a novel