#Snowflake Method

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: 10-Step Snowflake Method

by Randy Ingermanson

1-sentence summary (1 hour)

15 words or fewer

No character names

Tie big picture to “personal picture” - what does the character have to lose and what do they want to win?

Read NYT bestseller blurbs for inspiration

Expand sentence to full paragraph summary (1 hour)

Approx. 5 sentences

Story setup

(Three) Major disasters

Ending

One page summary for each character (1 hour each)

Character’s…

Name

One-sentence storyline

Motivation (what do they want abstractly?)

Goal (what do they want concretely?)

Conflict (what prevents them from reaching goal?)

Epiphany (what they learn, how they change)

One-paragraph storyline

Expand each sentence in summary (#2) to full paragraphs (several hours)

All paragraphs end in disaster, except…

Final paragraph shows how the book ends.

1 page description of each major character (1-2 days)

Tell story from POV of each character.

Expand each paragraph from #4 into full page synopses. (1 week)

High level logic & strategic decisions

Expand character descriptions from #3 into full character charts (1 week)

Birthdate

Description

History

Motivation

Goal

Epiphany, etc.

Turn 4-page summary from #6 into a scene spreadsheet

One line per scene

Columns for: (a) POV character (b) What happens (c) Page numbers

(optional) Expand each scene from spreadsheet into multi-paragraph description

Add dialogue

General workings of conflict

Start writing first draft

Source ⚜ More: The Snowflake Method ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding

[yaraaltrospace]

Which is your style: Storytelling Structure/Writing Method

I identify as a Snowflake Methodist on the long run. Glad to know there was a name for my type of writing, tbh

More info about each here

Tag your fellow writer/storymaker/lorebuilder/OC tale developer pals!

I tag for starters: @ultfreakme and @janethepegasus!

[missnaomijean-writes]

I’ve been using the snowflake method to plan out my current project, and I am nearly up to step 10 (writing), however I think I need to change step 9, which is to plan each scene.

My adhd brain has lost interest in the project because it’s too planned out (I have an ending. what?). I think the thing to do is go through my scenes spreadsheet and simplify each out to an idea rather than an outline. Keep it directional, no emotions, no details, so i can still discover each scene as I come to it.

[weirdofish]

Holy shit!

Okay, so... y'all familiar with the snowflake method? For those who don't, it's a strategy for constructing your story, and holy crap, it's freaking magic! I used it to outline eight stories of mine! Eight!

I think it works great for me because you're supposed to gradually summarize the premise of your story starting from one sentence and then do it in more detail spanning four pages. It's like once you write down the basic gist of the plot and characters, then you have an easier time expanding on them (at least, that's how it is for me).

I can't say this works for everyone since we're all built different, but if you haven't at least tried it out, do it. Again, it's perfectly fine if you don't like it for one reason or another. I just wanted to share how incredible the snowflake method is because I was always struggling to organize my stories before I gave this an honest shot =)

[danniswrites]

My writing turned totally around in Jan 2022. I was editing my latest NaNoWriMo project, and decided to check out a resource I found on nanowrimo.org to help me. Basically, I wanted help to write a dynamite blurb, or tagline. When I create a new story, I use a LibreOffice template I created to put my title page, copyright page with a sentence describing what the story's about, TOC, and a dummy first paragraph with my first dummy paragraph heading.

I wanted to know how to write better taglines.

So I read the article above and the light bulb went on! Simple. Elegant. Plotting.

I had always been a pantser. Never planned any part of my stories, and I have about 650 of 'em, half not even to the first draft. Dedicated pantser. In my teen years, I hated English literature in 8th grade even though I knew I needed to know how to plot, but all the analysis of the books we read [and I enjoyed reading them] just made me feel like, 'I'm too stupid to learn all this.'

Now, I'm reading these 10 steps and had an epiphany!

So, I broke down Step 1 and made it into my worksheet for coming up with taglines.

Here's how I think about those 15 max words to get it done:

One Sentence Summary: Adj.+Noun+Verb+Obj [Worker] [Action] [Effect] in 15 words or less Character With Most To Lose: What They Want:

So, for Adia, Scientist, here's what I came up with:

Discouraged scientist must discover a new fuel so her colony can escape from war.

I write science fiction and I loved chemistry in college, so, hey, I like formulas. I don't want my writing to sound like it came from a formula, but if you look at a lot of genres, there is one.

If you read enough romances, like my sister did, you figure out there's a pattern you can follow as a writer. I was there when she did. She went on to become famous and actually got an award presented to her in New York from her idol, Barbara Cartland at a writer's conference.

