How to Write a Novel v4

How to Write a Novel

Using the

Snowflake Method

Randy Ingermanson

Ingermanson Communications, Inc.

BATTLE GROUND, WA

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How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method/ Randy Inger-

manson. —1st ed.

ISBN 978-1500574055

Contents

The Impractical Dream ................................................................... 1!

Your Target Audience ..................................................................... 9!

Your Story in One Sentence ......................................................... 21!

Your Creative Paradigm ................................................................ 29!

The Importance of Being Disastrous ........................................... 39!

Nothing Is More Important Than Characters ............................ 51!

Your Story in One Page ................................................................. 63!

Your People's Secret Stories ......................................................... 73!

Your Second Disaster and Your Moral Premise ......................... 83!

Why Backtracking Is Good ........................................................... 95!

Your Long Synopsis ..................................................................... 105!

Your Character Bible ................................................................... 111!

Your Third Disaster ..................................................................... 119!

Your List of Scenes ...................................................................... 129!

Goal, Conflict, Setback ................................................................ 141!

Reaction, Dilemma, Decision ..................................................... 149!

Planning Your Scenes .................................................................. 151!

Writing Your Novel .................................................................... 163!

Summary of the Snowflake Method .......................................... 167!

First Things First ..................................................................... 168!

Step 1: Write a One-Sentence Summary .............................. 168!

Step 2: Write a One-Paragraph Summary ............................ 169!

Step 3: Write a Summary Sheet for Each Character ............ 170!

Step 4: Write a Short One-Page Synopsis ............................. 171!

Step 5: Write a Character Synopsis for Each Character ...... 171!

Step 6: Write a Long Four-Page Synopsis ............................ 172!

Step 7: Write a Character Bible for Each Character ............ 172!

Step 8: Write a List of All Scenes ........................................... 174!

Step 9: Write a Plan for Each Scene ...................................... 174!

Step 10: Write Your Novel ..................................................... 175!

Closing Thoughts .................................................................... 176!

The Snowflake for This Book ..................................................... 179!

Book Info .................................................................................. 179!

Author Info .............................................................................. 180!

Step 1: One-Sentence Summary ............................................. 180!

Step 2: One-Paragraph Summary .......................................... 180!

iii!

Step 3: Character Sheets .......................................................... 181!

Step 4: Short Synopsis ............................................................. 187!

Step 5: Character Synopses ..................................................... 190!

Step 6: Long Synopsis ............................................................. 198!

Step 7: Character Charts ........................................................ 198!

Step 8: Scene List ..................................................................... 212!

Step 9: Scene Details ................................................................ 214!

Continue Learning... .................................................................... 223!

How To Help the Author ............................................................ 224!

167

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Summary of the Snowflake

Method

HERE ARE THE ten steps of the Snowflake Method.

The main purpose of these steps is to help you write your first

draft. (When you’re editing your story, you may also find these steps

useful in helping you restructure your story and deepen your charac-

ters. But that’s a secondary purpose.)

If you find that some of these steps aren’t useful to you, then

don’t do them. You’ll quickly learn which steps are most valuable to

you. Focus on those. And if there are other steps that you find valua-

ble, add them to your list. Your goal is to get a strong first draft.

These steps are guidelines to get you there—they are not unbreakable

rules.

After each step, you may want to revisit your earlier steps and

revise your work. The earlier you make revisions, the better. The

power of the Snowflake Method comes from helping you do many

revisions early.

168 • RANDY INGERMANSON

First Things First

Before you do any of these steps, you should know what category

of novel you’re writing and you should know who your target audi-

ence is. Your goal as a novelist is to delight your target audience.

Defining your target audience means deciding exactly what kind

of story you want to write. Then your target audience is the set of

people who would be delighted by that kind of story. You may be in

your own target audience. If you aren’t, it may help to visualize one

typical person in that audience.

Answer these questions in writing:

My category is: ___________

This is the kind of story I want to write: ___________

This kind of story will delight my target audience because:

___________

Step 1: Write a One-Sentence Summary

Give yourself one hour to write a single sentence that summariz-

es your novel. Make it less than twenty-five words if you possibly

can. Focus on one or two characters and tell their story goal. Don’t

give away the ending.

The one-sentence summary is a marketing tool that you use to

arouse curiosity. Shorter is better, because you want to memorize

this sentence. Then, when somebody asks what your book is about,

you can spiel it out without having to think.

The purpose of the one-sentence summary is to help people in-

stantly know whether they are in your target audience.

