Tag Archives: Self-help; self-improvement; education; homeschooling

You might or might not have heard of the book Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder, but if you’ve ever made a serious attempt to write or market a screenplay, you probably have. I am no screenwriting expert, but I don’t know of any more specific, practical advice on the topic, and I be very surprised if you could find a more entertainingly-written one.

Read it because it is the one book you need to read if you want to write a movie. Or, read it because you want to understand movies better, and note the formula as you come across it in your own recreational viewing.

Key Takeaways

• Good screenplays follow a fairly rigid formula. When writing a screenplay, learn it deeply and follow it closely.
• Here is that winning formula: page one: opening image; page five: theme stated; pages 1-10: setup (including six things that need fixing); page twelve: catalyst; pages 12-25: debate; page 25: break into Act Two; page 30: the B story; page 30-35: fun and games; page 55: midpoint; page 55-75: bad guys close in; page 75: all is lost; page 75-85: dark night of the soul; page 85: break into Act Three; page 85-110: finale; page 110: final image.
• The screenplay’s logline needs five things: irony, a compelling mental picture, the audience, the cost, and a killer title.
• During Act One, bring in “six things that need fixing”–are callbacks or running gags that are introduced early in the story and get wrapped up by the end.
• During Act Two, bring in “fun and games”: “–the area of the movie with the “set pieces” where the hero is shown to be playing out the results of their choices and the premise. This is where the girl and the boy are falling in love, where the here is engaged in combat training, where the hero is enjoying their new friends and environment and learning the ropes and the like.
• At the midpoint, there should be a false high to match the false low at climax/”all is lost” moment.
• In Act Three, the “all is lost” moment should include a “whiff of death.” This is a moment in which something–anything, even a petunia!–is shown to die.
• In Act One, consider using a “save the cat” moment–a moment in which the hero does something that will endear them to the audience, such as saving a cat’s life.
• Also in Act One, consider using the “pope in the pool” technique. This is when you use a compelling or unexpected visual backdrop to help the viewer through a boring backstory, such as the movie in which the Pope discussed the backstory while swimming.
• Don’t use “double mumbo jumbo.” You can’t have aliens and zombies in the same movie: only one suspension of disbelief is allowed. That’s because this one condition is the one the theme explores, and adding more is just cheating.
• Limit the time spent on set-up. Audiences can only stand so much pipe laying.
• Don’t use too many gimmicks. A little goes a long way.
• Danger must be immediate or quickly approaching, not slowly approaching (“watch out for that glacier!”).
• All of the main characters except the villain must grow and change, at least somewhat–not just the hero.
• The hero must be proactive. They must make a decision or multiple decisions that lead to the furthering of the plot. Otherwise, they’re just a passive recipient of bad luck, and we are not as invested in their story.
• Don’t talk the plot. Show, don’t tell.
• Make bad guy badder. It’s okay! Your main character can handle it!
• The plot should not just move forward evenly, but intensify as it moves to create a strong dramatic climax.
• Show different facets of the main problem. Don’t assume the viewer just gets it. As the song says, “turn, turn, turn.”
• Use the emotional color wheel; appeal to a wide range of emotions.
• Don’t use boring, flat dialogue, even if it is more realistic. Movie characters don’t speak quite like us; they’re special. There should be uniqueness and personality in every spoken line.
• Give every character “a limp and an eye patch”–certain distinct, memorable qualities that help viewer distinguish them, like character shorthand.

About the Author

Blake Snyder was a screenwriter and author most known for his influential book Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, which provided a popular framework for screenwriting and story structure. Snyder’s formula has been used consistently since, and his other entertaining works about entertainment are popular as well.

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Can’t quite get to all the nonfiction and self-help books that interest you? Read Books I Want My Kids to Read Someday here.

John Holt is a homeschooling and alternative education advocate who is well-known in that community. He promotes the idea of “unschooling,” which is a hands-off way of teaching children that involves providing plenty of time, space and opportunities to learn, but not much direct teaching. Learning All the Time is just one of his written offerings, most of which make the same basic points.

I love John Holt, and I love his sweet perspective on children, and also, as a mother, I know that there is more to the story.

Read this book because you want a beautiful, caring, perspective-shifting understanding of how homeschooling can benefit children.

Key Takeaways

• In these and other books, educator John Holt critically examines the shortcomings of traditional education and highlights the ways in which it can stifle children’s natural desire to learn. He argues that children often fail to thrive academically because they are subjected to rigid curricula, excessive testing, and a lack of autonomy in their learning process. He believed that children learn best in an environment that, by contrast, nurtures their natural curiosity and provides opportunities for self-directed learning.
• Holt writes about the problems and pitfalls of teaching, saying, “Anytime that, without being invited, without being asked, we try to teach somebody else something, we convey to that person, whether we know it or not, a double message … The first part of the message is: I am teaching you something important, but you’re not smart enough to see how important it is. Unless I teach it to you, you’d probably never bother to find out. The second message is: What I’m teaching you is so difficult that, if I didn’t teach it to you, you couldn’t learn it.”
• Kids don’t need, and shouldn’t receive, an excessive amount of praise. About a praise-happy school he once taught at, the author writes, “By the time I came to know them in the fifth grade, all but a few of the children were so totally dependent on continued adult approval that they were terrified of not getting it, terrified of making mistakes.”
• The best way to teach a child to read is: don’t. Let them be exposed to books until they show interest, then hold them while they work through teaching themselves. Many reading rules are too often broken to be worth teaching. Sometimes, though, moving a finger under words while reading to kids supports their learning.
• For learning times tables, make a grid and let the child fill it in at their own pace, without correcting it. Let them correct it later as they realize how the puzzle can be completed. Keep the grid on the fridge and have them do it over and over.
• “Babies do not learn in order to please us, but because it’s their instinct and nature to want to find out about the world. If we praise them in everything they do, after a while they are going to start learning, doing things, just to please us, the next step so that they are going to become worried about not pleasing us … What children want and need from us is thoughtful attention. They want us to notice them and pay some kind of attention to what they do, to take them seriously, to trust and respect them as human beings. They want courtesy and politeness, but they don’t need much praise.”

About the Author

John Holt (1923-1985) was an American educator, author, and advocate for educational reform. He is best known for his progressive views on education and for his influential writings on homeschooling and unschooling. Holt’s books, including How Children Fail, How Children Learn, Teach Your Own and Learning All the Time continue to be influential resources for homeschooling families and educators seeking alternative approaches to education.

Holt began his career as a schoolteacher but became disillusioned with traditional education methods. He believed that the traditional schooling system hindered children’s natural love for learning and creativity. Holt advocated for a more child-centered approach to education, emphasizing the importance of individualized learning and allowing children to pursue their interests and curiosities.

John Holt’s work has inspired generations of parents, educators, and researchers to question traditional educational practices and explore alternative methods that prioritize the needs and interests of individual learners.

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Can’t quite get to all the nonfiction and self-help books that interest you? Read Books I Want My Kids to Read Someday here.