Save the Cat Breakdown Series: Part 8
Fun and Games
In the previous article, we explored the Save the Cat story beat of Break Into Act Two and how it is when something happens that forces the protagonist to act. It is the pivot point at the start of Act 2. No matter what the protagonist may want, they cannot go back to the way things were. In this article, we are into the meat of Act 2, where the protagonist is acting again instead of just reacting.
What is the Fun and Games story beat?
Fun and games is a mutli-scene story beat that shows your protagonist working towards their new goal while still under the guidance of their misbelief or fatal flaw. This story beat typically covers 20-50%, or 16,000 to 40,000 words in a typical 80,000 word novel. It is here where the author must deliver on the premise of the novel and fulfill any promises made in the setup.
Fun and games is the playful section of your story. We get a promise of what the protagonist is working towards and we see the heroes attempting, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to achieve their goals.
In Star Wars: A New Hope, this is the cantina scene, the Millennium Falcon, and Luke learning how to use the force with the ‘training device’ droid that shoots him. All the fun and cool parts of the movie are being introduced, using Luke’s naivete about the wider universe and the Force as the channel through which the audience can learn about these things.
Another example is in the novel I am working on. It is a story where rival figure skaters must work together to save their small town ice rink from closing. The Fun and Games story beat is where we see the two skaters trying to work together and fix issues they both have with their skating techniques. They fail multiple times, have shouting matches, and generally don’t get along until there is a breakthrough moment and things begin to click into place. Them attempting to fix the issues they are presented with, while still not acknowledging their own flaws and shortcomings, is what makes the Fun and Games story beat so enjoyable to write and, I hope, to read as well.
As part of the Fun and Games, any secondary storylines, or B-Stories, are introduced. This particular story beat will be covered in the next article.
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