If they are, then they’ll say, “Tell me more!”

If they aren’t, then they’ll say, “My, look at the time!” and change

the subject.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 169

Your one-sentence summary also gives your fans a simple way to

explain your book to their friends. So it’s a key element of your

word-of-mouth campaign.

Step 2: Write a One-Paragraph Summary

Give yourself one hour to expand your one-sentence summary to

a full paragraph of five sentences, organized like this:

• Explain the setting and the story backdrop and introduce one or

two lead characters.

• Summarize Act 1, ending with your first disaster. This disaster

forces your lead character to commit to the story.

• Summarize the first half of Act 2, ending with your second dis-

aster. This disaster causes your lead character to change his

thinking from a false Moral Premise to a true one. As a result,

your lead character commits to a new way of thinking and act-

ing for the second half of the story.

• Summarize the second half of Act 2, ending with your third

disaster. This disaster causes your lead character (and your vil-

lain, if you have one) to commit to ending the story.

• Summarize Act 3, in which you lead up to a final showdown

where the lead character either succeeds or fails. You then re-

solve the story with a happy ending, sad ending, or bittersweet

ending.

The purpose of the one-paragraph summary is to ensure that

your story has a sound Three-Act Structure, with three strong disas-

ters and a clear Moral Premise.

You will reveal your one-paragraph summary to your agent and

editor, but don’t reveal it to your potential readers! Your agent and

170 • RANDY INGERMANSON

editor need you to tell them how your story ends, but your readers

want you to surprise them.

Step 3: Write a Summary Sheet for Each

Character

For each of your important characters, take up to an hour to

produce a summary sheet that tells the essentials. Here are the things

you need to know:

• Role: (Hero, heroine, villain, mentor, sidekick, friend, etc.)

• Name: The name of the character.

• Goal: The concrete goal of the character for this story.

• Ambition: The abstract ambition of the character.

• Values: Several sentences that begin, “Nothing is more im-

portant than …”

• Conflict: What keeps this character from achieving his goal?

• Epiphany: What will this character learn by the end of the sto-

ry?

• One-sentence summary: A one-sentence summary of this char-

acter’s personal story. (Your novel is the personal story of the

lead character. All the other characters are the lead characters of

their own personal stories.)

• One-paragraph summary: A one-paragraph summary of the

Three-Act Structure of this character’s personal story.

You’ll find that not all of these make sense for all your characters.

Often, the villain has no epiphany. Some characters are too minor to

need a one-sentence summary or a one-paragraph summary. Don’t

feel obligated to fill in everything for all characters.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 171

Step 4: Write a Short One-Page Synopsis

Give yourself one hour to expand your one-paragraph summary

into a full page. Do this by expanding each sentence in that para-

graph to a full paragraph of its own.

If you go slightly over a page, that’s fine. This one-page synopsis

is solely for your benefit. You will never need to show it to anyone.

Its purpose is to help you start filling in the details in your story.

People sometimes ask if the one-page synopsis should be single-

spaced or double-spaced.

This synopsis is for your benefit, so make it single-spaced. That

gives you about five hundred words, which is about right. If you

want to double-space it for readability, then you’ll probably go over a

page, but nobody’s going to be grading you for page count, so don’t

worry.

Step 5: Write a Character Synopsis for Each

Character

Give yourself an hour for each character and write up their back-

story, along with their role in the main story. Usually, half a page to

a page is about right. Explain why that character is the way they are,

what they want out of life, and anything else that you find interest-

ing. Explain how they fit into the story.

These character synopses are for your benefit. They help you to

empathize with each character. Give special attention to the villain,

since he usually gets shortchanged. Try to get inside his skin.

If you do a good job on these, you may someday put them in a

proposal. Editors love these! Editors love great fiction, and great

fiction is built on strong characters.

172 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Very few writers ever put character synopses in their proposals.

This is a shame, because these are usually much more interesting

than the plot synopsis, which is required in a proposal.

Step 6: Write a Long Four-Page Synopsis

Give yourself two hours to expand your one-page synopsis into

about four to five pages. Just take each paragraph from the one-page

synopsis and expand it out to a page.

This four-page synopsis is for your benefit alone. You don’t ever

have to show it to anyone. Its purpose is to help you flesh out more

details in your story.

People often ask how this is related to the synopsis that you must

include with a proposal. That synopsis should be a bit shorter—

generally two pages minimum and four pages maximum.

I recommend that you write your four-page synopsis first and

then cut it down a bit to create your proposal synopsis. Yes, this

takes more work, but each of these synopses has a special purpose.

