Writing Stories Using

The Snowflake Method

By Literative.com
Introduction

It’s no secret—there are many ways to write a novel. Some authors write
whatever comes to mind, while others plan everything out. Some write
from the heart, while others tend to overthink things a little bit. Whatever
the case, it all boils down to what works for you specifically.

The Snowflake Method is one approach to consider, however, since it is one

of the most established and respected ways of planning a novel.
Theoretical physicist and award-winning author of six novels, Randy
Ingermanson, developed the method upon starting his own writing
endeavors. Now he is famous for it. The reason why is fairly logical—a
physicist decided to use a scientific way of establishing that novels can, and
should, be mapped out.

That is precisely what the Snowflake Method revolves around, the idea that
a novel is not merely written, it is ​designed​. Planned out, organized, and
connected through steps - ​designed​. This conveys the idea that a novel
requires extensive work, not just a jotting down of ideas, which is actually
quite accurate.

The purpose of it is to begin with a simple “Deep Theme,” and then add
complexity over time, with every step. In essence, select a basic foundation,
and build on it until it becomes a proper story. This prevents the writer
from becoming overwhelmed, since every step narrows things down, and
forms proper, manageable steps. The trick here is to select a simple
starting point, which captures audiences from the very beginning,
especially upon adding embellishments.

While not the only, method for writing a novel, the Snowflake Method is
one worthy of being considered, especially for writers who enjoy planning
or for writers who are co-authoring with a group. It takes upon itself the
responsibility of knowing what to do next, and serves as a proper guide for
the writer to follow. It creates a less stressful environment/mentality to
create, allowing the writer to focus on what matters - content.
Let us begin.

The One-Sentence Summary

Much like a thesis sentence for an essay, a one-sentence summary for a
novel is a great little starting point. It is essentially like picking a topic, and
not letting yourself go wild just yet. Keep it simple, vague even. Something
like “a story about a man who loses his wife,” works well, because there are
many directions to take it in. How did he lose his wife? Did she run away, or
die? Was she killed, or was it an illness? Did he handle it by becoming a
recluse, or did he seek vengeance?

Think simple, because you are going to add to it later, so there should be
no pressure here. The details and embellishments, deep connections and
substance will all come in the following steps of the Snowflake Method, so
this point should be kept as clear and linear as possible. It should be all
about a basis, nothing more. Refrain from adding any description in the
statement.

That being said, the sentence needs to have a catchy base. It needs to draw
attention, even now, regardless of vagueness. It needs to be something you
enjoy writing. That passion for the topic needs to bleed into the page, time
after time, so the best possible story is written. There is nothing worse than
writing a story, and hating what you have written, or not standing behind it.
This is your passion, your livelihood, or hobby. Respect the craft, and only
write what stands out to you.

But whatever topic you do choose, do not forget who you are writing for.
Would your audience want to read this book? A true writer knows how to
balance what they want to write, with what people want to read. If you are
the only one that enjoys something, and no one reads it, is it worth the
trouble? Perhaps in a cult setting, but most of the time, it is a flop.
Your First Paragraph
Taking the sentence from before, expand it into a paragraph. Remember, a
solid paragraph is between 4-5 sentences. 7 or more, and you are rambling
on with content that is better suited as separate paragraphs. You might be
wondering how on Earth to get a paragraph’s worth out of a single vague
sentence, but that is the beautiful part of the Snowflake Method: the
sentence is so vague that you can take it in a million directions.

It helps to think of it as you choosing a topic that you can now draw a
beginning, middle, and end for. For instance, going back to the subject of a
man losing his wife, you can deduce that he and his wife were unhappy
(beginning), then she decided to leave and take his money (middle), so he
kills her before she can enact her plan, but goes insane (end). Notice it
starts off small, and intensifies in the middle, and ends with even more
intensity. Progression is a must.

