Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel - Character

 I've been listening to the audio version of Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel - even though I don't write for young adults (yet).  I'm intrigued by the "beat" organization... very similar to what I learned in my beloved The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, which itself is drawn from the works of mythologist Joseph Campbell.

I'm going to try to work on mapping out my story in this blog... just getting the skeleton of the story down.

WORKING TITLE:  I'm Not a Good Dog

Main Character: Lucky, a Cattle Dog/Corgi/who knows what mix.  He's a pup with issues.

PROBLEM:  Lucky's flaw is that he doesn't see the good things right in front of him... his adoptive owner, for example.  He's fixated on being a Bad Dog so they will send him back to Tales and Tails Rescue.  When that doesn't work, he runs away from his adoptive home.

WANT:  Lucky wants to live with his rescuers, not find a home for himself.  Susan and Tom rescued Lucky and his mom after they were abandoned by their previous owner; Lucky loves living at the rescue, and doesn't want to leave.  When he gets adopted, all he wants is to go back.

NEED:  Lucky needs to learn that home is where you are loved for being who you are... where you have a home, no matter how "good" or "bad" you are.

Lucky is physically based on my own pup, Loki... and no, the name is not a one-off.  Lucky gets his name because he was LUCKY to be rescued and wasn't in as bad of shape as his mom.

Job Hunting

 Job hunting, I am starting to believe, is very much like actual hunting.

You picture your quarry in your mind.  You know what you're going after... it wouldn't do to arm yourself for deer hunting when you want a duck or turkey, for example, or vice-versa.  You prepare your gear - resume?  Check.  Letters of reference?  Check.  Appropriate certifications and transcripts?  Check and check.

Then, it's out into the field.  You need to get out there early - that's when the game is moving.  And you need to know where to go to find a game trail... wandering around the woods and wetlands, clueless, is a good way to come back empty handed.  Once you've found your spot, you hunker down behind a blind, send out your employment paperwork, and wait.  Or maybe it's more like fishing than hunting... you put out your bait, and then you wait.

And you wait.

And you wait.

And you wait.

I would make a lousy deer hunter.  Or duck hunter.  Or turkey hunter.  Or fishing enthusiast.  

Or job hunter, for that matter.

I hate waiting.

Something to Read

I enjoy a good memoir… with caveats.

One, if it’s an animal-centric memoir (one of my favorite sub genres), the animal needs to be alive at the end of the book. I don’t do MARLEY AND ME books.

Two, if it’s a human-centric memoir, it needs to have a good bit of humor. Yes, I realize that 90% of published memoirs deal with the writer overcoming some sort of trauma, abuse, addiction, etc. Apparently there’s a pervasive thought in publishing that happy people aren’t interesting. But that said, I need to do something other than cringe and cry while I read.

As a result, I’m having a pretty hard time finding “grown up” books to read lately. I’ve gotten about halfway through a memoir about a Boston area dog park… it’s not bad… and have the writing guide BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott on the TBR pile. I’ve got SAVE THE CAT WRITES A YOUNG ADULT NOVEL on both audio and hard copy, though my target audience when I write is picture book or middle grade chapter book.

And I’ve neglected all of them for PENNY DRAWS A BEST FRIEND and ANNIE’S LIFE IN LISTS, two middle grade titles I’d picked up for my classroom last year as possible read alouds.

But you know what? They’re good books. And they don’t make me cringe or cry!