Step 7: Write a Character Bible for Each

Character

Take several hours per character and drill deep into them by cre-

ating a character bible for each one. This is where you will save all

the details about your characters. Here are the sorts of things I usual-

ly include in my character bibles:

• Physical information: Name, age, birthdate, height, weight, eth-

nic heritage, color of hair and eyes, physical description, and

style of dressing.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 173

• Personality information: Sense of humor, personality type, reli-

gion, political party, hobbies, favorite music and books and

movies, favorite color, and the contents of his wallet or her

purse.

• Environmental information: Description of home, education,

work experience, family, best friend, male friends, female

friends, and enemies.

• Psychological information: Best and worst childhood memories,

a one-line characterization, the strongest and weakest character

traits, the character’s paradox, their greatest hope and greatest

fear, their philosophy of life, how the character sees himself, and

how others see the character.

If you look online, there are many long lists of questions you can

use to help you write your character bibles. None of these are per-

fect, but they give you examples of what should go into a character

bible.

In the next chapter, you’ll find the questions I used in creating

the character bibles for Goldilocks and the other characters in this

book.

You may find it helpful to find a picture of a real person who

looks like each of your characters.

Here is your place to go deep. You want to know your character’s

family history, their religion, their politics, their philosophy, their

personality type.

And of course, there are an endless number of superficial ques-

tions you can ask about each character. There are authors who insist

that you should know each character’s favorite ice cream. If that mat-

ters to you and your target audience, then write it down. If not, then

don’t.

174 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Step 8: Write a List of All Scenes

Take a few days to create a list of every scene in your novel.

The scene is the fundamental unit of fiction. Each scene happens

at a particular place and time and includes certain characters.

Each scene needs to have conflict. If there is no conflict in a sce-

ne, then it’s not pulling its weight and you need to add conflict or kill

the scene. Don’t put in scenes that just “add atmosphere” or “explain

the backstory” or “show the character’s motivations.” Conflict is the

gasoline that makes a story run.

I recommend using a spreadsheet to write your scene list. Each

row of the spreadsheet will represent one single scene.

You’ll want one column to tell the point-of-view character of the

scene. Another wide column will summarize what happens in the

scene. You may add more columns with time stamps, projected word

counts, or anything else. You are free to make your spreadsheets as

complicated or simple as you like.

Some writers use 3x5 cards, with one scene per card. This works,

but there are advantages to using a spreadsheet.

However you do it, make this list. It helps you see the story at a

glance, and you can move scenes around as needed.

Step 9: Write a Plan for Each Scene

Take five minutes for each scene and jot down some crucial in-

formation that will help you write it. You may want to make a list of

characters in the scene. You may want to describe the setting. If you

have some amazing dialogue snippets for the scene, this is the place

to save them.

I highly recommend that you analyze the scene’s conflict. Is it a

Proactive Scene or a Reactive Scene?

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 175

A Proactive Scene has this structure:

1. Goal

2. Conflict

3. Setback

A Reactive Scene has this structure:

1. Reaction

2. Dilemma

3. Decision

There is no standard length for a scene. A scene can be a hundred

words or five thousand words. My own personal average for my

suspense fiction is about a thousand words per scene, which is four

manuscript pages. Faster-paced fiction has shorter scenes. Slower-

paced fiction has longer scenes. Choose the scene length that works

for you.

Step 10: Write Your Novel

You now have a well-structured story planned. The story has a

good hook. It has a sound Three-Act Structure. It has a number of

deep, well-motivated characters. It has a complete list of scenes, and

each scene has a strong conflict that will drive the story.

At this point, you are frothing at the mouth in your eagerness to

write your novel.

Do so.

For each scene in your scene list, read everything you’ve planned

for the scene and then just start typing.

For a Snowflaker, this is the joy of fiction—writing the first draft

of a novel that you already know is going to be a great story.

176 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Closing Thoughts

Remember that not everybody is a Snowflaker, and that’s okay.

Some people must write seat-of-the-pants. Some people must write a

synopsis. Some people have other creative paradigms.

What matters is that you find a way that works well for you, so

that you can write the first draft of your novel.

If the Snowflake Method works for you, then use it and be hap-

py.

If only a few parts of it work for you, then use those and be hap-

py.

If none of it works for you, then find some other method and be

happy.

The Snowflake Method is nothing more nor less than the meth-

od that works best for me in writing fiction. If you can use it to guide

your creativity as you write a powerful story, then I’ll be thrilled.

