How to Write Act 2 of Your Novel Using Save the Cat (Part 2)

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We have reached the second half of Act 2 in our discussion of the Save the Cat! beats. By this point, we’re halfway through the book. We’ve come so far, but we’ve still got a long way to go. Don’t fret, I’m going to help you learn how to write Act 2 of your novel.

In this guide, we’ll go over the 3 Save the Cat! beats in the second half of Act 2. You can check out the guide for Act 2 Part 1 here and Act 1 here.

Act 2 Beats – How to Write Act 2 of a Novel

There are 5 beats in Act 1 and 7 beats in Act 2:

  1. Break Into Two
  2. B Story
  3. Fun and Games
  4. Midpoint
  5. Bad Guys Close In
  6. All Is Lost
  7. Dark Night of the Soul

Today, we’re picking up with the Bad Guys Close In. The MC has just been through the Midpoint, where they experienced either a false victory or defeat, the stakes of the story rose, and the A and B Stories crossed.

Bad Guys Close In

In this multi-scene beat, the MC experiences the opposite of what happened in the first half of Act 2. If the Fun and Games were generally good for them and the Midpoint was a false victory, then this beat will take a downward path. Things won’t go well for the MC.

However, if they’ve been struggling since they entered Act 2 and had a false defeat at the Midpoint, this beat will have an upward path. They’ll have a bit of a rebound as they move toward the All Is Lost. This beat may even end with a false victory the next beat.

You might be wondering, “How do the bad guys close in if things are going well for the MC?” The bad guys in this beat can be external—perhaps another character who’s trying to thwart the MC—but don’t forget the internal bad guys.

Regardless of how this beat is going externally (main plot), the internal bad guys are closing in because the MC still hasn’t changed. They’re still making mistakes and letting their flaws get the best of them. And because they haven’t changed, they walk right into the All Is Lost.

All Is Lost

Rock bottom. The lowest of the low.

It takes a lot for people to change. You’ve likely seen in your own life that it takes something big for people to stop avoiding and address their problems the right way. It’s human nature.

This beat takes away the character’s other options—they have to change because whatever happens in this beat is big, too big for them to ignore and even bigger than the inciting incident.

In this single-scene beat, something happens to the MC that drags them down, down, down, so they’re worse off than they were when the story started. Don’t be afraid to really put your hero through it in this beat. You don’t want a weak All Is Lost because it will make the hero’s transformation feel fake.

This beat features something called the whiff of death. Characters—often the MC’s mentor—die in this beat or almost die. But it doesn’t have to be a character death. It could just be a hint of death, a dead plant or animal, the death of an idea, goal, relationship, project, business, etc. With this death, the character can be reborn into a new way of thinking.

And this beat should be the MC’s fault to some degree, a consequence of their actions, a consequence of them not learning the theme and overcoming their flaws. If they aren’t somewhat responsible, they won’t have anything to learn.

Dark Night of the Soul

After the All Is Lost, we need a reaction beat. How does the MC respond to whatever happened in the last beat? Many MC’s wallow in this beat, having lost everything. But others get angry or try to convince themselves they’re better off. How they react will depend on the kind of person the MC is and what happened in the last beat.

But that’s not all that happens in this multi-scene beat. As the MC sits around feeling hopeless, they often return to the familiar. They seek comfort in the life they used to have before the Catalyst, so they often return home, get back together with an ex, return to an old job, etc. But this return to the familiar isn’t comforting at all. The hero doesn’t belong in that place anymore. They’ve already changed a lot; they’re not the same person they were in Act 1.

This beat usually revolves around a question: what will the MC do now? And this question is often answered in the dark night epiphany—the moment when the hero finally sees the truth. Revelations frequently happen here, especially in mystery stories.

And this revelation, this epiphany, leads them right into Act 3.


I hope this helped you learn how to write Act 2 of a novel using the Save the Cat beat sheet. I’ll be posting a guide for Act 3 in the coming weeks, so subscribe to make sure you don’t miss that.

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Hi! I’m Lexi, an editor and writer with a passion for stories. I love helping authors make their books better and writing my own books. On this blog, you’ll find writing advice and discussions on stories of all kinds.

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