In this Editor’s Guide to Save the Cat! Story Structure, we’ve been examining the purposes of each part of the Save the Cat! Best Sheet. We now get to the Debate, whose discussion I feel is lacking in Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel. I think we got short-changed on this one, given that the description of the Theme Stated—which comprises a single sentence—is almost twice as long as the description of the Debate, which typically contains thousands of words.
How is that fair?
Furthermore, the explanation for why a story even needs a Debate in the first place is quite vague, as are the instructions for what the hero could and should be doing during this beat. For instance, we’re told that the Debate “usually comes in the form of a question. Like What do I do now? Should I go? Should I stay? How will I survive? What happens next?” But most of these questions could be asked at almost any point in a novel.
I think it’s fair to say that, when it comes to the Debate, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel leaves some rather large gaps. This article fills these gaps by:
Defining the Debate.
Explaining the true purposes of the Debate.
Listing eleven key components that authors commonly include in the Debate.
Explaining how the Debate culminates with the Break Into 2 beat.
What Is the Debate Beat in the Save the Cat Method?
According to the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet, the Debate is the second multi-scene beat of Act 1, where the hero reacts to the Catalyst and eventually decides to leave the status quo world behind.
According to the Save the Cat Beat Sheet, the Debate should span from a novel’s 10% mark to its 20% mark. However, as indicated in my overview of Act 1 in Part 2 of this series, these percentages are flexible.
But what exactly is the Debate? In Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, Brody explains that “the Debate is the time in your story for your hero to take a step back and decide how they’re going to proceed after this life-threatening Catalyst has knocked them down.” She further states that the author should “show us how resistant your hero is to accept the change that’s been thrown at them.”
That’s fine advice, and it presents two of the things a hero might do during the Debate. But my question is: how and why are we spending 10% of a novel doing this?
Unfortunately, Brody doesn’t give us the “how.” She does, however, give us the “why”: “Why do heroes debate? Why can’t they just get on with their life-changing news and move on? Because it’s not realistic.” Later, Brody doubles down on this claim, explaining that “if they decide too quickly, you risk losing credibility with your reader.”
However, I’m a little suspicious of this logic. It seems strange to spend 10% of a novel showing the hero having a debate just so the story is more believable. There has to be a better reason for the Debate being as long as it is, right?
Well, let’s just see about that…
What Is the Actual Purpose of the Debate?
Technically, you could skip the Debate by having the hero immediately accept the call to action presented by the Catalyst. However, this isn’t effective storytelling for a few reasons, the most notable of which are:
It makes the Catalyst seem unimportant to the hero and, in turn, to the reader. As a result, the reader may not become emotionally invested in the events of Act 2.
If your hero is willing and able to accept the Catalyst the instant it occurs, this indicates the hero doesn’t have a lot of room for growth. In other words, they probably started the story too far along in their character arc.
As Brody states in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, it’s not realistic.
With this in mind, when writing your story’s Debate, it is crucial that you:
Show the hero’s immediate reaction to the Catalyst to confirm that this event was indeed a huge deal.
Show how the hero overcomes their unwillingness to enter the upside-down world (or stay in it if the Catalyst already sent them there). That is, the Debate should provide a series of decisions and events that eventually force or convince the hero to accept the call to action presented by the Catalyst.
Note: There is an exception to the second point. As noted in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, if the hero is already willing to enter the UDW when the Catalyst occurs, then this point can be changed to “show how the hero overcomes their inability to enter the UDW.”
There are a great many ways to accomplish these two tasks when writing your Debate. Below, I’ve listed some of the most common ones that writers use.
What Should Happen During the Debate?
When evaluating a story, I find it helpful to think of the Debate as having two parts. First, the hero’s reaction to the Catalyst is portrayed. The more intense the hero’s reaction, the more severe the Catalyst will seem to the audience. Second, the Debate should show the hero having a realization, gaining a crucial piece of knowledge, undergoing some series of events, etc., which ultimately leads them to engage with the UDW of Act 2.
Let’s look at some specific things that a hero might do or experience within each part of the Debate.
The Hero Should React to the Catalyst
When writing the first part of the Debate, you want to highlight just how much the hero has been affected by the Catalyst by showing their reaction to it through physiological responses, introspection, actions, etc. In general, the Debate clarifies whether the hero is resistant to the Catalyst (which is usually the case) or enthusiastic about the opportunity presented by the Catalyst.
Some general types of reactions are explained below.
The Hero Enters a State of Denial
You can spend the first part of the Debate emphasizing the hero’s resistance to their new situation by having them flat-out reject it. Perhaps the hero initially responds to the Catalyst by telling themselves this isn’t happening or that they must be dreaming. While the hero is denying reality, you can also show that their denial is negatively impacting their life.