I first posted my Snowflake article on my website in early 2003.

In the years since, that page has been viewed more than 3.9 million

times. I’ve heard from untold numbers of writers who’ve found it

helpful. I would guess that there are tens of thousands of novelists

around the world who use it.

I wish you the best of luck in your writing career, no matter what

methods you use.

Have fun!

Randy Ingermanson (“the Snowflake Guy”)

May 2014

P.S. If you find the Snowflake Method useful in writing your novel,

I’d love to hear from you. Drop by my website at AdvancedFic-

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 177

tionWriting.com and send me an email via my Contact page. It

always makes my day to hear about your writing successes.

179

CHAPTER TWENTY

The Snowflake for This

Book

I DESIGNED THE story for this book using the Snowflake Method.

In this chapter, I’ll show you my design. You’ll note that the Snow-

flake here is not quite in sync with the final story. That’s fine. The

point of the Snowflake Method is to get the book written. Your sto-

ry will evolve as you write it. Don’t feel bound to your design.

I created this chapter using my software Snowflake Pro and then

exported it as a Word document. I tweaked the format to be suitable

for a book and made a few changes in final editing. Because the story

is so short, I skipped the long synopsis step, since that seemed to be

overkill. It’s important to adapt the Snowflake Method to the needs

of your book.

Book Info

Title: How To Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method

Genre: Business Parable

180 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Target Length: 40,000 words

Target Reader: A fiction writer who wants to write a novel and

doesn’t know how to get started.

Author Info

Name: Randy Ingermanson

Step 1: One-Sentence Summary

A young woman has an impractical dream to write a novel, but

she fears that other people won’t like her writing.

Step 2: One-Paragraph Summary

Goldilocks has always wanted to write a novel, but everyone in

her family told her it was “impractical,” so she put off her dream until

her children started school. She begins taking classes at a writing

conference, and Baby Bear invites her to try the Snowflake Method,

but then he’s gunned down in cold blood by the Big Bad Wolf. Gold-

ilocks begins using the Snowflake Method, but when she creates a

sympathetic villain, Little Pig tells her she’s ruined her story. She

goes to lunch with the Big Bad Wolf and soon realizes that he is a

wonderful person with a tough exterior, and she really wants him to

be her agent, but then he’s arrested for the murder of Little Pig.

Goldilocks finds the proof that he’s innocent, and the real murderer

tries to kill her, but she disables him with pepper spray and the Big

Bad Wolf is freed.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 181

Step 3: Character Sheets

Goldilocks

• Role: Heroine/villain (she is her own worst enemy)

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than doing what you love.

o Nothing is more important than making sure other people

think well of you.

o Nothing is more important than doing the right thing.

• Ambition: To be a great novelist.

• Goal: To write the first draft of her novel.

• Conflict: She doesn’t know how to get started because she’s

afraid that she’s not a good novelist and she has a hard time

worrying about what people will think of her.

• Epiphany: She learns to trust her own instincts as a storyteller.

• One-Sentence Summary: A young woman has an impractical

dream to write a novel, but she fears that other people won’t

like her writing.

• One-Paragraph Summary: Goldilocks has always wanted to

write a novel, but everyone in her family told her it was “im-

practical,” so she put off her dream until her children started

school. She begins taking classes at a writing conference, and

Baby Bear invites her to try the Snowflake Method, but then

he’s gunned down in cold blood by the Big Bad Wolf. Goldi-

locks begins using the Snowflake Method, but then when she

creates a sympathetic villain, Little Pig tells her she’s ruined her

story. She goes to lunch with the Big Bad Wolf and soon realiz-

es that the he is a wonderful person who puts on a tough exteri-

or, and she really wants him to be her agent, but then he’s

arrested for the murder of Little Pig. Goldilocks finds the proof

182 • RANDY INGERMANSON

that he’s innocent, and the real murderer tries to kill her, but she

disables him with pepper spray and the Big Bad Wolf is freed.

Baby Bear

• Role: Mentor

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than the truth.

o Nothing is more important than writing well.

o Nothing is more important than fostering talent.

• Ambition: To be the best fiction teacher in the world.

• Goal: To teach Goldilocks how to plan her novel before she

writes it.

• Conflict: Goldilocks has irrational fears that she has no talent as

a writer.

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: A young bear must teach a class of

wannabe writers how to become professional novelists, but his

most talented student has no confidence in her writing, and his

agent friend keeps alienating people.

