Why are so many writers around the world using my Snowflake Method to write their first drafts?
Because it works!
Let’s be clear that different writers are different.
Some writers thrive on the “seat-of-the-pants” method. Stephen King is a pantser. So is Anne Lamott. They write great fiction and SOTP works for them.
Some writers work from a highly detailed outline—a synopsis that may be 50 to 100 pages. Robert Ludlum was famous for his long outlines. He was a great writer and outlining worked marvelously for him.
But some writers love the Snowflake Method—a series of steps in which you start with the germ of a story idea and build it out bit by bit. Some writers’ brains are wired to work this way. And many of them write great fiction.
About the Snowflake Method
The Snowflake Method doesn’t make you more creative. You already are incredibly creative.
The Snowflake Method just suggests where to apply your creativity next. It makes Snowflakers more efficient in writing their first draft.
There is no one method that works for everybody. The Snowflake is the method that has worked Xtremely well for me. And it’s been thrilling to hear from so many writers around the world who say that the Snowflake works for them too. The Snowflake page on this web site has been viewed more than 4 million times. Every month, it gets about 50,000 more page views.
Several years ago, I heard from a writer in Nigeria who had visited my site that January and got inspired. By July she had written her manuscript (about Nigerian scammers), got an agent, and sold her novel to Hyperion. A couple of years later, that novel won the Africa Commonwealth Prize.
Your mileage will vary, of course. Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani brought a ton of talent, drive, and creativity to the table. The Snowflake Method gave her a simple path to follow to get her story written. But she had to walk that path. You have to walk your own path, and it won’t be easy. But the Snowflake Method is designed to guide you along the way, to shorten the path.
My New E-Book
I’ve been working really hard for months on a new e-book solely dedicated to the Snowflake Method, and I did something different this time.
I wrote the e-book as a story—about a young writer with a dream to write a novel.
All her life, she’s been doing what other people tell her to do, putting off her dream and being practical.
Now she’s tired of doing what other people want.
She wants to follow her dream.
But she doesn’t know how to get started.
She needs a little direction, so she decides to go to a writing conference.
Below is an excerpt from Chapter 1. You’ll see right away that this story is quirky, zany, and over the top. As you get into it, I hope you’ll find that it goes deep into the art of story.
You’ll see that the story itself practices what it preaches. In the chapter on Disasters, there’s a disaster. In the chapter on the Moral Premise, there’s a Moral Premise. The chapter on Reactive Scenes is a Reactive Scene.
My goal is to make learning simple and easy, by showing you a real live example of how it’s done.
Excerpt from “How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method”:
Chapter 1: The Impractical Dream
Goldilocks had always wanted to write a novel.
She learned to read before she went to kindergarten.
In grade school, she always had her nose in a book.
In junior high, the other kids thought she was weird, because she actually liked reading those dusty old novels in literature class.
All through high school, Goldilocks dreamed of writing a book of her own someday.
But when she went to college, her parents persuaded her to study something practical.
Goldilocks hated practical, and secretly she kept reading novels. But she was a very obedient girl, so she did what her parents told her. She got a very practical degree in marketing.
After college, she got a job that bored her to tears—but at least it was practical.
Then she got married, and within a few years, she had two children, a girl and then a boy. She quit her job to devote full time to them.
As the children grew, Goldilocks took great joy in introducing them to the stories she had loved as a child.
When her son went off to kindergarten, Goldilocks thought about looking for a job. But her resume now had a seven-year hole in it, and her practical skills were long out of date.
The only jobs Goldilocks could qualify for were minimum wage.
She suddenly realized that being practical had made her horribly unhappy.
On a whim, Goldilocks decided to do the one thing she had always wanted more than anything else—she was finally going to write a novel.
She didn’t care if it was impractical.
She didn’t care if nobody would ever read her novel.
She was going to do it just because she wanted to.
For the first time in years, she was going to do something just for herself.
And nobody was going to stop her.
* * *
About the Book
The first 18 chapters of the book are the story of how Goldilocks takes her dream from a wispy idea all the way to a very concrete plan for her story that she can write right now.
The 19th chapter is a quick summary of the Snowflake Method.
Chapter 20 shows the complete Snowflake document which I used to write the book. A Snowflake about the Snowflake! Very meta.
I’ve just released this e-book on all the major retailers.
Amazon has a cool new tool that suggests the price that will earn me the most money. They suggested that I price the book at $5.49. But I rejected that suggestion.
My goal right now is to get my book into the hands of lots of writers, so I’ve slashed the introductory price to $2.99.
See the e-book on Amazon: $2.99
See the e-book on Barnes & Noble: $2.99
See the e-book on Apple iTunes: $2.99
See the e-book on Kobo: $2.99
See the e-book on Smashwords: $2.99 (any electronic format, including PDF)
Please note: Prices outside the US may not be exactly $2.99, but I’ve done all in my power to get them as close as possible to that price on as many retailers as possible.
Will There Be A Paper Edition?
Yes, there will be a paper edition very soon. I’ve submitted it to Amazon’s CreateSpace service and I’ve jumped through all the hoops. I’ve ordered the proofs of the paper edition, and they should be arriving shortly. It will take me a day or two to check through them, and then there’ll be a short delay to complete the process. I hope the paper version will be done within about a week. Paper costs more than electrons. At 233 pages, the book will have to be priced at $9.99. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Yea Randy! Just shared on FB.
This is the method that got me started. The day I decided to write a novel, I googled: How to write a novel. I found your snowflake method and followed it. In one year I had written two novels (while working and going to school and having just gotten married). I went to my first writer’s conference. The novels received a few requests for submission, but neither ended up getting signed. Still, the snowflake method got me started, it helped me to become a “serious” writer. It took a few years but eventually I signed with an agent. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this method 🙂
That’s wonderful to hear, Nicole! I love hearing about writers who used the Snowflake to get the job done. Keep writing and don’t give up the dream!
