In the previous article in this Editor’s Guide to Save the Cat! Story Structure, we saw how to use the Setup beat to introduce your readers to your hero and the status quo world. Now, we’ll look at how to disrupt the status quo world as you get the plot rolling.
As with the other articles in this series, this one builds off the advice provided by Jessica Brody in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. Specifically, this article explains several options that authors have when plotting this beat that are note mentioned in Brody's book.
What Is the Catalyst in the Save the Cat Method?
According to the Save the Cat Beat Sheet, the Catalyst is a single-scene beat that occurs halfway into Act 1, where the hero's life is disrupted and the story picks up momentum. If your plot were a line of dominoes, the Catalyst would be the point at which the first domino is knocked over.
The Save the Cat Beat Sheet places the Catalyst at the 10% mark, but anywhere before the 20% mark is acceptable. You can even put it even later than that if you have a good reason.
According to Brody, The Catalyst’s job is to “create so much destruction, your hero will have no choice but to do something different. Try something new. Go somewhere else.” However, I want to present a different definition since Brody's is not always accurate in practice.
For example, in Mean Girls, the Catalyst occurs when Janis convinces Cady to hang out with a group of popular girls called the Plastics. Janis’s suggestion does not create anything close to destruction, and Cady absolutely has a choice to do something different if she wants to.
An event doesn't have to be devastating or immediately life-changing to qualify as a Catalyst. All it has to do is create the conditions necessary for the hero to leave the status quo world, either immediately or at the end of Act 1.
Six Types of Catalysts
You have a few options for how your Catalyst might play out depending on whether the upside-down world is a different location than the status quo world or a transformed version of the same physical location.
The Upside-Down World and Status Quo World Are Different Locations
If your hero’s status quo world and upside-down world are literally different worlds (e.g., England vs. Hogwarts), there are three general ways that your Catalyst might affect your hero.
A hero who is enjoying their life is forced to leave the status quo world
In this situation, the hero is happy in their status quo world and won’t want to leave. Therefore, you will likely need to write a Catalyst that takes the form a disaster or accident that removes the hero from the status quo world against their will and plops them down in unfamiliar territory.
For example, in Cars, Lightning McQueen is very happy in his status quo world and would never willingly leave it—especially not days before the biggest race of his life. However, while Mack is transporting Lightning to California for the big race, Lightning falls off Mack and gets lost, eventually finding himself in the upside-down world of Radiator Springs.
A hero who wants to leave the status quo world is presented with an opportunity to do so
If your hero is unhappy in the status quo world, they will be perfectly willing to leave and venture into the upside-down world. In these stories, the Catalyst is not a catastrophe but an opportunity.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for example, Harry’s status quo world is sad and abusive. So, when he learns he's a wizard, he doesn’t become distraught or frightened. Instead, he eagerly asks Hagrid all kinds of questions. And the next morning, he is described as “so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him.”
Note that the status quo world does not need to be a terrible place for the hero to want to leave. It may be a fine place, but it’s just not the right place for the hero. In Divergent. Beatrice comes from a good family and lives a peaceful life, but when she learns she is Divergent and could join a different faction if she wanted, she knows she must leave her family and status quo world behind if she is to be truly happy.
The hero leaves the status quo world, not realizing they will be unable to return easily
In some stories, the hero willingly leaves a comfortable status quo world only because they don’t realize they won’t be able to return easily (this realization usually occurs in the Break Into 2 beat).
For example, in Beauty and the Beast, the Catalyst occurs when Belle's horse returns home without her father. Realizing her father is in danger, Belle voluntarily leaves her peaceful village to look for him. She has no idea she will be imprisoned in the upside-down world as a consequence of her decision.
The Upside-Down World and Status Quo World Are the Same Location
The upside-down world doesn't need to literally be a different world than the status quo world. Instead, the Catalyst might create such a drastic change in the world or in the hero’s life that the world no longer feels the same.
The hero's life is altered by a significant personal event, while the world itself remains the same
In some stories, the Catalyst creates a change in the hero’s personal life but doesn’t directly affect anyone else in the status quo world. But it affects the hero enough that, to them, the world doesn't look the same anymore. Such a Catalyst could be a divorce or the disappearance of one's child. But it could also be a positive event.
For example, in Everything, Everything, for example, the Catalyst occurs when Madeline and her new next-door neighbour, Olly, exchange emails for the first time. Since Madeline has been diagnosed with “bubble boy” disease and has never made a friend her age—never mind a romantic connection—this budding relationship represents a drastic change in her internal world.
The lives of everyone in the status quo world are altered by an earth-shattering event
This kind of Catalyst is common in horror stories. For example, in Bird Box, Malorie’s world is turned upside-down when some unknown entity starts making everybody who looks at it kill themselves. Even though Malorie stays in the same city for much of the film, she’s definitely not in the same world.
