Save the cat!

"A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller is the story of an author's thoughts and reactions to being told that an independent film maker wanted to make a movie about him and his life.  Miller had already written a couple successful books and was an experienced writer, but that is a medium in which the author can take the reader inside the mind or feelings of a person.  Working with the film makers, he had to think about the elements of a good story from a different angle, one more involved with showing and less with telling.

Writing teachers often give the advice "Show, don't tell", meaning tell what the character actually did that shows that he is despondent or exuberant instead of writing that he feels that way.  That is exactly the sort of advice Miller got.  He and his co-workers had to find ways to show what was going on. 

He also found that it is fundamental to SAVE THE CAT!  Within the first 20 minutes of the movie, the main character has to save the cat or do something equivalent, something noble and helpful and touching.  Without that, the audience will not identify with the character and will not care what happens to that person or be interested in the story or its outcome.  Of course, it doesn't have to be a cat and maybe it doesn't have to be a positive action, although it probably should be for a positive story.  Modern arts tend to sneer at positive outcomes and celebrate dark stories with frightening or depressing or ambiguous outcomes.  Maybe I am just a softie but I often care about the story and its outcome.  I have never been quite sure why my heart wants the lovers to find each other and be happy when I know all the while that they are made-up characters, are not real and are wisps of somebody's imagination.  Nevertheless, when they do find each other, I still feel good, as though this is a pretty good world we live in and things turn out right.