The Snowflake Method Of Writing In 10 Easy Steps

Planning a novel can be really hard but the Snowflake Method will make the process easier.

Here is how to be a novel writer...

Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method of Writing is one of the most respected methodologies for planning and writing a novel.

The founding concept behind the Snowflake Method is that great novels are designed not conjured out of the ether.

If you want to write a better novel, you need to stop making it up as you go along and start applying a purposeful methodology to your process and the Snowflake Method is a great starting point.

What is the Snowflake Method of Writing?

The Snowflake Method of writing is based on the idea that a writer begins with a simplistic deep theme and then, over time, develops and adds complexity. In other words; you start with a simple idea and then build on this idea until it transforms from a single sentence into a full-blown novel.

I am not saying that the Snowflake outline is the ‘best’ outline to write a novel. In fact, I feel many writers will be horrified at such detailed levels of planning. However, some writers will find an affinity with the Snowflake Method.

If you are a writer that plans, this article might just change your writing life!

Snowflake Outline

As you can see this video, the best way to draw a snowflake is to start with a simple idea and build outward.

Writing a novel using the Snowflake Method of Writing uses the same principle.

You start small with one central idea.

You then expand 'outwards' adding more ideas to the central idea.

You keep doing this until the novel is written.

Ten-step process for the Snowflake Method of Writing

Below is an outline of the ten steps...

1. One Sentence Summary

The first step is to write a one-sentence summary of your novel

This sentence will be based on your main idea or theme. An example might be: 'A scientist travels back in time to kill Hitler.'

Don't use character names (these will come later). However, it is ok to use descriptions. For example, the scientist in our example might be a 'mad' scientist.

Randy Ingermanson has published a number of examples of one-sentence summaries:

• A young Saudi woman on the run from her family links up with a Berkeley physics prodigy who is just learning that he can see the future--Blink, Ted Dekker.
• A young servant girl in 17th-century Holland lies at the center of a marital dispute in the home of renowned painter Johannes Vermeer--Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier.
• A Moscow homicide detective investigates a bizarre triple murder and runs afoul of the KGB and FBI--Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith.
• A boy raised in Afghanistan grows up with the shame of having failed to fight the gang of boys who raped his closest friend--The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini.
• A boy wizard begins his training and must battle for his life with the Dark Lord who murdered his parents--Harry Potter #1, J.K. Rowling.
• A hobbit learns that his magic ring is the key to saving Middle Earth from the Dark Lord—The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.
• A eunuch in 18th century BC Egypt must survive the palace intrigues between his owner and her evil father--River God, Wilbur Smith.
• A young human girl in Ice Age Europe struggles to survive in her adoptive clan of Neanderthals—The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean Auel.
• A stonemason in 12th-century England battles to build his life’s dream, a cathedral--The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett.
• A young nurse searches for the way home after time-traveling from 1945 to 1743 Scotland--Outlander, Diana Gabaldon.
• An orthodox Jewish artist struggles to reconcile his art, his religion, and his family--My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok.
• A young girl watches the turmoil in her family from heaven after being raped and murdered by a neighbor--The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold.
• An autistic savant must choose whether to accept a new treatment that would make him normal and change his identity forever--The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon.
• A young girl grows up in the company of a strange time-traveling visitor who appears and disappears at random--The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger.
• A young English woman from a peculiar family is pursued by an arrogant and wealthy young man-- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen.
• A young female astronomer discovers radio messages from alien beings in a nearby star system--Contact, Carl Sagan.
• A young boy is brutally trained in Battle School to be the general who will save humanity from alien invaders--Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card.
• A Harvard symbologist and a female French cryptographer solve the puzzle of the Holy Grail in a race against death across Europe—The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown.
• In 1914, a Russian anarchist tries to assassinate the aristocrat who is negotiating his country’s entrance into World War I--The Man From St. Petersburg, Ken Follett.
• A brilliant young lawyer gets a fabulous job at a firm that is a cover for a Mafia money-laundering operation--The Firm, John Grisham.
• A British spy “retires in disgrace” as cover for a deeply laid plan to entrap the head of counterespionage in East Berlin--The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John LeCarre.
• A Russian sub captain leads the Soviet navy on a merry chase while he tries to hand over the latest Soviet submarine to the Americans--The Hunt For Red October, Tom Clancy.
• An orthodox Jewish artist struggles to reconcile his art, his religion, and his family--My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok.

2. Expand The sentence

The next step is to expand the sentence to a paragraph describing the story narrative, any major events, and the ending

There's a simple formula you can use to expand your sentence to a full paragraph.

A good novel will consist of the following:

• A setup.
• Three key turning points, which the main character must overcome (this is best seen in the three-act structure).
• A conclusion.

Using this formula, we can expand the sentence to a full paragraph.

• The first sentence sets up the story.
• The second, third and fourth sentences cover each of the three turning points.
• The final sentence is the conclusion.

These first two points will help you define the structure of the story. You must now consider the role of the characters.

3. Main Character Summary

Now consider the main character and write a one-page summary for each, considering the following points:

• A one-sentence summary of the character’s storyline.
• The character’s motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?).
• The character’s goal (what does he/she want concretely?).
• The character’s conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?).
• The character’s epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?
• A one-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline.

This is a vital step in the process and you should be spending between one and six hours for this step.

Character development is an essential element of your novel and any time invested now will pay off in the future.

4. Sentence to a Paragraph

Go back to the summary you wrote in 2 and expand each sentence into a paragraph.

The Snowflake Method means that you are taking a simple idea and expanding it into a novel.

The next step is to take each of the sentences from Step 2 and expand them into paragraphs.

This is not a quick process, but it will form the foundation of your story and the novel you will write.

Randy’s advice here is:

'Take several hours and expand each sentence of your summary paragraph into a full paragraph. All but the last paragraph should end in a disaster. The final paragraph should tell how the book ends.' Source