Save the Cat!(r) Writes Horror: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Monster in the House Stories

“It’s he-e-e-re”… the most heart-pounding, jump-out-of-your-seat, scream-worthy book in the Save the Cat!® series.

Veteran horror screenwriter and novelist Jamie Nash leads us into the shadows of Blake Snyder’s legendary Monster in the House genre—and sheds light over the secrets to crafting truly terrifying tales.

Save the Cat! Writes Horror is your guide to writing and delivering blood-chilling films and novels using the world’s most successful storytelling method, including:

• A deep dive into horror’s core ingredients—Monster, House, and Sin—with subtypes, examples, and tools to help you design your own diabolical tale

• The mad science of turning Save the Cat!’s 15 beats into a horror story that builds tension, sharpens scares, and leaves your audience squirming

• How to balance Scares, Gross-outs, and Dread to torment your audience flawlessly

• Why knowing your horror’s heartbeat—Slow Burn vs. Relentless—changes everything

• How to use the Dread-O-Meter to engineer spine-tingling scenes with precision

• How to build memorable horror characters—from first-to-die victims to final girls and guys—while exploring how their flaws, choices, and arcs mirror deeper fears and social truths

• Plus: real case studies, scarecraft tools, career advice, and a comprehensive analysis into what makes the genre tick (and bleed)

Whether you’re a screenwriter, novelist, or seasoned horrorhound, Save the Cat! Writes Horror will help you write the kind of story that lingers long after the lights go out.

JAMIE NASH, is the author of the best-selling Save the Cat!(R) Writes for TV and Save The Cat! Beat Sheet Workbook. He has sold almost every type of story under the sun, including the horror films Exists, V/H/S/2, The Night Watchmen, Altered, and Lovely Molly, and the family films Santa Hunters and Tiny Christmas.

He has written the Middle Grade novels Bunk! and The 44 Rules of Amateur Sleuthing and the sci-fi novel Nomad. When he's not writing and selling work, he teaches screenwriting at Johns Hopkins University and MICA and co-hosts the podcast Writers/Blockbusters. Jamie lives in Maryland with his wife, son, and a talking dog.