One of the most dynamic and supportive writing teachers passed away yesterday from cardiac arrest. Blake Snyder was only 52 years old. He wrote the book Save the Cat! which my wonderful friend Tiffany told me about as well as Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies. In his books, he put his personal email so you could write him. He really wanted to help writers succeed.
His books focused on screenplay writing, but they worked with novels, too. I saw him speak last summer at the RWA National conference in San Francisco. I didn't know him except for a quick "Thanks, your talk was great" moment, but I'm still having a hard time believing he's gone. He was an incredible teacher, very positive and completely approachable. It was one of the best workshops I've ever attended. I've used his 15 Beat Sheet ever since and was hoping to attend one of his seminars one of these days.
You will be missed, Blake! Thank you for all that you did to help my writing and other's, too!
