One Paragraph Character Story Line

[franniescan]

Hello,

I have been away from Absolute Write for a bit but am trying to revisit the site when I can as well as write when I can. I am currently working on a piece of work that I have picked up off and on over the years. I am trying to incorporate the snowflake method into my writing to see if that will help. At the moment, I am stumped with writing a one paragraph character story line. This may be a silly question, but where do I even start with this...I don't know where to begin or what to include...

Thanks so much!

Fran

[Mr Flibble]

It IS a tricky beast, because that one paragraph is where you distil your whole story down to its most basic. All you put in is the essential essence of what is this story about.

For practise, maybe try to do it for films/books you like.

Star Wars: Restless young boy comes of age and learns he has super powers of doom

Titanic: Sheltered girl learns about life and love aboard a doomed ship. Then it sinks. (pretty sure that isn't a spoiler!)

The Matrix: Neo discovers that Alice was right about the rabbit hole, and what he thought was life is a fake.

It doesn't have to include much of the plot, but should have your basic premise in there somewhere, as well as something about your hero/heroine and their arc.

[bearilou]

Don't overthink it at this stage. As you move along in the Snowflake method, there's a good chance you'll go back to that paragraph and tweak it a little so it's okay if it's a little sloppy.

The paragraph is, like Mr. Flibs said, a high level version of the character's arc in the story.

It's really more to get you thinking about the character and how they will change, grow and react throughout the journey through the plot. If you answered the other questions that go along with Step 3, you should have a good sense of who they are and what they will get, achieve, realize at the end. That's the paragraph, if you think about it. Stuff all those answers into one paragraph and see if looking at it that way helps you see the larger picture.

But like I said, don't fret about it too much. Write a little bit and move on. Go back and tweak at it as things come to you.

[dangerousbill]

Originally Posted by franniescan

...This may be a silly question, but where do I even start with this...I don't know where to begin or what to include...

Look at the back covers of published novels, or the blurbs on sales sites. Write like that. Then add the ending, since a proper synopsis or query should include the ending.

Better yet, diagram it, so that adding the crystals to the snowflake is easier and direct.

[franniescan]

Thanks all, I'll work away at it .