I--uh, I'm the non-famous sister who self-publishes on Amazon. But I enjoy my writing life, and though I do love to put romance in my books, romance writing is not my thing.

However, if you're like me and you want to improve your writing, Snowflake Method does work for a lot of us. And, if you buy one of Randy Ingermanson's very entertaining books, you get a free copy of his Snowflake Pro software, which walks you through each step and lets you see what you wrote in the previous step.

I don't do all 10 steps. Let's face it, I'm a plantser now. I'm not that meticuolous and organized. But, I do most of them, because Steps 1-5 give me a nice head start. And, Steps 3, 5 and 7 concentrate on your characters. Characters make your story. If you don't have a character that grabs your reader from the first chapter, why will they want to read your story? You have to have someone to care about and they have to have something happening that attracts the reader.

Now that I had a loose framework for my stories, I needed to [finally] learn something about plot structure more than the beginning, 3 disasters, and an ending. Randy does an excellent job of simplifying 3 act structure [though there are other methods such as PlotDot or Save The Cat that also work with Snowflake Method].

Another resource I found while exploring resources in the Now What? Revision pages on nanowrimo.org was K. M. Weiland's wonderful site:

This lady puts 3 act structure into terms that I can understand, and she has a vast database of books and movies that she's analyzed for us. If you think 3 act structure is complicated and boring, try reading a little of your favorite on this list:

I love the Marvel movies, so here's how she summarized The Avengers.

And she even mentions how what works in this movie would not, in a book. This is something I read time and time again about science fiction writing. Science fiction movies are not 'true' science fiction, for the most part. Star Wars is fantasy set on other planets. Star Trek has science in it, but again, is science fantasy.

In science fiction, science drives the story more than characters or plot. Though, to make my science fiction more accessible to a wider audience, I choose to concentrate on psychology, particularly interpersonal relationships. I do make sure that my science is feasible and believable, and explain it simply. And, I do my research.

So, when writing a book, it's good to see analyses like this of movies, but remember, it's different for books.

A friend who was also a producer told me, for a two-hour movie, you have to choose about two chapters for your script. The director has to insert some points to connect the dots. That's why many movies 'aren't like the book' they're based upon. It's an art to take a book and condense it like that so it still makes sense and absorbs the viewer.

But, we writers can learn much from movies about character development and how to get our readers involved with them, and with our stories.

[apolline-lucy]

september & october will be quite busy so ive started nano prepping already and im using the snowflake method to plot my novel. im usually more of a pantser so this feels quite new.. but for this nanowrimo I don’t want to waste time or risk creating too many plot holes, as it’s quite the complex story im writing.

have you heard of the snowflake method before? how did it work for you?

[georgelthomas]

The Snowflake Method #WritingCommunity #WriterCommunity #AmWriting #Outlining #Outline #TheSnowflakeMethod

[ninasoden]

How to Outline a Story: A Guide for Aspiring Authors

An outline is a blueprint for your story. It organizes your ideas, helps you identify gaps in the plot, and ensures your story has a clear structure. It’s important to remember that an outline isn’t set in stone. You can—AND SHOULD—adapt it as you write.

Outlining a story might seem daunting at first, especially if you’re new to writing. But it’s one of the most valuable tools in a writer’s toolkit. An outline serves as a roadmap, guiding you from the beginning of your story to its conclusion. Outlining can help you structure your ideas, stay on track, and avoid those dreaded moments of writer’s block, whether you’re writing a novel, short story,…

[kevinklehr]

Random thoughts which improve my plot

I’m at an interesting stage with my WiP. I revised around two-thirds of the story after creating an excel spreadsheet with details of the changes needed to each scene. Then I read the revised chapters and realised before I continued, the characters needed to be deeper. They were already demanding extra plot twists, telling me they wanted messier lives. I listened and for the second time with any…

[mightymur]

[ISBW] Evil Mur Takeover! Plus the Secret Seagull Shack

“Evil Mur Takeover! Plus the Secret Seagull Shack ” is brought to you in large part by by my supporters, who received an early, expanded version of this episode. You can join our Fabulist community with a pledge on Patreon or Substack! Remember, some links may be affiliate, but they support the show at no extra cost to you.   I Should Be Writing Season 20, Episode 9 Transcript “If you don’t…

[s-f-stories]

I do something similar, using bullet points. But I use levels and headings to suit my thinking style.

Level One: Beginning, Middle, End.