Thank you for making this available, Randy! I just bought it on Amazon. 🙂
Hey, Cheryl, have fun!
Randy, this is awesome, I’m heading over to Amazon next to download it.
You, my man, have been my rock. I’ve tried to get this novel done in twelve different ways, but I find that I’m naturally evolving to the Snowflake Method (one of the first methodologies that I heard of).
Turns out that I like to have an outline. And I like to write sparse. So the second draft is where I’ll layer in all the additional color to make the book sing: setting details, dialogue tags, etc.
Without having read about your method I don’t know if I would have been able to accept this style of writing that’s working for me.
You can tag along on my freshman-novel journey at my blog: http://jackcordwell.com
I’m delighted to hear it, Jack. Rock on!
I bought both your Writing Fiction for Dummies and the Snowflake software. Enjoyed and learned much from the printed book [Thank you very much indeed] -it was my initiation to writing. BUT I’ve yet to touch the software. Yes, I accept, I’m a tech-phob [having phobia], sorry, that’s why I’m waiting for the printed version to come out [will it be for $2.99?] so that my old head can at long last grasp the technique in the software and use the damn thing. I wait and expect to be successful. Arun
Hi Arun: The paper edition has to cost more because paper and ink cost more than electrons. It’ll be priced at $9.99 in the US, and approximately that same price throughout Amazon’s extended network.
Hi Randy, Bought the book and it’s very clever and informative. I can’t wait to finish it and try the method out on my latest story idea. But there’s always something. I think I found an error in Chapter 9. Goldilocks is telling the BBW, “Elise joins forces with the Resistance and persuades Henri to help her and Dirk ambush Monique’s transport truck, but in the fighting, Dirk is fatally wounded.” Then you say, “Dirk and Elise take the truck to the ammo dump…” Shouldn’t that be “Henri and Elise take the truck to the ammo dump?” Goldilocks is changing her synopsis to make Henri more heroic at this point, so if it’s not “Henri and Elise take the truck to the ammo dump…,” you’ve got me confused. (Not that that’s a hard thing to do.)
Thanks for the book, it really is entertaining and informative.
Yours,
Peter
Hi Peter: Actually, Goldilocks envisions Dirk as having a fatal wound that is eventually going to bleed out, but he’s still ambulatory and can tell them what to do–how to use the weapons and how to set the explosives. Goldilocks is still getting used to the idea that Henri is really on-board in the ending. This is typical when you make changes to your story design. It might not be completely consistent because you keep changing it. This is the sort of thing Goldilocks will sort out when she writes the first draft or when she edits it. You’ll notice some other inconsistencies in the design, particularly having to do with what part of Dirk’s leg is injured initially. Was it the ankle or the lower leg or what, exactly? Goldilocks doesn’t really know yet. She’ll get it right eventually. Glad you like the story!
Well, that’s what I get for sending that message off before finishing the book. I guess I’d better get back to reading. Thanks for your response.
Hi Randy
Just read the book and I think it’s going to be a great help!
I’ve just finished a first novel that I’m happy with, but starting the sequel is proving to be a nightmare – I wasn’t expecting that, having tons of ideas/notes and already detailed characters…
So I’m going to try the Snowflake to get me unstuck (I’ve ordered the software too).
Keep up the good work!
Rob
I don’t know if I ever manage to write a novel. But I read your book today in one slip.
Hi Randy,
I bought the Kindle edition of your book and fell in love with it. It is a great guide through the writing process. Then I bought the software and voilà my novel is coming out . The program makes you write in an organised way keeping your imagination alive and adding to your original story (in my case anyway). I can say that I have found my best friend at last. Thank you Randy, thank you so much.
Stumbled on the snowflake method through a blog post and since newbie with strong desires to write and publish ,overwhelmed with the how and what and where to start, decided to check it out ,Bought the book for my nook and started reading asap. love it artful writing it felt , it was written for me, have similar feelings and outlook as the main character and am growing and learning with her as she does. I consider this a masterpiece a very valuable resource and introduction to the snowflake method of writing a novel.
The explanations/ instructions clicked, it was very descriptive and clear and more so it instilled the feeling and confidence that writing a book is something that through this I can now see myself accomplish. The steps are small enough with big results.The ingenious ingenuity which all is tied together leaves me in awe, such creativity. This book is showing the importance of having the right tools to develop skills and the common perceptions feelings that can be in the way and breaks through them in a funny amazing way.
This is a game changer for me. Took me from standing on the sideline longing to play, to being an actual player on the field.
I love this book! The way you explain the method through the story makes it easily the most entertaining education I’ve gotten. I’d been working on a book for a year. I tried seat of the pants writing, which came out unfocused. I tried outlining, which didn’t give me enough help in developing the fuzzier parts of the story. But with the Snowflake, it’s finally beginning to come together into something resembling a real story – developed characters and all. My ghosts now have it going on (a good thing, since one is a heroine) and even my demon is coming together with some complexity (which I thought would never happen!). It’s still definitely a work in progress – but that’s ok, because Snowflake lays out what I need to do to MAKE progress.
I showed the steps to my husband, who is less analytical and therefore has a less focused story than I do, and he got very excited about it. According to him, it’s more useful than the stuff we were taught in our college creative writing class. I agree. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Hi Randy,
I have been reading “The Snowflake Method” with my dear writing colleague, and we’re 3/4 through the book.
After endless muddling and reworking our outlines, you have simplified the process and made it fun, too. Even I can remember the steps!!
Your book is such a blessing to the writers who don’t want to be seat-of-the-pants writers. We have both made wonderful gains on our writing in a short time thanks to you.
Blessings,
Rebecca McLafferty