Books like Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

This book is often hyped as the bible of screenwriting, but I would take it a step further and call it the definitive go-to for all storytelling. Trade secrets are fully revealed and once you read them you can't watch a movie without seeing the formula scroll right in front of your eyes. Exactly--to the minute. The formula is so precise that Snyder has it shrunk down to page numbers. On page 75, for example, you have to have an "all is lost" moment, or a "darkest just before the dawn" moment. Doesn't matter if it's a comedy like "Elf" or a drama like "Pulp Fiction" you must have this moment. And you know what? He's right.The formula is the highlight of the book, but there are no non-highlight pages. I'm not working on a novel not a screenplay, but the advice transcends genre. The title "Save the Cat" rule is simple yet easy to miss. Whether it's Aladdin giving his stolen apple to a more-hungry family or literally saving a cat from danger, protagonists need moments like this to resonate with the audience. It has to be there. 100% of the time. Why fight it?I found great inspiration in his rule on conflict as well--it has to be something a caveman would understand. Issues so primal that it's in our DNA. Love, for example, or fear of death, family, hunger, etc. Doesn't matter what the conflict is, as long as it roots back to our primal emotions. He's right. Of course he's right.Those who argue that his examples are too focused on romantic comedies, kids movies, or general mainstream "trash" are right. But they also fail to realize that the formula doesn't change. Whether it's a war drama or something you'd see on IFC, the rules of good storytelling remain the same. The good news is that you can be as creative as you want. You don't have to have characters literally save cats in every script--but you do have to have something like that. Disguising it is part of the fun, and why some movies feel original and other movies feel cookie-cutter.For all my writer friends out there, of screenplays, novels, short stories, poetry, nonfiction, or anything else, you gotta read this.