The Snowflake Method

The Eight Steps

Step 1: Write a one-sentence summary of your novel

Time: 1 hour

Example: “A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul”

Guidelines:

• Try to make it 15 words or less
• Don’t use names, just character descriptions
• Combine the big picture stake with the personal stake

Note: try to include at least 3 of the 5 elements of the 5W Story Planning Method

Step 2: Expand the one-sentence summary into a paragraph

Time: 1 hour

The paragraph should include

• Story set up (inciting incident)
• Major disasters
• Ending

Tips:

• Can use the “3 disasters plus an ending” formula

  A character goes on a mission. Something goes wrong, so the mission takes a turn. Something else goes wrong, and the mission takes another turn. The another thing goes wrong, and the mission is threatened. Then the resolution happens.

• Sentence 1: story backdrop and set up
• Sentence 2-4: Each disaster
• Sentence 5: Ending

Note: The paragraph should include all five elements of the 5W Story Planning Mehtod

Step 3: For each character, write a one-page summary describing major details about the character

Time: 1 hour for each character

Details of the character summary:

• Character name
• One-sentence summary of the character’s storyline
• Character’s abstract motivation
• Character’s concrete goal
• Character conflict (what obstacle keeps them from reaching the goal)
• Character’s epiphany (what the character learns, how they change)
• One-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline

Note: You may need to go back to revise your summary from step 3 after completing this step

Step 4: Expand each sentence in the summary paragraph from step 2 into a paragraph of its own, creating a 5-paragraph summary

Time: Several hours

All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The last paragraph tells how the story ends.

Step 5: Write up one-page summaries (synopses) for each main character describing the events of the story in their own POV, and half-page synopses for each minor character

Time: 1-2 days

Step 6: Expand the five-paragraph/one-page plot synopsis into a four-page synopsis

Time: 1 week

Again, expand each paragraph from Step 4 into a full page. Or expand each sentence into a full paragraph. Add more detail, smaller plot points, fine-tune how you get from one point to another.

Step 7: Create full-fledged character charts detailing everything you know about each character

Time: 1 week

• This is an expansion of your work in step 3
• Things like personality, goal
• Also dynamic information - how the character changes throughout the novel

Step 8: Make a spreadsheet of all the scenes in the novel

Time: Unknown

Several examples of scene lists on line and elsewhere

see also

• The 5W Story Planning Method
• The Two Types of Scenes and their Structure
• Motivation-Reaction Units, or MRUs

references

1. Ingermanson, Randy. `How To Write A Novel Using The Snowflake Method.` Advanced Fiction Writing, 7 Dec. 2020, [https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/].