Save the Cat Breakdown Series - Part 12
All Is Lost
Save the Cat Breakdown Series, Part 12: All Is Lost
In the previous article, we explored the Save the Cat story beat of the Bad Guys Close In, and how this is when both the external threats and the internal conflict increase their threat level. In this article, we are exploring the story beat of All Is Lost.
What is the All Is Lost story beat?
This story beat, unlike many that have come before it, literally is as it says it is. This is the moment when everything goes wrong for your protagonist. They see no hope ahead for them, no way out, and absolutely no way to achieve their ultimate goal. And worse? At least part of the problem was of their own making. It typically occurs at the 75% mark, or at around 60,000 words.
All Is Lost is usually one scene, or maybe two, that shows the reader everything going wrong. It is gripping and heart-wrenching, and the reader is pulled right alongside them in this downward spiral. It taps into one of the reader’s primal fears.
In the Hunger Games, this occurs the moment that Rue dies and Katniss fails to save her. Even throughout all the horrors Katniss she has remained strong and even detached. But then she makes a friend with the much younger Rue, who represents the innocence of the children sent to die in the games, and, despite her best efforts, she fails to save her. At that moment, in that single beat, the innocence dies.
The moment isn’t so dramatic in Star Wars: A New Hope, perhaps because there is an ensemble of characters at this point in the story, but it is only really Luke who really suffers it. The All Is Lost moment occurs when Darth Vader strikes down Ben Kenobi, killing him, removing the safe mentor figure from the equation. Luke feels his loss and is upset with it, but the rest of the cast, while sad, are not directly affected and they successfully escape the Death Star.
Want to keep reading an in-depth analysis of Disney’s Mulan and Lynn Flewelling’s Luck in the Shadows? Upgrade your subscription now to view the rest of this article and unlock countless other benefits.
Don’t want to commit to yet another subscription? I’ve got you covered. Buy me a coffee of the same amount, drop your substack name in the comment, and I’ll gift you one month’s subscription. All the benefits with none of the risk!