Save the Cat Breakdown Series - Setup

In the previous article, we explored a Save the Cat story beat called the Opening Image and how it is important to hook the reader to draw them in. In this article, we will delve into the Setup beat.

What is the Setup Story Beat?

The Setup story beat covers the first 1 - 10% of your story. Where the hook makes the reader pick up the book, the setup is where you truly need to grab them and make them never want to put your book down. This is where 90% of readers who don’t finish your book will stop reading.

The Setup is the “make it or break it section where you have to grab me or risk losing my interest.” (Snyder, 2005, Chapter 4)

It’s here where you’ll show your protagonist’s current life, establish the theme (more information on the theme will be in the next article), and show the reader what is missing from their life, even if the protagonist doesn’t know it yet. It is the quintessential Chekov’s gun principle.

Chekov’s gun principle states that if a gun is shown on the wall in Act 1, it should be fired in Act 3. And, conversely, if a gun is fired in Act 3, it needs to have the setup (be shown on the wall) in Act 1.

The setup is responsible for showing the protagonist in their natural environment at home, at work, and at play. Introduce the protagonist here if the Opening Image didn’t introduce them. We also introduce the characters surrounding the protagonist; their friends, family, rivals, and so on, and we see glimpses of what these relationships look like.

The world they inhabit needs to be introduced. This can be a completely different world to the one we know, such as in fantasy, dystopian, or science fiction, it can be a made up location based in real life, such as a made up town based in Australia, or it can be somewhere that exists in real life, like London or Los Angeles. Additionally, the tone of the setting is on display here. Is it a gritty, realistic setting? Is it a cosy country town setting? Is it set in the cold realism of space?

The juxtaposition of the characters and the setting works together to build audience connection and to establish empathy for the characters going on their journey. The Setup creates the emotional connections your readers develop for your characters, compelling them to keep reading.

The Setup in Disney’s Mulan

After the tense Opening Image of Shan Yu’s invasion of China, the entire tone of the movie shifts to one of lighthearted comedy.

Mulan is studying and writing notes on her forearm until she realises she’s late in completing her chores and getting ready for the day. Her father is praying desperately for her to perform well when she meets the match-maker.

After she completes her chores and says farewell to her father, Mulan meets her mother and grandmother in town. Her grandmother is superstitious and gives her a lucky cricket, and her mother scolds her for being late.

A musical number follows this: Honour To Us All. This is the first of two scenes that convey the theme of the movie, which we’ll go into greater detail in the next article.

Mulan has her meeting with the match-maker and it is a complete disaster. She returns home upset and in disgrace, and her father comforts her.

These scenes concisely present the viewer with the characters and the protagonist’s motivations, their normal home world (which will be dramatically changed by the events of the story), and the tone of the movie.

Through this we can see that Mulan lives in a villa with high walls on the outskirts of town. She is quite wealthy. Her family owns a horse, as well as their own personal shrine, and the grounds of their villa are large. The town is bustling and busy and, judging by the other girls seeing the match-maker with Mulan, she is among several well-to-do families in the area.

Mulan as a character is shown to be earnest and hardworking, but clumsy and a little scatter-brained. She is intelligent and has learned to work around her clumsiness. Her dropping her father’s teacup shows this; she anticipated this clumsiness and came prepared with a spare. Her family is of utmost importance to her and she is upset when she fails to meet their expectations of her to impress the match-maker.

Mulan’s family is a major motivation for her. Her father is a kind but serious man and portrays an air of dignity. He has a limp and relies on a cane to move around. Her grandmother is cheeky and mischievous, she has a sharp wit and she seems to value Mulan’s intelligence the most of all her family members. She is also superstitious (she finds a lucky cricket) but does not believe the ancestors can help (she says, “How lucky can they be? They’re dead.”). We know the least about Mulan’s mother. She appears to be anxious and worried, but defers entirely to her husband for everything, which perhaps shows more than initially thought.

All of this is set up ready for the Catalyst to burst on scene and change everything about Mulan’s world.

The Setup in Flewelling’s Luck in the Shadows

After breaking free of their chains in the dungeon, Alec and Rolan must now escape the castle itself. Rolan warns Alec, “fall behind and you’re on your own”. Alec notices Rolan is no longer acting like a dandy but sounds very dangerous instead. The two of them successfully escape the castle with a horse and Alec learns that his companion’s name is actually Seregil; Rolan was just a role he sometimes played. Seregil hires Alec as a guide and they travel south.

The pace now slows down after the breakneck speed of the Opening Image and their subsequent escape. We get some world building and character development here. It may be a bit of an info dump by today's fiction standards, but the engaging characters keep it entertaining.

We learn that, before his capture, Alec was a hunter who travelled the lands with his father selling pelts and hides. His father died only three months before and he has been on his own ever since. Seregil, on the other hand, is secretive regarding his own past, but is very talkative about history or any other topic that isn’t personal, and the two share tales and history lessons as they travel.

Seregil teaches Alec a sleight-of-hand trick, a hint towards the book’s theme which will be discussed in the next article.

This all serves to give the reader an overview of the world these two characters inhabit and their place in it. We get to know the characters of Alec and Seregil, namely that Alec is wide eyed and naïve, having lived a sheltered life, and Seregil is world wise and quick-witted. This gives the reader a good foundation from which to build upon the rest of the story, and is also a bit of a palate cleanser after the frantic pace of the Opening Image.

Final Thoughts

The Setup is the make it or break it moment of your story. It is here where you need to convey the most information to the reader, while remaining a gripping and engaging read. If done right, the reader will absorb what you’re telling them without conscious thought and are pulled along for the rest of the story. If done wrong, they will add the book to their Did Not Read pile and won’t even get to the “good stuff”.

The Setup needs to convey setting, characters, theme, and foreshadowing, all without info dumping and boring your reader and, when done well, is a joy to read.

Stay tuned as next week we will go deeper into exploring Theme. What it is, why it’s important, and how to convey it subtly and expertly.