For plotters and pantsers
Save the Cat Beat Sheet Template
All 15 beats with Jessica Brody's novel percentages, the job each beat must do, and a line for where it lands in your draft.
- 1%Opening ImageDana triple-checks a chart at 3 a.m. while a coworker naps in the supply room.
- 5%Theme StatedHer mentor: "The rules protect the patients. They were never meant to protect you."
- 1-10%SetupDouble shifts, her mother's rent, a promotion review in two weeks.
- 10%CatalystA double dose. The patient lives. Nobody saw.
- 10-20%DebateReport it and lose the promotion, or fix the chart?
- 20%Break Into 2She edits the record.
What you'll get
All 15 beats with novel percentages and word targets
- All 15 beats, each with its percentage and job
- Word targets for every beat at your length
- An empty doc, or a first pass from your notes
Before and after
Your story in. Fifteen beats out.
A by-the-book night-shift nurse covers up one dosing mistake to save her job, and the cover-up starts costing patients. Target length: 80k.
4. Catalyst (10%). Lands at word 8,000. Dana gives Mr. Albescu twice his dose at 3 a.m. He survives. Nobody saw. 7. B Story (22%). Lands at word 17,600. Theo, the new night pharmacist, notices everything and says nothing. 9. Midpoint (50%). Lands at word 40,000. False victory: Dana is made charge nurse the same night a second patient reacts to a drug from the same batch.
Every beat stays yours to rewrite. The first pass just gets you past the blank page.
Why it works
What is the Save the Cat beat sheet?
The Save the Cat beat sheet splits a story into 15 beats, from the Opening Image to the Final Image. For novels, Jessica Brody places them by percentage: Catalyst at 10%, Break Into 2 at 20%, Midpoint at 50%, All Is Lost at 75% and Break Into 3 at 80%. She sets them out in her guide to the novel beat sheet. This template puts all 15 beats in one doc, each with its percentage and the job it has to do.
Every beat carries a Lands at line for your word count, so a 90,000-word draft knows its Midpoint sits near word 45,000. To work one out by hand, multiply your target length by the beat's percentage. The Word file downloads with no email or account. Or click Edit with AI to open it as a River doc, tap your target length, and River fills in every Lands at line for you.
Tell River about your story, in a sentence or a page of notes. It writes a short first pass under every beat, using your names and any beats you already know. Nothing is locked: every line is a suggestion you can keep or cut. Prefer to plan by chapter? The 24-chapter novel outline maps the same arc chapter by chapter. Once the beats feel right, break each one into scenes with the scene card template, so every beat has the scenes it needs before you draft.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the beat sheet
- All 15 beats in order
From Opening Image to Final Image, grouped into the three acts. - Novel percentages
Brody's placement for each beat, shown beside the name. - A job for every beat
One plain line saying what the beat has to do for your story. - Word targets
A Lands at line that River turns into word positions for your length. - A header for the big picture
A one-sentence summary, the theme, and your hero at the start and the end. - The five-point finale
Optional steps for the finale: gather the team, execute the plan, and more.
How it works
From blank page to beat sheet
Open the template
Click Edit with AI. Your beat sheet opens in River with every beat in place.
Tell River your story
Optional. Start with a sentence or paste your notes, then tap a length for word targets.
Get a first pass
River writes one to three lines under each beat in your story's terms.
Make it yours
Rewrite, move or delete any line, then keep going and have River turn the beats into a chapter outline.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is the Save the Cat beat sheet?
It's a list of the 15 turning points a plot moves through. In order: Opening Image, Theme Stated, Setup, Catalyst, Debate, Break Into 2, B Story, Fun and Games, Midpoint, Bad Guys Close In, All Is Lost, Dark Night of the Soul, Break Into 3, Finale and Final Image. Blake Snyder named them for screenplays in 2005; Jessica Brody adapted them for novels in 2018.
What percentages does Save the Cat use for a novel?
Jessica Brody places the novel beats by percentage: Catalyst at 10%, Break Into 2 at 20%, B Story at 22%, Midpoint at 50%, All Is Lost at 75%, Break Into 3 at 80%, and the Finale from 80% to 99%. Treat them as guideposts. The official Beat Mapper is a free way to map beats for films and novels.
How is the novel version different from the screenplay version?
On a 110-page script, Snyder's targets put Break Into 2 on page 25, about 23%, and All Is Lost on page 75, about 68%. The novel version starts Act Two earlier, at 20%, and pushes All Is Lost to 75%. Novels get a longer stretch of rising pressure and a slightly shorter finale.
Is Save the Cat too formulaic?
It can be, if you treat the beats as a script to copy. In "Save the Movie!" (Slate, 2013), critic Peter Suderman argued that once you know the formula, "movies all start to seem the same." Most writers use the beats as a check instead of a cage, and a novel has more room to move than a screenplay.
I already have a draft. Is a beat sheet still useful?
Yes. Many pantsers write first and run a beat check during revision. Note where each beat actually happens in your draft and compare it with the percentage. A Midpoint at 70% or a missing All Is Lost often explains a sagging middle, and the AI book editor can give you notes on it.
Does River write the beats for me?
Only if you ask. Edit with AI opens the beat sheet empty, ready for you. Tell River about your story, from a single sentence to a full outline, and it writes a short first pass under each beat in your story's terms. You keep, change or delete every line, and it writes no chapters unless you ask.
Is this the official Save the Cat template?
No. River is not affiliated with Save the Cat!. The beat names come from Blake Snyder's book, and the novel percentages come from Jessica Brody's Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. For the official books, courses and Beat Mapper, see savethecat.com.
Your next step
More for your book
Plot your book on one page
Open the 15 beats in a doc you keep. Fill them yourself, or tell River your story, short or long.