Save the Cat Breakdown Series - Part 6
Debate
In the previous article, we explored the Save the Cat story beat of the Catalyst, also known as the Inciting Incident, and how it pushes the protagonist out of the comfortable world of their normal life and hints at the choice they must make. In this article, we will delve into the Debate.
What is the Debate?
The debate is a multi-scene story beat that is the protagonist’s reaction to what occurred in the Catalyst. All stories follow an action, reaction, action, reaction pattern. The Catalyst was an action scene, and now it’s time for the protagonist to have a reaction to it. It should occur at around 10 - 20%, or 8,000 - 16,000 words of an 80,000 word novel.
How they react will depend largely on the character and the story you are telling, but most commonly, the protagonist will resist the change. They or someone close to them will try to talk them out of doing anything. In Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke’s uncle tries to talk him out of trying to find Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke reluctantly agrees.
For Neo in The Matrix, the debate is where he is deciding what life he wants to live, the dream world or the real world. And at first, he resists the real world. He wants to keep things as they are.
Human beings are usually resistant to change. They like things to be the same, to be predictable, and any risk or change they decide to accept, they prefer to be in control of. As such, it is normal for your protagonist to resist the change that the Catalyst introduces. They are trying to keep their life normal. Something else needs to force the decision to be made (this is the Break into Act Two moment that I will discuss next week).
During the Debate, the protagonist can try to solve the problem the Catalyst presents in small ways, often fully in line with their misbelief, or their wound. This keeps things normal and safe for them, while still feeling like they are contributing to the problem presented.
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