Level Two: Beginning -> Beginning -> Middle -> End Middle -> Beginning -> Middle -> End End -> Beginning -> Middle -> End

Level Three: Expand each stage again into "Beginning, Middle, End". This usually gets me to a list of chapters. Then level four is usually more than three steps in each point, and gets me an idea of the scenes I'll need.

There will be more to add, but this list helps to keep things organised.

The multiple passes come from the Snowflake Method, and the expanded stages are borrowed from Katytastic's 3-9-27 video.

How do you outline?

What I do is I make a bullet pointed list and start typing out the events as they happen.

Sometimes the bullet points are just actions, but then as I continue I start to add more detail of what the character is feeling and why they’re doing what they’re doing.

And sometimes I’ll add little comments like “this needs to come back up in a later chapter” or “need to research sailing”

How do you outline?

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: The Snowflake Method

As a snowflake grows from its center core, it expands in all directions, breaking off into additional branches that give it greater volume and spatial scope.

The snowflake method of fiction writing applies this concept to the craft of storytelling.

The Snowflake Method

Created by author and writing instructor Randy Ingermanson.

A technique for crafting a novel from scratch by starting with a basic story summary and adding elements from there.

How to Use the Snowflake Method

To begin using the snowflake method, think of a story idea and describe it with a one-sentence summary.

Example: “Two teenagers discover a secret cave that contains treasures that a group of criminals has been hunting for.”

The snowflake method then requires you to build that sentence into a paragraph, using that paragraph to create various character descriptions.

From there, you use those descriptions to create a series of storylines that involve those characters. This process of outlining a novel spans outward until you have a fully outlined novel, just as a snowflake expands from a single drop of water.

The 5 Steps of the Snowflake Method

Choose a premise and write it up in a one-sentence summary.

This single sentence will be the foundation for your entire novel’s outline.

Expand that one-sentence summary into a full paragraph.

Use that sentence to write a one-paragraph summary to explain the main story of the novel. It should also identify core characters, and break their narrative into a structure with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

If you wish to conceive of your story with a three-act structure, think about the primary exposition, the inciting action and development, and the climax.

Note that a story can have more than three plot points.

No matter how many you choose, each of these plot points will be a spoke stemming off from the central hub that is your premise.

Create character summaries.

Rooting yourself in the narrative you’ve just written out in a single paragraph, begin to explore the major characters who will populate your story.

What are their core characteristics?

What is each character’s point of view?

What roles will they serve in relation to the main premise?

Build your character summaries into full profiles.

Now it’s time to add a few more extensions to your snowflake by creating full characterizations from those summaries.

Consider the characters you’ve just roughly sketched and ask:

What is each character’s name?

Which of these will be the main character?

What are their biographies and backstories?

How will each character’s goal, each character’s conflicts, and each character’s epiphanies help them overcome those conflicts?

What do they look like?

What are their affectations?

Expand to a multi-page synopsis.

By this point, the snowflake method has generated a core story, a multi-part plot structure, character names, & multiple character profiles (or character synopses).

You are now ready to expand these elements into a brief 4-page synopsis.

As you encapsulate the whole story in full pages, focus on a list of scenes, who is in them, and what events will occur in them.

Are there any major disasters?

Remember that every event is building toward the end: the story’s climax.

A great story with a weak ending will quickly be forgotten.

Once you have these elements drafted, your literary snowflake is complete, and you’re ready to dive into the first draft of your novel and start writing fiction!

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References Writing References: Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character

[weirdofish]

Damn, sorry I haven't been active with uploading art lately. Turns out I did the snowflake method wrong and I was busy fixing that XD It's all good though since I have something to work with

So far, I've finished outlining one original story and holy crap it's a lot more involved than I thought! The darn thing wound up being 24 pages total. Oh well. Anything for a solid story is worth it in my eyes.

I used this site as a guide, for anyone wondering.

[vacantgodling]

I don't have that emoji but I'd love to hear a ramble about gothica

OOO thank you for asking jack!!

so gothica is a funny wip—in the sense that i deadass wasn’t supposed to get attached to the characters AT ALL (ESPECIALLY lennon god she is a Mess) because i originally wanted to write a “commentary” of sorts on dark academia literature: mainly the facet that the main girl character who’s usually in the middle of a love triangle is like. ngl kind of a bitch?? but no one ever views her that way. and i went into this with the full intention of that but what i ended up with is a ot3 and caring about them 🙄

cuz this one has a super official long summary i’ll post that and then some other rambles under a cut!

