What is this ‘Save the Cat’ business?

‘Save the Cat’ is the title of a Blake Snyder book on screenwriting.  Snyder points out (among other valuable story lessons) the concept of having the protagonist (in some cases literally) save a cat in order to gain the audience’s sympathy.

If there’s one major failure seen over and over again in modern writing, it’s the author not doing the legwork to make their protagonist sympathetic.  Note that we’re not talking about charisma, competence, skill, or any other value - we’re talking sympathy.  The audience has to like - or better, love - the protagonist(s) and want them to succeed despite the odds.

The ‘save the cat’ moment is generally an act of altruism or a ‘good deed’ that lets the audience know that the protagonist is somebody worth rooting for.  This action is more believable if it is ‘private’ to the audience - only they know about the protagonist’s actions - because humans know that actions taken under observation are often performative.  Taking this unrewarded and unheralded action is how the audience learns that the protagonist is a character they want to support.

Not illustrating this action risks an unlikable protagonist.  The hero of the story can be the greatest wisecracking swordsman in the land, but if he doesn’t secretly give up his bag of gold to pay the mortgage on the orphanage or save the bag of kittens from drowning and set them free, he’s just a mouthy jerk with a sword.  

The action itself can be a variety of things.  The key point is that it almost always needs to be altruistic - something the protagonist does without hope of reward.  It’s not that they take altruistic actions for the entire story - but this one private moment between protagonist and reader lets them know, secretly, that the protagonist is a good person and somebody they can feel good supporting - even if the heroine proceeds to mouth off to every authority figure she meets afterwards, we know that deep down she’s a decent gal.

Remember - sometime in the early stage of your story, have your hero save a cat.  Your readers will like them better for it.