The Snowflake Method (merged with Dwight Swain's Techniques)

Judg · Jan 30, 2008

Somebody somewhere at the Water Cooler posted a link to this. I've been trying to find that thread but with no luck. So consider yourself thanked. This looks like a really great way of putting a novel together. I've been edging towards some of those principles, but this has given me a good leg up and at a particularly good time. So consider yourself thanked. I'd give you a rep point if I knew who you were.

Anybody here ever used this method, or elements of it?

veinglory · Jan 30, 2008

I tried it, it didn't suit. I found the structure too limiting.

caromora · Jan 30, 2008

I used it to plan my last book. It helped SO much in making me focus on what the actual story was, and to work out all sorts of kinks. BUT--I wound up deviating pretty far from my plan.

Still, I don't think I would have gotten the story I did if I hadn't had the foundation I created using this method.

Oh! One major benefit of using this is that when you need a synopsis, you can just tweak some of the stuff you worked through in your planning stages.

David I · Jan 30, 2008

Not my kind of thing, but if it seems attractive to you, go for it.

Judg · Jan 30, 2008

I do find it attractive. But I know myself. I will deviate so much from it that it won't be recognizable in the end. I've never been much good at sticking religiously to methods in any field of my life. Still, I find that that parts that do stick can sometimes be very helpful.

maestrowork · Jan 30, 2008

veinglory said:
I tried it, it didn't suit. I found the structure too limiting.

Same here... just didn't sound like it would work with me. I think for those starting out or are really well organized it could be a good way to build a novel.

Sassee · Jan 30, 2008

You might also try FreeMind ... it's a free flowing map of sorts. I liked the principle behind Snowflake but I'm a very visual person and FreeMind works better for me. (Thanks SpaceJock for the link!)

SJ's example - http://www.spacejock.com.au/PlottingANovel.html
The site - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Judg · Jan 30, 2008

Sounds cool, Sass.

David I · Jan 30, 2008

Judg said:
I do find it attractive. But I know myself. I will deviate so much from it that it won't be recognizable in the end. I've never been much good at sticking religiously to methods in any field of my life. Still, I find that that parts that do stick can sometimes be very helpful.

Then it sounds as if you have much to gain and little to lose, which is a good situation.

Judg · Jan 30, 2008

I have a wonderful template to use for chapter building. I distilled all the useful things I'd heard and learned and made a form. I use it about once every ten chapters... ;o) It does help me when I'm stuck, but when I already know where I'm going and why, it's such a pain to stop and fill out the stupid thing. Really great when I'm feeling lost though.

So I'll try his method and I'll find out what is just a pain and what really gets me somewhere. Chances are I'll start getting excited about the story and run off and write it before I've finished building my "snowflake" and that I'll go back to it when I'm feeling stuck in my writing.

Whatever works.

Madison · Jan 30, 2008

Sounds like a good idea, helpful when stuck, but pretty restricting, all the same. I like some of his ideas, but all of them together just seem like a lot of time spent not adding to word count. DOn't get me wrong; I outline. Just not that much. Wow. I would get a headache. Not that my comparatively sparse outlines don't give me headaches already...

HourglassMemory · Jan 30, 2008

Sassee said:
You might also try FreeMind ... it's a free flowing map of sorts. I liked the principle behind Snowflake but I'm a very visual person and FreeMind works better for me. (Thanks SpaceJock for the link!)

SJ's example - http://www.spacejock.com.au/PlottingANovel.html
The site - http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Oh my God! I heard of this program from this forum and now I have tons of stuff that help me organise my thoughts on basically everything in my stories.
I don't know how I would organise myself without this.
It's quite helpful for me.

Aslera · Jan 30, 2008

It's like the KISS method. Keep It Simple Stupid. Break it down into bite size bits rather than seeing the Huge Pizza Pie and you'll eventually get there.

caromora · Jan 30, 2008

The part of the snowflake method most helpful to me is when you write a paragraph or so telling the story from each of your characters' perspectives. When I told the story from one of my minor character's pov's, it shed a whole new light on things. And also helped me to make my secondary characters more realistic.

I just downloaded FreeMind. I can't wait to play around with it. I love stuff like this.

ajkjd01 · Jan 30, 2008

I use my own abbreviated version of the snowflaking method.

I write the one sentence and the three sentence parts.
I generally skip character stuff unless I'm bogged down on a character.

The I start writing 2-3 sentence blurbs for each chapter, so that I have a coherent outline for at least the first half or so of the book, with a paragraph or two of how I see the end.

This gives me the structure to get started, as well as the freedom to follow the story. I've done it on two different projects now, with pretty good results, at least in my mind.

Inky · Jan 30, 2008

The Snowflake method...eh, not so much, but I DID purchase his 101. Why? The how to write a synopsis thing in there rocked! Gads, I actually enjoy writing them now.

*ducks from tomatoes*

Alexandra Little · Jan 30, 2008

I tried using it to revise an old novel, but it didn't work, and I only ended up exacerbating the problem.

heidirebecca · Jan 30, 2008

I found the bit about outlining using Excel to be extremely helpful, I managed to outline my entire series, I keep adding to it and I am amazed that I didn't think to do this before.

benbradley · Jan 30, 2008

I found a few threads discussing it with this search:
http://www.google.com/search?q=advancedfictionwriting+site:absolutewrite.com

From reading about the first half of it (and I also having had experience in programming), it does appear to be "top down" or perhaps "piecewise refinement" or whatever, a "structured" way of writing a novel, much like writing a fairly large/complex computer program to do a specific task or solve a specific problem. This looks interesting, and is almost certainly something I shudda/wudda/coulda used for my failed attempt at Nanowrimo.

loiterer · Jan 30, 2008

It was me posted the link in Narrative... is there a formula a day or two ago.

I have used it for things that I've made a start on (say 20,000 words) and have found myself bogged down in. The one-sentence, the main conflicts, the expand-into-paragraph stuff (I don't tend to use the character-stuff as it gets too much like micromanaging for me but I know some people like that!). Also, I first got the idea for using Excel to organise my scenes/timeline from the Snowflake. So I certainly consider it's worthwhile having a try at, and adapting it to suit your own needs.

I think it works better for genre-writing such as a romance or thriller, but as I said in my post on the other thread, it has helped me clarify where the story is in my often muddled kitchen-sink approach to starting a new novel.

Calla Lily · Jan 31, 2008

I used the Snowflake when I switched from horror to mystery. I didn't do all the pieces, but the Excel spreadseet is now my personal favorite method of outlining.

I took Randy's Fiction 301 class 2 years ago at a conference. Great, great, great stuff.

Brighid · Jan 31, 2008

I've known about the Snowflake Method for a while, but never really got into it until recent. I hadn't worked on the novel in a while, so I went through the first four "steps". It helped me get reacquainted with the characters and in writing the one page synopsis, I finally figured out how it should end.

CaroGirl · Jan 31, 2008

I don't outline and write organically, scene by scene. I don't know if this method is something I can use but I'll certainly give it a look-see. Thanks for the link!!

stormie · Jan 31, 2008

I just couldn't use that method. I'm more of a write-as-I-go or if needed, a synopsis-type person. Judg, for those who can use it, thanks for posting a link to it. Writers can use all the help we can get!

L M Ashton · Jan 31, 2008

I've used it quite a bit and found it useful - really helped me clarify a lot of stuff. But I'm also a major plotter.

As with all things, it's a tool that will work well for some, not at all for others, and somewhere in between for the rest. Take what works for you and leave the rest.

The Snowflake Method (merged with Dwight Swain's Techniques)

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