tw for (essentially) domestic violence and high schoolers getting freaky :/

THE SUMMARY

Lennon Rhapsody Granger has always struggled to stay out of trouble in school; it led to her parents divorce after the third expulsion, and getting sent to Holy Oaks Preparatory School by her stepfather after the fifth. Holy Oaks Prep is a reform school to “rehabilitate troubled youths to conquer modern society”, separated into a boys campus (Maple Wing) and a girl’s campus (Pine Hills). After orientation, Lennon is shown to her room and meets her dorm-mates for the semester Lauren Mortimer and Agatha Reuter. Lauren’s “boyfriend” from Maple Wing, Aurora O’Rion is visiting and he hides in Lennon’s closet when dorm inspection occurs. Lennon finds herself immediately drawn to Aurora and he seems to have no problem flirting with her in front of Lauren, which seems to immediately earn Agatha’s ire. During first lessons, Lennon ends up alienating herself/making a fool of herself in front of her peers and she decides she doesn’t need their good graces either.

The one person Lennon seems to get along with is Aurora; he frequents her dorm to see Lauren—though spends more time talking with Lennon instead—and the two begin to start sneaking out after curfew. Aurora seems almost untouchable by the rules and regulations of Holy Oaks and Lennon learns that it’s because he’s a treasured lackey of The Centurion who have their headquarters on campus. Lennon begins to accompany Aurora on his Centurion errands: intimidation, destroying evidence, etc, and grows to love the freedom being with Aurora provides—thus beginning to like him romantically in the process. The feeling seems to be mutual, and less and less does Aurora pop by to see Lauren. This causes friction between Lennon and both of her roommates and she begins to get into more trouble with their superiors, because Agatha, unbeknownst to Lennon, has been snitching and trying to actively sabotage her.

This doesn’t deter the two of them initially—at least until word of Aurora’s closeness with Lennon reaches the ears of The Centurion. By the time that Aurora recieves a reprimand to “mind his time wisely” he suspects that they may know of his budding feelings towards Lennon and are trying to remind him to take the easy way out so he begins to try and cut ties with Lennon, on the advice of his best friend and roommate, Morrigan Briarcos. Lennon however, is not so willing to let things go, and gets caught up in her pursuit of this “forbidden romance” despite the signs that Aurora and others may try to tell her, even Lauren offering her words of advice. Lennon and Aurora consummate their relationship, which only complicates things further because after that Aurora really begins to put distance between himself and Lennon. After not seeing Aurora for a few months after that, Lennon is captured.

Lennon is brought before The Centurion’s council where it is decided that for her grandiose crime of getting too close to one of their subordinates that she will be put to death. Lennon assumes that this is all a joke, until Aurora enters the arena that she’s being held in with his shirt off and fists wrapped. She thinks this is all an elaborate joke at first (despite what she’s already seen Aurora being capable of), but then begins to plead with him to spare her—that she loves him. But that does not deter Aurora. Aurora nearly kills her on their word but he opts to “let her bleed out” as a show for the council, leaving Lennon barely hanging onto life and in immense pain. When the council leaves, presuming she is dead, Aurora returns to clean up the scene but instead of disposing her body he brings Morrigan with him to administer aid; with the goal to help her escape to safety away from The Centurion’s clutches away from Holy Oaks to continue on with her life.

Lennon barely survives her injuries, but awakens in a hideaway with only Morrigan there with her, informing her that she’s been in and out of consciousness for two weeks and she would need intense physical therapy in order to recover enough to be returned to her family or a hospital. Lennon grapples with trauma surrounding the event, and her complicated feelings towards Aurora and the new feelings she is gaining for Morrigan who has been very vigilant in taking care of her. When she finally confesses her attraction to him, Morrigan shuts her down, revealing that he’s done all this for Aurora, who he’s been in love with for ages and that she needs to grow up because they tried to keep her out of this but she was selfish. This revelation is a shock to Lennon and she begins to examine how she’s been viewing and treating people for her whole life. In an effort to get Lennon out of Holy Oaks, Morrigan and Aurora decide they must disappear as well and the three of them strike out on their own, in an attempt to escape The Centurion’s clutches.