This paragraph should focus on story narrative, major events, and the
ending. Story narrative should dictate the tone you are going for, and from
what perspective. Major events are covered upon deciding on the
beginning, middle, and end. However, do not forget the transitional parts
between the major parts. Do not stress over these that much, because the
focus is the bones, but it does help to think briefly about the smaller points.
The Main Characters
Now, it is time to consider the characters. This step will take a while, but it
will help you throughout the novel process. Without the characters, more
specifically, good character development, you will not be writing a quality
story. Readers want substance, and to give it to them, writers need to focus
on the wheels that make it all turn.

Start by writing a one-page summary for each character. Who are they,
what do they do, and why? Provide development for each character, all in a
page each. If you have 10 characters, write 10 pages worth of summary. It
sounds tedious, but doing this will save you time and effort later, when you
are actually writing your book.

To help you focus and touch base on key factors, refer to this checklist:
1. Character’s name, and nickname, if he/she has one.
2. One-sentence summary of the storyline for the character, so for
instance, “a man kills his wife, and goes insane.”
3. What is the character’s overall goal/objective? An example would be
“to keep his wife from leaving.”
4. Conflict: what obstacle prevents the character from completing the
goal, or at the very least, makes it difficult?
5. Epiphany: this should be a solid paragraph detailing what the
character learns, how, and how the knowledge is later applied.
There should be changes here, to form a character arc.

Make sure before going forward, that you are 100% happy with this
planning stage, since everything will be based on this foundation. Again, it
may seem tedious, but it is essential to writing a story. Without the
characters, you might as well make pizza and not add the sauce. No one
wants to read a story where the characters are boring, or worse, have no
distinction from one another.
More Expansion
You wrote a summary in step 2. Now, it is time to expand each sentence
into its own paragraph. To recap, you took the starting sentence and
expanded it into a paragraph, roughly 4-5 sentences. This time, take each
sentence from that paragraph and form it into its own paragraph.

Note, in the previous chapter, you focused on characters. This step should
be influenced by both the character bios, and the one-sentence summary.
For instance, if you have a sentence about the major events, say the
ending, expand it into a paragraph, and add character traits in. If the
character is named James, and he kills the wife in the end, is he a
possessive character, or was he a little crazy to begin with?

All but the last paragraph should end in a terrible way. Not terrible writing,
but cliffhangers. The final paragraph needs to be about resolution.
Remember, the idea is to leave readers wanting more at the end of each
chapter, so they keep on reading.
Character Perspective
We wrote about the characters before, hopefully pretty extensively, but
now we are taking on a more focused approach, using all the information
you already have developed. Remember, to make life easier, make sure you
do not continue with any steps until you are 100% happy with whatever
you write. Every step builds on the previous one, and if you have to change
something, it helps to do it then and there, rather than later, when it has a
domino effect. Ensuring you are ready to continue after every step will save
you time and effort.

If you are ready, then it is time to focus on the halfway mark of the
Snowflake Method. Write a one-page description again, only this time, it is a
telling of the story from each character’s perspective. For instance, if your
story is about murder, write the story summary from the perspective of the
victim, the killer, any detectives, loved ones, etc. In the case of the man and
his wife, you would be writing two pages - one from his point of view, and
another from hers.

The purpose of this is to go ahead and explore the thoughts and feelings of
your characters, so as to analyze their reactions, and intentions. This helps
explore your characters further, while helping you decide what/which point
of view to use when writing the book. In fact, depending on what you write,
you can even use this as part of the book, in some way, shape, or form.
Even More Expansion
By this point, you should have a ton of information lined up. Insightful
information, at that. Using this, go back to your one-page plot synopsis, and
expand it to four pages. You might be wondering why four pages, but it
helps to look at it as one page for an introduction, two for obstacles, and
one for resolution. Those two middle pages will serve as the meat for your
story - the part that should make readers invested until the end.

Four pages gives you time and space to expand the beginning, middle, and
end, using all the details and character information you have developed
thus far. Focus on the why behind the actions, the connections. What leads
to x, y, and z? Is there a domino effect?