• One-Paragraph Summary: Baby Bear invites his friend the Big

Bad Wolf to help him out at a writing conference. Goldilocks is

doing well, and it looks like she has talent, but she has a tiff with

the Big Bad Wolf. Once that’s resolved, Baby Bear pushes Goldi-

locks to improve her villain, but then Little Pig almost convinc-

es her that she’s all wrong. Just as Goldilocks is getting some

confidence in herself, the Big Bad Wolf murders Little Pig, and

Goldilocks takes up the lost cause of trying to prove he’s inno-

cent. But Goldilocks is right and the wolf is innocent, vindicat-

ing Baby Bear’s judgment of both of them.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 183

Big Bad Wolf

• Role: Mentor

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than making something big out

of your life.

o Nothing is more important than being true to yourself.

o Nothing is more important than the way of nonviolence.

o Nothing is more important than honor.

• Ambition: To be the world’s greatest literary agent.

• Goal: To find a new novelist he can turn into a superstar.

• Conflict: Most novelists just don’t want to work hard enough to

excel at their craft.

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: A young and hungry wolf is searching

for the writer of the Next Big Thing, but he’s got a bad reputa-

tion and people are afraid of him.

• One-Paragraph Summary: The Big Bad Wolf was framed for

the murder of two pigs at the age of nineteen and sent to prison,

where he was eventually paroled. Now he’s a rising star literary

agent and has come to the conference looking for talent, but his

straight talk alienates Goldilocks. Little Pig is at the conference

and is trying to make things difficult for the Big Bad Wolf.

When Little Pig tries to lure away Goldilocks from her real call-

ing, the Big Bad Wolf tells him off, and then is arrested an hour

later when Little Pig is murdered. Goldilocks proves the Big Bad

Wolf is innocent and he is freed.

Little Pig

• Role: Antagonistic friend, murder victim in secondary storyline

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than money.

184 • RANDY INGERMANSON

o Nothing is more important than survival.

o Nothing is more important than being famous.

• Ambition: Become a famous novelist, if he doesn’t have to work

too hard.

• Goal: Take a class in fiction writing and figure out the shortcuts

to getting published, or else hire somebody to do the parts he

doesn’t like.

• Conflict: Writing is harder than he had thought, and he really

would rather pay somebody else to do the hard stuff.

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: A wealthy business-pig takes a course

in fiction writing because he thinks it should be a piece of cake

to write a best-selling novel.

• One-Paragraph Summary: Little Pig has had a very successful

career in business and is now looking to retire and write bril-

liant, stupendous fiction—a heartbreaking work of staggering

genius. When he learns that it’s harder than it looks, he tries to

find a coauthor, but nobody is interested. He then asks Goldi-

locks for her help, but the Big Bad Wolf intervenes and tells Lit-

tle Pig off. Little Pig’s nephew has been trying to get a job from

him without success, and seeks him out at the conference. Tiny

Pig murders Little Pig and frames the Big Bad Wolf, but is

caught by Goldilocks when she proves that the Big Bad Wolf is

innocent.

Tiny Pig

• Role: Minor character, villain of secondary storyline

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than having a good time.

o Nothing is more important than being wealthy.

o Nothing is more important than having loads of friends.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 185

• Ambition: To be a wealthy and honored pig in the community

without having to work hard.

• Goal: To get a cushy job with his uncle, Little Pig, who runs a

large corporation.

• Conflict: Little Pig is about to retire and doesn’t want to give

Tiny Pig a job because he’s lazy. Then Tiny learns that his uncle

murdered his father.

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: A young, lazy pig tries to persuade his

stuffy, rich uncle to give him a cushy job that won’t require any

work.

• One-Paragraph Summary: Tiny Pig has had a successful college

career getting drunk and chasing sorority girls, but his father is

dead and his mother doesn’t care about him and his trust fund

has run out, and now he’s going to have to sell off stock to stay

afloat. Tiny Pig goes to his uncle and asks for a cushy job, but

Little Pig is about to retire and, in any event, wouldn’t give him

a handout. Tiny Pig realizes that his uncle killed his father, and

he knows that he stands to inherit everything, so he finds some-

body to make up an injection that will paralyze his uncle so he

can be killed. Tiny Pig murders Little Pig and frames the Big

Bad Wolf, but then finds that Goldilocks is trying to prove

Wolf’s innocence. Tiny has a backup injection and tries to kill

Goldilocks, but she sprays him with pepper and Robin Hood ar-

rests him.

Mother Hubbard

• Role: Friend

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than having a full cupboard.

o Nothing is more important than family.

