Save the Cat Breakdown Series - Part 3
Setup
To read the last article in this series — Part 2 Opening Image — click here.
In the previous article, we explored a Save the Cat story beat called the Opening Image and how it is important to hook the reader to draw them in. In this article, we will delve into the Setup beat.
What is the Setup Story Beat?
The Setup story beat covers the first 1 - 10% of your story. Where the hook makes the reader pick up the book, the setup is where you truly need to grab them and make them never want to put your book down. This is where 90% of readers who don’t finish your book will stop reading.
The Setup is the “make it or break it section where you have to grab me or risk losing my interest.” (Snyder, 2005, Chapter 4)
It’s here where you’ll show your protagonist’s current life, establish the theme (more information on the theme will be in the next article), and show the reader what is missing from their life, even if the protagonist doesn’t know it yet. It is the quintessential Chekov’s gun principle.
Chekov’s gun principle states that if a gun is shown on the wall in Act 1, it should be fired in Act 3. And, conversely, if a gun is fired in Act 3, it needs to have the setup (be shown on the wall) in Act 1.