When done, this should have all of the details you have written thus far, all
incorporated. Make sure it flows well, serves as a broad, yet embellished
overview of the plot, and provides insight on the characters. Everything you
have developed, on a small scale, should be included in this, so as to
provide a more focused idea for your first draft.
Good Planning Always Includes Charts
As every professional writer will agree, keeping track of all your characters
can be a chore. Right now, you should have quite a bit of character
information, but it should all be pretty scattered. You have been developing
this information, adding to it, editing it as you go, expanding it, but overall,
it is a little messy, right? You can do better. Here is how to do it:

Expand all your character descriptions into a chart, or charts. One giant one
with columns for each works, but one chart per character is also an option,
and might be easier on the eyes. Ultimately, it is up to you. Regardless of
the approach, row categories can include physical attributes, personality
type, disorders (if any), gender, role, birthplace, etc. By the end, your
chart(s) should make your life easier.
Scenes
You have expanded the synopsis already, so now it is time to plan out the
scenes! This is by far, what everything has been leading up to. This is the
second to last step before writing your first draft, and it is an exciting one.
Enjoy this one, and do not forget to pat yourself on the back, and do a little
jig, before cracking down on the scenes.

First thing is first, make a list of every single scene you need to write to
complete your story. Going back to our example of the man who kills his
wife, you could write a scene to establish their dynamic, another to dive
into conflict, another to dissect their thought process, yet another to take
action, etc. Whatever your story, the idea is to list all the possible scenes,
any number of them, to fully complete your story.

Do not be stingy either. Remember, this must be a fully-developed story. If

a chapter seems like it can be split into several smaller ones, do so. If a long
scene makes sense, absolute sense, leave it alone, but it has to hold its
own.
Narrative Descriptions
Now it is time to write the multi-paragraph narrative description for each
scene. Basically, taking the list of scenes from before, expand on each one,
adding detail and elements planned in other steps. This should be from the
narrative perspective you have chosen, so for instance, the first-person
perspective of James, the man who kills his wife. This is essentially the last
step before writing the first draft, so this is your last chance to unite
everything you have been writing up until this point.

The focus of these narrative descriptions is to incorporate every scene,

detail, character, moral, and insightful nugget of goodness you possibly
can. Using this, you are going to write your first draft next, so make sure
this has everything you need to knock out a good first draft. By the end of
this, your planning is done.

The end is the beginning.

First Draft
Time to write your first draft! Perhaps, one of many. Perhaps not. Whatever
the case, you have done some extensive planning to get to this point. It is
time to pat yourself on the back, breathe for a second, and then get to
writing.

This step should be easier now, since your planning has given you a clear
perspective on what to write, and how. There should be a clear beginning,
middle, and end, as well as character arcs, progression, flow, and overall
tone. Everything should be outlined, partially written out, and clear enough
to make your first draft much more of a breeze than otherwise.

While the planning was tedious, it should be paying off by this point. Things
should be making sense, connecting on the page, much like a puzzle. The
reason for so many steps was to develop deeper meaning over time, rather
than all at once, but it should also be helping out in another way: it should
also have let you get to know your own story, and characters, before even
writing it out.
Last Minute Reminders
Remember, this is only the beginning. Do not lose heart over the tedious
steps of planning. If you did not, congratulations, you are already seeing
the rewards. They come in handy when writing your first draft, right?

While there are many ways to write a novel, the Snowflake Method
basically starts you off small, and builds upon the simplicity. Hence,
gradually guiding you through the plot and character elements. It builds
upon the previous layer each time, until it is time to unify everything. This
ends up being one of the best “outlines” ever.

Even if you have a usual way of writing, this method might just be worth
looking into, providing you with insight and careful planning. Each step is
designed to help craft your novel. Every step connects with the previous,
and next one, much like the content itself.
 What Did
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