186 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Ambition: Maybe write a story someday and become rich.

• Goal: Write a novel based on her personal experience with a

bare cupboard.

• Conflict: She just doesn’t have much story.

• Epiphany: She realizes that she doesn’t want to be a novelist, she

just wants to be rich.

• One-Sentence Summary: An old woman decides to make a

quick buck telling her personal experience as a poor widow in

novel form.

• One-Paragraph Summary: <No one-paragraph summary de-

fined yet>

Robin Hood

• Role: Friend

• Values:

o Nothing is more important than freedom.

o Nothing is more important than tweaking the nose of the

Sheriff of Nottingham.

• Ambition: Live a life of adventure.

• Goal: Write a story about his amazing life as an outlaw.

• Conflict: He is pretty shallow and doesn’t really want to work

hard.

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: <No one-sentence summary defined

yet>

• One-Paragraph Summary: <No one-paragraph summary de-

fined yet>

Papa Bear

• Role: Minor character

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 187

• Values: <No values defined yet>

• Ambition: To teach his methods of fiction writing.

• Goal: To teach how to outline a novel to young writers at a con-

ference.

• Conflict: <No conflict defined yet>

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: <No one-sentence summary defined

yet>

• One-Paragraph Summary: <No one-paragraph summary de-

fined yet>

Mama Bear

• Role: Minor character

• Values: <No values defined yet>

• Ambition: To teach her methods of fiction writing.

• Goal: To teach how to write “organically” to young writers at a

conference.

• Conflict: <No conflict defined yet>

• Epiphany: <No epiphany defined yet>

• One-Sentence Summary: <No one-sentence summary defined

yet>

• One-Paragraph Summary: <No one-paragraph summary de-

fined yet>

Step 4: Short Synopsis

Goldilocks has always wanted to write a novel, but everyone in

her family told her it was “impractical,” so she put off her dream until

her children started school. When she decides to take classes at a

writing conference, she first tries Papa Bear’s outlining approach, but

she finds it too hard for her. Then she tries Mama Bear’s “organic”

188 • RANDY INGERMANSON

method, but she finds it too soft and squishy. Finally, she goes to

Baby Bear’s course on the Snowflake Method. It sounds good, but

then Little Pig calculates that it will take forever to write her novel at

the rate she’s going. Goldilocks doesn’t know what to think. She’s

wavering, and then the Big Bad Wolf walks into the classroom and

guns down Baby Bear in cold blood.

Goldilocks is furious and attacks the Big Bad Wolf. Baby Bear

jumps up and explains that he isn’t dead, that it was just a stunt to

show the importance of using disasters at the breakpoints between

acts. Goldilocks sees how valuable the Three-Disaster Structure can

be, and she whips out a one-paragraph summary that has the class

breathless. However, when she begins doing her character sheets,

she focuses on her hero and heroine and gives the villain short shrift.

Little Pig wants to write an autobiographical novel and came to the

conference to team up with an author who will do the hard work.

Goldilocks produces an excellent one-page synopsis, and the Big Bad

Wolf tells her she’s showing some talent and invites her to lunch. In

the next session, the wolf has disappeared, and Baby Bear asks to see

Goldilocks’s character synopses and tells her that her villain is two-

dimensional. Goldilocks makes another try, and this time her villain

is more believable, but Little Pig sneers that she’s not going to im-

press the Big Bad Wolf with a villain like that.

Goldilocks goes to lunch, terrified of what the Big Bad Wolf will

say. Will he sneer at her like Little Pig did? Will she lose her chance

with the big-shot literary agent? But she decides that she must stop

worrying what other people think. She talks to the Big Bad Wolf

about her novel and then shows him her character synopses, and he

starts crying. He tells her that it’s hard to be the villain. People don’t

understand you and they think you’re evil. He tells his story about

how, as a young wolf, he was framed for the murder of two pigs. He

served time in prison, and nobody ever believed he was innocent.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 189

Goldilocks sees that he has a soft and kind heart, and she desperately

wants him to be her agent. After lunch, Goldilocks complains to

Baby Bear that she now has to backtrack. He explains why that’s

normal and how the Snowflake Method encourages you to backtrack

early, before you have a lot written. The next morning, Baby Bear

teaches how to write a long synopsis. Little Pig pressures Goldilocks

to help him with his story, and the Big Bad Wolf tells him off. Little

Pig stalks out in a rage. Next, Baby Bear puts Goldilocks on the hot

seat to help her develop her character bibles. The Big Bad Wolf has

curled up in a back corner and gone to sleep. Baby Bear grills Goldi-

locks for quite a while, and a photographer comes in to take pictures.

