Enter your manuscript's target length and get all 15 Save the Cat beats as concrete word positions, so 'the midpoint lands at 50%' becomes 'the midpoint lands at word 40,000'. Includes a classic three-act alternative and a print button for the wall above your desk.
| # | Beat | Position | Word target | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opening Image | 0 to 1% | words 0 to 800 | A visual snapshot of the hero's world before change. |
| 2 | Theme Stated | 5% | word 4,000 | Someone voices what the story is really about. |
| 3 | Set-Up | 1 to 10% | words 800 to 8,000 | Introduce the hero, stakes and everything that needs fixing. |
| 4 | Catalyst | 10% | word 8,000 | The inciting incident that knocks life off course. |
| 5 | Debate | 10 to 20% | words 8,000 to 16,000 | The hero hesitates. Can I really do this? |
| 6 | Break into Two | 20% | word 16,000 | The hero chooses to act and enters the new world. |
| 7 | B Story | 22% | word 17,600 | A new relationship begins, usually carrying the theme. |
| 8 | Fun and Games | 20 to 50% | words 16,000 to 40,000 | The promise of the premise. The trailer moments. |
| 9 | Midpoint | 50% | word 40,000 | A false victory or false defeat. Stakes are raised. |
| 10 | Bad Guys Close In | 50 to 75% | words 40,000 to 60,000 | External and internal pressure tightens. |
| 11 | All Is Lost | 75% | word 60,000 | The lowest moment, often with a whiff of death. |
| 12 | Dark Night of the Soul | 75 to 80% | words 60,000 to 64,000 | The hero sits in defeat and digests the loss. |
| 13 | Break into Three | 80% | word 64,000 | The A and B stories combine to reveal the solution. |
| 14 | Finale | 80 to 99% | words 64,000 to 79,200 | The hero executes the plan and proves the change. |
| 15 | Final Image | 100% | word 80,000 | The mirror of the opening image: proof of transformation. |
| Act | Share | Word range | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Act One: Setup | 25% (0 to 25%) | 0 to 20,000 | World, hero, stakes and the inciting incident. |
| Act Two: Confrontation | 50% (25 to 75%) | 20,000 to 60,000 | Rising complications either side of the midpoint. |
| Act Three: Resolution | 25% (75 to 100%) | 60,000 to 80,000 | Climax and denouement. |
Framework: Blake Snyder's Save the Cat beat sheet, mapped to manuscript percentages. Word targets are guide rails, not laws.
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The beat sheet is Blake Snyder's, from his screenwriting book Save the Cat! (2005). Snyder pinned each beat to a page of a 110-page screenplay; novelists have long since converted those pages to percentages so the structure scales to any length. The anchors are the ones storytellers quote from memory: opening image at 1%, theme stated at 5%, catalyst at 10%, break into two at 20%, midpoint at 50%, all is lost at 75%, break into three at 80%, finale from 80 to 99%, final image at 100%.
For an 80,000-word novel that means the catalyst should detonate around word 8,000, the story turns into act two near word 16,000, everything falls apart around word 60,000 and the finale occupies roughly the last 16,000 words. Treat the positions as guide rails. If your all-is-lost moment lands at 72% no beat-sheet police will call, but if it lands at 40% you probably have a structure problem worth a look.
Prefer something looser? The three-act table splits the same manuscript 25/50/25: a quarter to set up the world, half to complicate it and a quarter to resolve it. Both structures describe the same underlying shape; Save the Cat just names more of the joints.
Want to see the beats working before you place your own? Our Save the Cat beat sheet examplesmap all 15 beats across eight films, from Star Wars to Knives Out.
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