In Toy Story, instead of dealing with Buzz Lightyear’s arrival in Andy’s room and popularity with the other toys, Woody refuses to accept that Buzz’s existence will change his relationships with his friends and owner. Because of this, Woody’s jealousy intensifies, and his relationships with the other toys start to sour. Woody’s denial is effective because it highlights his possessiveness and insecurity while also highlighting drastic changes to his status quo world (SQW).
The Hero Tries to Restore the Status Quo
Change is scary. Therefore, when someone’s life changes drastically, their instinct is often to return things to normal. With that in mind, you can spend the first part of the Debate showing your hero acting in line with this instinct.
Often, this kind of reaction is irrational, in which case it overlaps with the denying reality reaction described above. For example, when Mufasa dies in the Catalyst of The Lion King, Simba’s initial reaction is to try to wake him up, as if he were only sleeping.
Other times, the attempt to restore the status quo is perfectly reasonable. When the Catalyst occurs in Beauty and the Beast, Belle doesn’t know her father is being held prisoner in the Beast’s castle. All she knows is that he’s missing. Therefore, there is nothing irrational about her assumption that she can find her father and bring him home, which is what she spends most of the Debate attempting to do.
The Hero Panics
If the Catalyst is a sudden, life-threatening emergency, the hero won’t have the time or space needed to think about the situation. So, instead of debating the situation, they go into fight-or-flight mode and act without thinking as they try to find their bearings. They might ask questions like Where am I? What’s going on? or What do these aliens want from me?
In Cars, a large portion of the Debate depicts a frantic Lightning McQueen racing along a hectic, unfamiliar highway as he tries to find Mack and then getting chased by a police car. This also exemplifies an attempt to restore the status quo, as Lightning’s SQW could very reasonably be restored if he can find Mack.
The Hero Acknowledges that They Are Facing a Difficult Choice
When this is the hero’s reaction, the Debate beat suits its name perfectly. In the previous three cases, the Catalyst was likely to be an event beyond the hero’s control. However, as explained in the previous article in this series, the Catalyst can also take the form of an opportunity, albeit a risky one.
When dealing with such a Catalyst, the hero will probably spend a large portion of the Debate literally debating whether to accept the opportunity. This kind of Debate is most effective when the opportunity meets two criteria:
Accepting it has substantial positive and negative consequences.
Once the hero accepts the opportunity, it will be very difficult or impossible for them to change their mind.
The Catalyst in Divergent, for example, gives Beatrice the choice between staying with her family in the Abnegation faction (where she is not entirely happy) or switching to either the Dauntless or Erudite faction. The difficulty and permanence of her decision are summed up through introspection:
When I look at the Abnegation lifestyle as an outsider, I think it’s beautiful.… It’s only when I try to live it myself that I have trouble. It never feels genuine. But choosing a different faction means I forsake my family. Permanently.
The Hero Recognizes that They Are Unprepared to Enter the Upside-Down World
This situation is common in stories where the SQW is unpleasant. In such stories, the hero is willing, or even eager, to accept the drastic change brought about by the Catalyst. Therefore, the debate doesn’t revolve around their unwillingness to enter the UDW but rather their unpreparedness to do so. This could come in the form of a lack of knowledge, skills, or supplies, among other things.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry does not hesitate to accept the offer to study at Hogwarts, and he is excited by the prospect of being a wizard. However, he also quickly realizes he knows nothing of magic and wizards, nor does he have any money to buy school supplies. He later spends much of the Debate acquiring knowledge and supplies.
The Hero Should Ultimately Decide to Engage with the Upside-Down World
Whereas the first part of the Debate highlights the importance of the Catalyst through the hero’s reaction to it, the second part leads the hero to a point where they must accept a call to action. In other words, the Debate shows the audience why the hero ultimately decides to engage with the UDW world—maybe they want something they can get only from the UDW, or perhaps they simply have no choice.
Once the hero has decided to (or has been forced to) enter and fully engage with the UDW, the Debate’s job is done, as we’ve now hit the Break Into 2 beat. I've listed a few of the ways in which the Debate can bring the hero to this point here, but there are many more.
The Hero Is Forced to Accept a New Normal
This type of Debate ending is a natural fit for a hero who spends the first part of the Debate denying the reality of the new situation. In this case, the hero’s SQW has already been transformed, but Act 2 can’t begin until the hero accepts this. Just like a cartoon character can’t fall off a cliff until they look down, a story can’t gain momentum until the hero acknowledges that they have a problem that needs to be solved.