Nobody notices when the Big Bad Wolf leaves. But they all notice

the wail of sirens in the background. Baby Bear goes to investigate

and learns that Little Pig has been murdered. Only then does every-

one see that the Big Bad Wolf is gone.

They all go out to see what’s happened. The police have arrested

the Big Bad Wolf, and Papa Bear is explaining how he discovered the

body of Little Pig and then caught the Big Bad Wolf washing his

hands in the men’s room and arrested him and called the police. It’s

clear to everybody that the Big Bad Wolf is the murderer. Goldilocks

visits him in jail, and he insists he’s innocent—that he’s been framed

again. She believes him and spends the evening trying to figure out

how to clear his name, but gets nowhere. She finally does her

homework very late that night and staggers into class the next morn-

ing. Baby Bear teaches on the subject of scene lists, and he explains

how to do one. When he mentions time stamps, Goldilocks gets very

excited and goes rushing out. She finds Papa Bear and gets the re-

ceipt for his coffee. She finds the photographer’s camera and steals it.

She goes to a quiet spot in the coffee shop patio and looks at the pic-

tures. Tiny Pig, the nephew of the murdered Little Pig, shows up and

joins her. They find a photo of the Big Bad Wolf in class sleeping

190 • RANDY INGERMANSON

and the time stamp proves he is innocent. Tiny Pig pulls out a sy-

ringe and tries to inject Goldilocks. She sprays him with pepper, and

Robin Hood arrives to help. Tiny Pig is arrested, Goldilocks is a he-

ro, and the Big Bad Wolf is set free. That afternoon, Baby Bear gets

Goldilocks to describe what happened. She tells about her Goal-

Conflict-Setback and her Reaction-Dilemma-Decision. Baby Bear

explains how those work and tells her she needs to sketch out her

scenes in advance using those patterns. Once she’s done that, she can

start writing her novel. Goldilocks goes home and maps out scene 1

of her novel. Then she starts writing, and the words come very

smoothly and easily. Goldilocks is very happy.

Step 5: Character Synopses

Goldilocks:

Goldilocks was a smart kid. She learned to read before she went

to kindergarten, and she always had her nose in a book. When she

was eight years old, she had a traumatic experience when she got lost

on a walk in the woods. She came to the house of three bears and

tasted their porridge, sat in their chairs, and slept in their beds. She

escaped when the bears came home. Goldilocks put it all behind her,

but the incident was traumatic enough that she developed an un-

healthy fear of what other people think of her. So she has spent her

life trying to make other people happy.

When Goldilocks started school, she loved writing stories. She

won a writing contest in grade school and thought she might like to

be an author someday. But when she started high school, her parents

made it clear that they wanted her to do something serious when she

grew up. They considered writing fiction a silly and childish pursuit,

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 191

and told her that she needed to study something “practical” that

would help her earn a living.

So Goldilocks studied marketing in college, and graduated with a

degree that her parents thought was practical. She got a job and then

soon got married. A year after getting married, she got pregnant

with the first of two children, and she quit her job to focus on them.

She had a daughter and son and spent several happy years with them.

When the youngest started kindergarten, Goldilocks realized that

she had now been out of the job force for nearly eight years and her

skills were rusty. She could get an entry-level job at just above min-

imum wage. But the thought of doing more marketing for a compa-

ny she didn’t care about made her break out in hives. Her husband

was earning a good income, and they didn’t need the money. But she

desperately wanted to do something useful with her life.

She decided to do something dreadfully impractical—she was go-

ing to write a novel like the ones she often read. But she quickly

found that she had no idea how to get started. When she opened her

word processor, the empty page stared at her and she had a terrible

fear of getting started on the wrong track. She already felt like she

was far behind, and she couldn’t bear the thought of spending years

of her life working on a manuscript that was unsaleable.

So she decided to go to a writing conference and see if she could

quickly get up to speed on the task of writing a novel.

Baby Bear:

Baby Bear is a young bear in his twenties who grew up in a home

of writers. Both parents, Papa Bear and Mama Bear, are writers and

teachers on the craft of fiction writing. Writing is in Baby Bear’s

blood.

192 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Papa Bear is an outliner and Mama Bear is a seat-of-the-pantser.

Neither of those approaches works for Baby Bear. He loves the

Snowflake Method because it works for him.

