Save the Cat! Blake Snyder passes away

As some of you know, I am a great admirer of Blake Snyder's Save The Cat! Anne McAllister introduced me to his work, and it was clear that here was a man who knew what he was talking about and was very generously prepared to share. Unfortunately Blake Snyder died on 4 August of a cardiac arrest and the world is a poorer place.

I have used (and will continue to use) his beat sheet. It really does help with the plotting. Although my Story Board has some modifications from his model, it has proved a useful way to rapidly see my problems with a story. I loved his easy to remember mantras. The whole Save the Cat! saved me when I came to do revisions for The Viking's Captive Princess. Suddenly it was clear what the problem was and how it could be solved.

He was absolutely generous with his time and made it a point to answer any email. I loved his blog as it always made me think, even though it was aimed at screenwriters and would be screenwriters rather than novelists. The principles still worked.

I know he was working on other books about screenwriting, including one on the romance genre. It is unfortunate that these will not be finished. (Hint it would be great if they could be -- somehow) However, his influence will live on. He will remain a presence in many writers' lives. If you write commercial fiction I do recommend reading and absorbing Save the Cat and Save the Cat Goes to the Movies. His ideas are timeless.

Ian Fleming and Simenon on writing

Because the programme on Ian Fleming intrigued me ( and I am in the final stages of edits for this Victorian), I went in search of his 1964 article on thriller writing. What I also found was an account of when he visited the great French writer --Simenon who wrote the Maigret books. And I do agree with Fleming that Maigret reads much better in the original. I went through a Maigret phase in my senior year of high school...
Although I doubt I could ever incorporate their methods into my way of writing, it makes for interesting reading. Both men enjoyed writing short books and I thought it was interesting that Ian Fleming was the person who invented/popularised the modern technique of anchoring -- namely giving product placement or real details so that the fantastical seems to be real and the reader is able suspend disbelief more readily.

Blake Snyder has an excellent post about five questions to help you determine your spine. The spine in a romance btw -- is the growth of the emotional relationship between the two protagonists. It is not the individual growth. If you focus on individual growth, you (or rather I) lose the focus which must be the relationship...

My goal for today is to finish putting the edits on. I did a 156 pages yesterday and have 156 pages to do today.