Writing YA? Stressing Over Structure? Check Out Jessica Brody’s New Book: Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel, The Ultimate Guide to Writing a YA Bestseller  

Let’s warm up with a True or False Pop Quiz about Story Structure: 

1. One-Size-Fits-All when it comes to story structure.
2. All you need is the plot structure and once that’s done you just plug in the details.
3. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to novels based on their outstanding plot structure.
4. Very few resources are available to support writers with story structure.

If you answered “false” to all of the above, congratulations, you’ve already got some schema about structure. Every story has to have some kind of framework and there are all sorts of approaches. I did a quick search of the mighty interweb just for fun and found books, articles, blogs, websites, workbooks, templates (you name it!) for several approaches: The Three Act Structure, The Hero’s Journey, Dan Harmon’s Story Circle, The Snowflake Method, The Classic Five-Stage Plot Structure, 7 Common Story Structures, 9 Story Structures to Plot, 11 Narrative Structure Tools, just to name a few. There’s a lot of overlap between them. They each coin different names for the same part of the story. For example,  Hero’s Journey refers to the beginning of Act 1 as “The Ordinary World”,  Save The Cat uses “Opening Image/Snapshot” and in the 3 Act Structure, Act 1 is referred to as “The Thesis World.” So, what’s a writer to do? 

I can’t speak to all of the approaches above (nor would you want to read it if I could) but I can talk about one resource I found invaluable. I assume we’ve all heard about Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by, Jessica Brody (2018). The book was published right around the time I had this crazy idea to try my hand at writing a YA novel based on two things: a character that had taken up residence in my mind for many years and the inciting incident that rocked her world. That’s it. Clearly, I needed some serious help developing a complete story out of four paragraphs. Save the Cat saved my…you know what.

Ok, fast forward to July 2023 when my pre-ordered copy of Brody’s hot-off-the-press publication: Save the Cat! Writes A Young Adult Novel arrived in my mailbox. Finally, (cough) years later, I am finished writing and moving on to revising the first draft of said manuscript. One way I’m using STC YA is to help me do an “inventory” of sorts. Do I have all the plot points? Is this scene/chapter in the right place? Have I written multiple scenes for a “beat” that only needs a single scene?

Enough about me, let’s talk about the newest version of the book. The Fifteen-Step “Beat Sheet” blueprint for structuring the story is the same as Brody’s first STC book but with some tweaks specific to the YA genre. The mentor texts she dissects in this new edition are, of course, relevant and recently published Young Adult Novels. Brody teases out and analyzes the beats of these well-executed bestsellers in a clear and concise manner (not a bunch of writing jargon), but continuously reminds her readers that the Fifteen Beats aren’t meant to be a strict “formula” – but rather a familiar foundation that great stories (and she’s studied hundreds of them!) are built upon. Jessica Brody, herself, has written and published over 20 books for teens, tweens, and adults. 

There is so much more to Brody’s books than the “Beat Sheet”. She includes a chapter for each of “The Ten Save Cat! Story Genres” which hone in on the key elements specific to particular categories of YA. Think: What shelf would my book go on? STC YA includes a new Chapter: “Going Beyond the First Book, Using Save the Cat! To Develop and Plot Your YA Book Series.” My dog-eared, highlighted, written-in, not-so-new-looking-anymore copy of Brody’s book is always within arm’s reach when I write and truly lives up to its name: The Ultimate Guide to Writing a YA Bestseller. Order your own copy here!

The only “right” way to develop your novel’s framework is the way that works best for you, the ingeniously talented creator that you are. Whichever “blueprint” you choose, don’t lose sight of the story you want to tell.

Do you have a plotting method that works for you? Please share in the comments.

P.S. Here are some related Writers’ Rumpus posts for you to check out!
Book Talk with Jessica Brody, Talented and Prolific (!!!)Author of AMELIA GRAY IS ALMOST OKAY – 2023 Post by Laura Fineberg Cooper
The Differences Between Plot and Theme…and How They Intertwine – 2022 Post by Laura Fineberg Cooper
Three Books to Help You Outline Your Novel – 2020 Post by Rebecca Moody
Review: Save the Cat Writes a Novel – 2017 post by Alison Potoma
Plotting a Novel with Sticky Notes – 2016 Post by Alison Potoma
Book Review: SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder – 2015 post by Marianne Knowles