SOME RAMBLES

lennon rhapsody is deadass her first name, named after john lennon and bohemian rhapsody. her mother and father met and fell in love with music, and their second daughter who is len’s irish twin jude crahan is also deadass her first name. she also has a younger brother from her mother’s second marriage named jacob.

this story takes place in 2013 (oof). there is going to be a sequel as well that takes place 3 years after this so that begins in like 2017-2018-ish

the reason len’s mother got remarried is bc deadass len’s bio dad couldn’t take how rambunctious and fucking out of pocket she is. her behavior essentially tore their relationship apart and has greatly strained her mother’s relationship with her stepfather.

nothing “happened” in len’s childhood to make her like this. i purposefully am writing her as insufferable as i can.

len’s white, aurora is mixed, morrigan is black (they’re also the ot3 that comes out of this)

len has what we like to call “main character syndrome” where she really just Does Not think about how her actions have an affect on other people and she’s self centered, arrogant, and just kind of a piece of shit.

aurora isn’t any better bc he’s an entitled playboy who’s hit and quit like half of pine hills. but in typical dark academia fashion, len is “special”

aurora and morrigan have both been apart of the centurion since they were 5 years old. idk or really care what their goal is it’s just ur run of the mill scientology type bullshit idc

the thing is though they do dabble with experiments of human powers and aurora is one of those subjects. he has super strength and his eyes glow yellow.

in the confrontation between len and aurora in front of the centurion leaders, he breaks both of her legs. this causes her permanent damage and while she can use crutches, she is wheelchair bound going into the second book (and for the rest of her life).

though morrigan would describe himself as gay, len is his “exception” (genuine) even though he pretends to not like her in the second book.

the first book doesn’t end with them in a relationship but the second book they’re all clearly dating each other and on the run.

the second book centers around 2 plots which is (1) the centurion trying to hunt down the three of them before they can reveal their secrets to the world and (2) len’s parents and sister raising hell to find len because the school is being super shady about what happened to her. this literally gets national media attention and an investigation is launched into the school, which is why the centurion REEEALLY wants the three of them dead.

len reunites with her family in the second book as well and she realizes that they don’t hate her but her actions pushed her away from them. since everything in the first book len’s been working on becoming a better person and she finally apologizes for the first time to her family for not caring about their needs as much as her own. aurora and morrigan are also working on becoming better people too and they’ve worked on a Lot of communication to get here i’m proud of them.

morrigan doesn’t have special powers. he also hates when people call him mori but len and aurora do it anyway.

back to book 1 for a second, agatha’s family is associated with the centurion as well and she’s had a crush on aurora since they were kids. however despite having fucked half the campus, aurora has never looked at her or flirted with her even ONCE (mainly bc she’s the daughter of a council member she’s strictly off limits, not that she knows that). she’s made it her sole mission to sabotage every relationship aurora has ever been in and she succeeds most of the time (as in, snitching on len and aurora. though she wasn’t expecting them to reprimand aurora as well lol. aurora kinda beats her ass when he finds out she snitched)

lauren seems like a completely normal girl and why is she there that’s weird? it’s just cuz she’s a kleptomaniac and has committed arson like twice. she’s been working hard to do better for her family actually but yknow.

OOF okay i could go on for forever but i think ive word vomitted at you enough LMAO

[a-yarn-of-purple-prose]

How to write with ADHD

You get ideas. You get so many ideas. You stumble over them on the stairs, open a drawer to find three of them, none of which you recognize. You can't exist in the world without seeing ideas out the bus window. And then, when you're browsing a forum and see someone asking "where do you guys get ideas?" you can't help but laugh manically (the cat is bothered and leaves your lap) and get yet another idea.

You write them down. Not in the right order and not all at once, but you write and the words build up to something. It's gotta be something. It's always something, right? Even if it's not something right. Because that scene you wrote needs something else to happen first, so you should amend that other scene to the first act. And now you need a reason for that to happen, so you make something up. And now you need to explain why. Why. Why. How.

You finish what you're writing. Eventually, at first, then more consistently as you learn that every ending is a surprise so it's always a new thing when you end a story. And new things are good. It's always hard, though, trapping the ending. It always moves around as you write, you need keen reflexes, a cup, and a small piece of cardboard you can slip underneath it. So, the moment the ending lands, briefly as it is, you can take it, snatch it. And then it's yours.

You start again. Because those ideas aren't doing any good in your head, might as well have them out.

[glitter-and-spite]

Fun fact: I actually outline using the snowflake method, it's great for me. I guess the snowflaking just doesn't stop for me even when drafting.

My novels literally start with a one sentence description, which gets expanded on until it's a 2k word synopsis, then a scene list, then a 20k draft, then a 40k draft, and so on.

If the Snowflake Method has one fan, it's me, and I shamelessly bring it up to anyone who feels stuck either plotting or pantsing

have been unanimously informed that my current writing strategy of combing through the book getting every chapter to 100 words then again to 200 then to 500 then to 1000 etc etc is unhinged so why did i think everyone wrote like this to some degree