Books like Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into... and Out of

Save the Cat gets a a lot of of grief in some writing circles, with accusations of being formulaic and "ruining storytelling in Hollywood" (even if that were true, Hollywood seems perfectly capable of ruining storytelling all by its lonesome.) However the more novels I publish – ten in print as I write this – the more I can see merit in the method for those struggling with pacing and plot. It's not a method I use myself, but I periodically look back at it and think, "yeah, I guess I see where I put that 'All Is Lost' moment in there".As for this particular book, it's a mixed bag. Most of it is made up of Blake Snyder's old blog posts, some of which advance his method significantly, others of which read as "rah-rah" posts about how wonderful agents and producers can be and the virtue of considering their notes. It's not that I disagree with any of this necessarily, only that it makes for an uneven book that's not quite about the writing process and not quite about the business but tilts back and forth in-between.A lot of Snyder's development of his approach to writing was spread out in a variety of places, from the original book to blog posts to his courses. Hopefully one day those who've taken over his business since his death will put together a concrete and complete rendition of the Save The Cat method. Even if you don't follow it, sometimes it makes for a reassuring way of looking at your own work.