Often, throughout this kind of Debate, the hero is confronted with mounting evidence that their world has changed. They deny this evidence at first, but eventually, it piles up too high to ignore, and they finally break and accept their new reality as they enter Act 2.
Note that the final piece of evidence that causes the hero to accept the change doesn’t have to be dramatic; it can be—and often is—of the straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back variety. Throughout the Debate in Toy Story, Woody is presented with plenty of evidence showing that Andy loves Buzz as much and perhaps even more than he loves Woody. Woody ignores the signs until the morning after he’s made to sleep in the toy chest instead of on Andy’s bed like always. When Bo Beep assures Woody that Andy will always have a “special place” for him, Mr. Potato Head walks by and says, “Yeah, like the attic!”
This comment is what finally makes Woody crack. At this point, he says, “All right, that’s it!” and, for the first time, he actually tries to do something about his new situation by directly confronting Buzz.
The Hero Realizes They Cannot Easily Return to the Status Quo World
This is a logical conclusion to the Debate when the hero’s goal in the first part of this beat was to restore the status quo. In this kind of Debate, the hero will spend much of the beat thinking they can put things back the way they were. However, before the Debate is over, some key event or information makes them realize that restoring the status quo won’t be nearly as easy as they thought; it may even be impossible.
Sometimes, it will have been impossible from the start of the Debate; however, this fact doesn’t become obvious until near the end of the beat. This is the case in Beauty and the Beast. When her horse returns home without her father (which is the Catalyst), for all Belle knows, her father may have fallen off the horse just outside the village and suffered a minor injury. That is, it could be relatively easy to find him and bring him home, thus restoring the status quo.
However, as Belle’s search takes her deeper into the woods, it becomes increasingly apparent that bringing him home will be difficult. Eventually, she learns that her father is being held prisoner by the Beast, who refuses to allow both Belle and her father to leave. One of them must stay as his prisoner; the status quo cannot be restored.
Other times, the status quo could have been restored without a terrible amount of trouble, but the hero gets unlucky or their panicked attempt to restore the status quo inadvertently makes the situation much worse.
In Cars, if Lightning McQueen hadn’t strayed from the highway after falling from Mack, he might have soon found Mack and returned to his SQW. However, in reacting to the Catalyst, Lightning makes several critical mistakes throughout the Debate that result in him being sentenced to fixing the road that runs through Radiator Springs. At this point, restoring the status quo has become much more difficult than it was right after the Catalyst had occurred.
The Hero Runs Out of Time to Make Their Decision
When the Debate revolves around a difficult decision (see “The Hero Acknowledges that They Are Facing a Difficult Choice” above), it is best to impose a deadline on that decision. If the hero has forever to think about their choice, they are unlikely to choose anything and will stay in the SQW. As a result, there would be no story.
Implementing a deadline puts pressure on the hero and adds drama to the Debate. As the deadline draws nearer, the hero’s inner turmoil intensifies.
Above, I showed that the Debate in Divergent starts with Beatrice introspecting on whether to stay in the Abnegation faction or transfer to a different one. As the ceremony—where Beatrice must make her choice—approaches, Beatrice’s reactions become more intense.
Early in the Debate, she narrates, “My heart pounds at the mention of the ceremony” and “I am not sure I can live this life of obligation any longer.” As the Debate goes on and Beatrice has less time to decide what to do, her physiological reactions become more intense (“I get the distinct impression that my heart will burst out of my chest any minute now”), and her thoughts become more frantic (“What do I believe? I do not know; I do not know; I do not know.”)
The Hero Strikes a Deal with an Ally or Foe
In stories where the hero is willing but unable to leave the SQW, the Debate may involve them making a deal with another character who can give them what they need in order to leave.
For example, in Tangled, Rapunzel needs an escort so she can leave her tower and go see the floating lights, which has always been her dream. With this need in mind, she spends much of the Debate trying to convince Flynn to accept an offer: if he takes her to see the floating lights, she will return his satchel to him, which contains a very valuable crown.
Other times, the hero might strike a deal with the antagonist. For example, in The Little Mermaid, Ariel wants to leave her SQW under the sea and be part of the human world. However, she is unequipped to do this, given that she’s a fish from the waist down. Therefore, her Debate sees her visit the sea witch Ursula and trade her voice in for a nice pair o’ legs.
The Hero Prepares for Their Journey to the Upside-Down World
This is another option for heroes who are willing but unable to enter the UDW. During this kind of Debate, the hero might learn about the people, history, rules, and customs of the UDW, gather the materials they’ll need for their journey, and so on. Typically, this kind of Debate ends when the hero is satisfied with their preparations (or perhaps they run out of time to prepare and have to roll with what they have).