Note that the entire planet doesn't need to be affected for this kind of Catalyst to work. For example, a small, quiet town may be disrupted when its citizens learn there is a serial killer on the loose.
A naïve hero engages in a new situation, which they gradually get sucked into
This type of Catalyst can sometimes be hard to spot because it's only in retrospect that the hero (and audience) realize that a specific event or decision altered the hero's life. This is because the hero doesn't fully commit to their new role in the upside-down world until the Break Into 2.
Earlier in this article, I mentioned that the Catalyst in Mean Girls does not fit the definition presented in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel because it Cady's choice to hang out with the Plastics doesn't cause immediate destruction and she has the choice to leave the group throughout the Debate. We don't realize that the Catalyst was the Catalyst until we reach the Break Into 2, when Cady gets so mad at Regina George that she decides to do whatever it takes to bring her down.
We can look back and see that if Cady had never joined the Plastics for fun in the first place, she never would have become vengeful and, in turn, wouldn't have gone through everything she went through in Acts 2 and 3. But, at the time the Catalyst occurred, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.
How to Test a Catalyst
According to Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, you can tell whether a Catalyst is any good if you can answer "no" to the following question: “Can my hero easily return to their normal life and continue doing what they were doing after this happens?”
An example of a story whose Catalyst passes this test is Don’t Look Up. The Catalyst occurs when Dr. Mindy does some math and confirms that a recently discovered comet will collide with Earth and end all life in about six months.
Although this is an effective Catalyst that aligns with Brody’s advice, I still find Brody’s description of the Catalyst a little too dramatic and limiting. In many stories, the hero does have the choice to return to the status quo world.
For example, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, after Harry gets to Hogwarts, he could very easily return to number four Privet Drive and live among the Muggles if he wanted to. In fact, Harry almost gets expelled from Hogwarts in Act 2, so, if anything, he finds it difficult at times not to be sent back to his normal life.
Therefore, your Catalyst may be perfectly fine even if it doesn't pass the test presented in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel.
Your Catalyst is probably valid as long as you can answer “yes” to one of the questions below.
Does the hero view the Catalyst as their ticket out of an unfulfilling status quo world?
As seen above, some heroes—like Harry Potter—want to leave of their status quo world. For such heroes, the Catalyst doesn’t need to make it difficult for the hero to return to the status quo world since they probably aren’t going to want to go back, anyway. Instead, the hero may feel stuck in the status quo world, and the Catalyst is likely to be framed as an opportunity rather than a crisis.
Does the Catalyst give the hero a logical reason to begrudgingly enter an undesirable upside-down world?
Sometimes, at the end of Act 1, the hero will be given the option to do something they know will disrupt their pleasant status quo world. Normally, the hero would reject the option without a second thought. However, the Catalyst gives them a reason to invite change into their world.
For example, at the end of Act 1 in Turner & Hooch, anal neat freak Detective Scott Turner is presented with an opportunity to adopt Hooch, a large, drooling, disorderly dog. Under normal circumstances, Scott would never even consider bringing Hooch into his home. However, Scott’s friend Amos was murdered during the Catalyst, and Scott believes Hooch can help him identify the murderer. Therefore, the Catalyst gives Scott a reason to adopt Hooch, even though he knows it will disrupt his status quo world.
Does the Catalyst give the hero no choice but to enter the upside-down world?
This is the type of Catalyst mentioned in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. In this case, the hero doesn’t really have the option of refusing to get involved in an unpleasant situation. The examples from Bird Box and Don’t Look Up presented earlier in this article apply here. Such Catalysts essentially give the heroes two options: deal with the Catalyst or die.
The alternative doesn’t have to be death, though. It could be losing one’s job, having Grandma get deported, or some other unacceptable situation.
Does the Catalyst cause the hero to unwittingly enter the upside-down world, which they are subsequently unable to leave?
In other words, in trying to solve the immediate problem presented by the Catalyst, is the hero faced with an even worse problem?
Earlier, I mentioned that the Catalyst in Cars happens when Lightning McQueen falls off of Mack while being transported to California and is chased into Radiator Springs. In his panic, Lightning demolishes the town’s main road before getting caught up in some powerlines. Because of this, he is forced to remain in Radiator Springs for the five days it will take him to fix the road. Not only is he lost because of the Catalyst, but he is now probably also going to miss the big race.
Summary
The main takeaway from this article is that you do not need to stick to the advice given in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel when writing your story's Catalyst. It does not need to be a dramatic, earth-splitting, soul-disintegrating event that gives your hero no choice but to venture into the upside-down world.
Some Catalysts are subtle, some are framed as opportunities instead of disasters, and some cause a change in the hero’s personal life rather than disrupting the entire status quo world.
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