Save The Cat! Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody

This is a variation on the famous screenwriting book written by Blake Snyder. “Save the Cat” refers to what Snyder told screenwriters to do if they hadn’t created a likable enough protagonist. Have that person save a cat (instant audience warmth toward the character). Snyder theorized that a successful screenplay should have 15 beats. Jessica Brody felt the same way about novels. I won’t go into all of them but, in general, the protagonist must be jolted out of his or her world and learn a lesson that will save their life, as well to save their community. That lesson is learned through painful successes and failures against an adversary, and through the interactions with another character. Eventually the new outlook on life helps them to vanquish the adversary and save the ones he or she is fighting for. It’s very much like Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, a plot template he found in almost all myths and ancient stories. I found this book illuminating and it helped me analyze the book I’m currently writing.

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

Hawkins’ book was published in 2015. I listened to an audiobook and wasn’t that fond of it. However, now as I study the print version with Save The Cat as a model I see that Hawkins did many impressive things. In alternating chapters, she has a flawed narrator telling part of the story and a flawed victim telling other parts. Both are unreliable. That means the reader must deduce what the narrators are missing, what are lies, and what are delusions. Both have different views and interpretations of the same events. The main narrator is Rachel. She is an alcoholic who suffers blackouts. That gives her version another neat twist on the unreliable narrator genre. Rachel knows that her memory is unreliable. So both she and the reader are trying to reconstruct and figure out what happened. The drunkenness also helps the reader accept the impulsive things she does. The mystery of both characters is revealed in bits and pieces and the reader doesn’t find out the whole story until the end. This plotting technique kept me reading to find the answer to the puzzle. As I read through it, I could see how Hawkins constructed the book loosely along the 15 beats described in Save The Cat! Writes A Novel.

The Sinister by David Putnam

This is Putnam’s new Bruno Johnson thriller. He really knows how to weave a plot. Plus his knowledge of law enforcement and street voice is impeccable. Johnson is about to go to Costa Rica to help raise the kids in his orphanage when his old boss persuades him to help find his kidnapped granddaughter. A great cast of fierce heroes manage to retain their decency and relationships amid the bloodletting, including a huge dog that is smarter than some of the villains. His new sidekick/foe is Whitey and he is entertainingly annoying.

Hacks is on HBO Max with the incomparable Jean Smart. She's the unfiltered, self-centered, fading comedienne who still has goodness in her heart. Hannah Einbinder is the young intern, comic-writer wannabe who is so self-righteous and clueless you want to slap her. Like most 25-year-olds? Her bi-sexuality and the gay characters around them are all just parts of their lives. Some great supporting characters too. Very funny! No holds barred.