Welcome to Beat 7 in the Save The Cat beat sheet method for storytelling!

Save The Cat is my favorite structure because it offers so much helpful instruction and information. Check out the previous beat if you need a quick refresh.

Beat 7: B Story

The B Story takes place at about 22%of the way through your story.

What is a B-story anyway? I’m glad you asked! When developing plots for your novel, it is important to know (as I’m sure you do) that you need more than one story line. More than one plot. Some times these secondary plots cover different aspects or areas of the main characters life, like what’s going on at work or in a class room. In novels, it’s often what’s going on under the surface. If you’re not that kind of writer, then you can use the screenplay method and use this beat to show-off your well developed secondary characters and how they fit into your main characters world. Your main character is always the star of this show, but he or she does not exist in a bubble.

Things happening within them are a result of what is happening around them.

In a novel, the A-story is the external story line, what happens to the protagonist on the surface, in the outside world. B-story is what’s happening inside. As your hero moves along in their journey, what small, internal changes are happening? Are they softening to an idea they initially hated? They are making seemingly right or utterly wrong choices, so think about how the results of their choices are changing them. How is that fallout (big or small) edging them closer to their destiny? That is your B Story.

“Your main character can’t figure everything out on their own. They need help,” says Jessica Brody, author and Save the Cat expert. She offers a great example of how to do this exact thing: by using external characters (secondary characters) to embody the inner struggle experienced by your main character. “If your main characters internal struggle or theme is to learn forgiveness (because their flaw is never forgiving anyone whose wronged them), then you can have a B-story character who is the most forgiving person on earth. Thus leading the hero to see how forgiveness really works and see how happy they would be if they, too, were capable of forgiveness.” Or, place them beside the least forgiving person on earth, far more unforgiving than your main character. Someone who holds so strngly to their grudge that they ultimately end up bitter and lonely, like Miss Havisham (Dickens, Great Expectations)!

Genius, right?

Using B characters to hold up a mirror for the protagonist that shows them what might become if they don’t learn to forgive, or learn their theme.

This mirroring technique works for any kind of theme, s long as that B story character, in some way, eventually helps the hero learn to change. Eventually is important because these scenarios take time to flesh out. They take up more than one scene. They happen in a series of moments throughout Act 2, gaining intensity as the story moves forward. The initial introduction of the B story character (at about 22%) should get readers acquainted with their tendency to write-off people who have wronged them. Maybe a minor exchange takes place.

Pacing Your B Story

Check out this funny clip from King of Queens which exemplifies how a small argument balloons into a real fight. There are issues that also exemplify unforgiveness, but watch the pacing of this scene. See how it ramps up, gets heated, then cools:

Pacing. Consider that in a 22-minute TV episode (without commercials), a 5-minute argument is almost 25 percent of the plot. Writers should spend the equivalent time building the conflict of their B Story and characters. In a novel, the hero is not learning the theme or completing their arc right here. They are simply seeing how the other half lives. As the B story unfolds, your hero gets to watch other characters deal with issues that, in some way, mirror their own. And when they see others deal with the same problems in different ways, they can learn from them. Even if they are only learning what they do not want, it is still progress.

Things to keep in mind as you write:

• Your B (and C) story characters should be a product of the Act 2 world. Meaning, they should only exist in the hero’s new world. The hero could not have met this character in their old, status quo world. They are in a new place, with new people, learning new things about themselves or others. This is why we’re following them.
• IF the B story character is already in the hero’s day-to-day life, in Act 1, then wait until the Break Into 2 to make them an important part of the hero’s life in their new world. Mention them in Act 1, sure. Maybe have quick run-in at a gas station or on a busy sidewalk.
• All plots in this structure use 3 acts, so the B and C plots/characters should also unfold in 3 acts.
• B story characters/plots are called “helper stories” for a reason. Whatever is happening within these other plot threads should feed into or relate to the main characters journey.
• You can use any kind of character you want as a B story character: friend, mentor, love interest, even the nemesis/protagonist.

I hope this was helpful. I am having a blast going through this Save The Cat beat sheet with all of you. You can download the beat sheet here. And even find genre-specific beats here.

As always, drop your thoughts and questions in the comment section. And don’t forget to come back next week for beat 8: Fun and Games!