Save The Fish!

Ovidia—every other Tuesday

I have guests in my office—my guppies are in a temporary tank here because their larger (approx 120 L) fish tank by our bed sprang a leak in the middle of the night.
That’s a lot of water, but fortunately it’s a slow leak and I should be able to get all my fishy charges out in time…

The glass panes don’t seem damaged, so I’m guessing it’s the silicone sealant that’s given way. Not too bad, given it’s held up for the ten years we’ve lived here!

I could probably fix it myself, right? Like any reasonably intelligent adult could?
But where to start?
Enter B Plot: The Save The Cat Story Structure.

I’ve been hearing about the Save The Cat Story Structure/ System/ Beats for some time now.
I’m not very comfortable with the idea of following any kind of writing template, but after yet another (the third) fellow writer recommended it, I decided to find out what it’s all about.
Apparently the title comes from how you can make your protagonist appealing by having them do something selfless like saving a cat.

I was wrong when I'd assumed it was about defining priorities in writing (as in saving the cat ought always to be a number one priority).

The other thing I was wrong about was that it’s a guide to screenwriting rather than book writing!
But it's all about telling stories, isn't it?

Aside from that, it’s quite interesting.

And it's even proving helpful—especially in the questions it prompts.
For instance, ‘What does your Protagonist Want?’ vs ‘What does your Protagonist Need?’

I realised I could apply this to my current leaky fishtank situation—
What do I want? A tank that doesn’t leak (very true, but doesn’t help)
What do I need? I need my fish to survive (okay this gave me an action plan)

Once I got that cleared up, the first step was to set up their temporary abode—

And transfer them safely into it.
Also, to find temporary accommodation for all their furnishings

And get everything moved to safety before draining and tackling the leaky tank.

How? Like the protagonist in a Save the Cat scenario, I’ll assess my tools—

Yes, I have a silicone gun, even if I don't have much experience with it.
There's a lot less risk to working on a leaky sink in the bathroom compared with a fishtank in the bedroom!

Though a closer look's just told me this silicone isn’t ‘aquarium safe’ so I might have to go shopping for that and a razer blade scraper/ holder, since I don’t trust myself not to slice off a fingertip and contaminate my tank…

Luckily Polyart (my main source of aquarium supplies) is open 24 hours.
And according to Save The Cat, I should access the protagnist's (my) flaws.

My Biggest and All encompassing Flaw: I know how all this works in theory:
Cut and scrape off the old silicone, wipe down with acetone, apply duct tape guidelines along the joins, allowing at least double the width of the glass, apply the aquarium safe silicone and spread it into the join with a finger, making sure to get it into the ‘valley’. Then leave to dry for 48 hours before testing for water proofing.

It’s the same thing with writing according to the Save The Cat Guideline isn’t it? Again I know how it works in theory:

Introduce my protagonist as someone with a want, a need and a flaw. Make their starting condition clear to your reader (as in scrape off all the old silicone so you know exactly where you are). Confront them with a crisis that they’ll be unable to solve in their present state (the tank that can’t hold water without leaking). And set them on the path to fixing it (duct tape, silicone seal, etc).

And at the happy ending of both processes, the flaw’s been fixed, the situation’s resolved and the tank holds water again!

At least I hope this story will have a happy ending. I won’t know till after all the silicone scraping is done and the new seals set, so not before Thursday, most likely.

And a final unexpected similarity: Silicone smells incredibly like Salt and Vinegar Potato Crisps… which is pretty much how my room smells when I’m in the last throes of a final draft!

Please send good thoughts for my Save The Fish project!