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry spends the Debate learning about Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic, Quidditch, and his own fame, among other aspects of the UDW while obtaining his school supplies. The Debate ends almost immediately after Harry receives his ticket for the Hogwarts Express, which is the last item he needs to get to the UDW.
The Hero Becomes Motivated to Fully Engage with the Upside-Down World
In some stories, the hero enters the UDW during the Catalyst but isn’t required to fully commit themselves to staying in that world until the end of the Debate.
For example, in Mean Girls, Cady agrees to the call to action—to spy on a group of mean girls called the Plastics—right away, and she spends the first part of the Debate hanging out with them.
Even though Cady has already entered the UDW by integrating herself into a new friend group, she’s not truly in the UDW yet. In her mind, this is just a temporary situation, a favor that she’s doing for her friend Janis as kind of a joke. She’s dipping her toe in the waters of the UDW, but she could easily get out.
The Debate doesn’t end until Cady dives into the UDW in the Break Into 2 moment, after she catches Regina George kissing her crush and realizes what a manipulative bitch she is. Before this, Cady was pretending to be friends with the Plastics for Janis’s sake. But now, she’s all in on the idea of taking Regina down from within her own group. With that, the Debate is over, and Act 2 can begin.
Ending the Debate with the Break Into 2
The Debate ends when the hero accepts a call to action (which is usually created by the Catalyst), thus forming a long-term goal, which they will attempt to accomplish throughout the first half of Act 2, and perhaps beyond that. The Save the Cat! Beat Sheet refers to this acceptance of the call to action as the “Break Into 2.”
This is one point where, for me, the Save the Cat! method is more confusing than it needs to be. In Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, Brody defines the Break Into 2 as “the moment when we leave the old world and old way of thinking behind and step into a new world and new way of thinking.” But I don’t really like this definition because it’s kind of vague and open to interpretation. I don't even know exactly what “step into” means in this context.
I think some clarification is needed. So, I'm going to go on a little tangent here and argue why the Break Into 2 belongs in Act 1, not in Act 2, where Brody puts it.
If you look at the beat sheets provided in Chapters 4–13 of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, you can see that the Break Into 2 is the specific moment at which the hero decides to (or is forced to) take on a goal that entails entering the UDW. Or, in stories where the hero was forced into the UDW in the middle of Act 1, the Break Into 2 beat will see the hero deciding to engage with the UDW more deeply, to a point where they can’t easily get out.
If that sounds a lot like what many plotters call the First Plot Point, that’s because that’s exactly what it is. But it's very widely agreed upon that the First Plot Point is the last thing that happens in Act 1, not the first thing that happens in Act 2.
So that's one point for placing the Break Into 2 in Act 1.
Here's another: according to basic scene structure theory, the last thing that should happen in a scene is that the hero should make a decision about what to do next. This decision then informs the goal that kickstarts the following scene. (By the way, if you want to learn more about scene structure, check out my Editor’s Guide to Scene Structure.)
And what is the Break Into 2? It is the hero’s arrival at a decision for how to deal with the problem that was caused by the Catalyst and pondered throughout the Debate.
So, because the Break Into 2 is a decision, it is the last thing that happens in whatever scene it belongs to. Therefore, if the Break Into 2 is considered the first component of Act 2, you would have to put an act break in the middle of a scene. And I’d rather have the scene break and act break occur together.
That's our second point for including the Break Into 2 in Act 1.
Finally, there's this image from https://savethecat.com/save-the-cat-software:
This last piece of evidence is so clear-cut that it almost makes the first two arguments a complete waste of time.
Placement of the Break Into 2 aside, if you’ve done your job with the Catalyst and Debate beats, then by the time your hero gets to Act 2, your readers will (1) see that there is an unavoidable need for the hero to enter/engage with the UDW and (2) understand the hero’s motivation for engaging the UDW. If your Debate doesn’t accomplish the first of these tasks, the rest of the story may feel pointless; if your Debate doesn’t accomplish the second task, readers probably won’t be emotionally invested in the story’s outcome.
Closing Remarks
I mentioned at the outset of this article that, in my opinion, the discussion of the Debate in Save the Cat! Writes a Novel lacks depth. Therefore, I think this is one of the more important articles in this series, and I really hope it has helped you get a better grasp of what the Debate’s true purposes are and how your hero can navigate this tricky-to-write beat.
And don't forget the comments section is just below, there, if you have any questions about the Debate that I didn’t address in this article.
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Thanks for reading!
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