He’s now been teaching for a few years and is starting to get good

as a teacher. At this conference, he wants to make a bit of a splash,

but his first session isn’t scheduled until late on the first day of the

conference. He knows that people will go to hear Papa Bear and

Mama Bear teach their methods first. He hopes that writers who find

that these methods don’t work for them may find the Snowflake

Method better.

Baby Bear convinces a well-known literary agent, the Big Bad

Wolf, to barge in on his class and fire a gun loaded with blanks at

him. The purpose is to show his students what a disaster looks like.

The stunt works better than he had expected, because it causes Gold-

ilocks to get into a fight with the Big Bad Wolf.

Baby Bear sees a lot of potential in Goldilocks. On the surface,

she looks like an airhead, but when he pushes her, she does the hard

work of improving her one-sentence summary and her one-

paragraph summary. When she begins work on her characters, it’s

clear that her hero and heroine are going to be fairly good, but her

villain is a horrible two-dimensional caricature. Baby Bear wrestles

with how to get her to do better, but no solution comes to mind.

When Goldilocks expands out her one-paragraph summary to a

full page, it reads pretty well. Goldilocks doesn’t like her villain very

much, so she is not putting in the effort she needs on him. When she

reads her character synopses, it’s clear that the villain needs more

work. Goldilocks makes a try at improving her villain, but Little Pig

sneers that she’s made him too soft and boring, and he claims that

the Big Bad Wolf is going to hate her new villain. Goldilocks is wa-

vering again. Baby Bear wants to tell her that she needs to focus on

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 193

writing well, not on impressing agents or editors, but he realizes that

she has to figure this out for herself.

After her lunch with the Big Bad Wolf, Goldilocks is showing

new strength as a writer. She is no longer worried about what any-

one thinks about her, and she is making good progress on her one-

page synopsis and her character bibles. However, Little Pig is trying

to hire a writer to help him, and he keeps bothering Goldilocks. The

Big Bad Wolf tells him off, and Little Pig gets angry and stalks out.

Baby Bear puts Goldilocks on the hot seat and doesn’t notice

when the Big Bad Wolf leaves. But he does hear the sirens, and

when he gets word that Little Pig has been murdered and the Big

Bad Wolf has been arrested, he is very upset. He is responsible for

the Big Bad Wolf coming to the conference, and now he’s horrified

that his kindness has turned into murder.

Big Bad Wolf:

The Big Bad Wolf grew up in a rough neighborhood. As a juve-

nile, he saw his own uncle killed by a lynch mob who were angry at

the murder of Little Red’s grandmother. At the age of nineteen, he

was framed for the murder of two pigs. All the Big Bad Wolf re-

members is that he slept for a full day, and woke up the next day

accused of murder. He had no explanation and no alibi, so he was

convicted and served six years in prison.

He spent his time reading in the library and came out of prison

determined to make something of himself. He worked in a literary

agency for a couple of years and learned the industry and then hung

up a shingle on his own and started taking clients. Authors were

eager to sign on with him, because they figured he’d be a tough ne-

gotiator. And he was, because editors feared him.

The Big Bad Wolf wants to be the most successful agent in the

business, and he’s well on his way, but clouds are still hanging over

194 • RANDY INGERMANSON

him. There are people who won’t ever forget that he did hard time in

prison. For them, he’s a dishonest scoundrel, a liar, a thief, and a

murderer. And he can’t see any way to live that down. One of the

few people willing to give him a chance is Baby Bear, who likes him

for his skill and literary judgment and sees past his rough edges.

When he meets Goldilocks, he’s happy to see what a talented

writer she is. She’s got ideas and she’s teachable. The only bad thing

at the conference is that Little Pig is there, very full of himself and

acting like he can buy his way to a position as a big-shot author, just

because he’s a wealthy tycoon. The Big Bad Wolf has words with

Little Pig, and even threatens him with becoming lunch. This is stu-

pid, and Big Bad Wolf knows it, but seeing Little Pig reminds him of

the years he lost in prison.

The Big Bad Wolf has a nice dinner with Goldilocks and does his

best to encourage her. She’s making rapid progress, but he can’t sell

her work without a full proposal, which would include a longer syn-

opsis. She’ll also need some sample chapters, and preferably the full

manuscript. The next day in class, the Big Bad Wolf takes a nap in

the back corner. When he wakes up, Goldilocks is in the hot seat.

The Big Bad Wolf tiptoes out to go to the men’s room. While he’s

washing his hands, Papa Bear bursts in and accuses him of murder-

ing Little Pig.

Little Pig:

Little Pig is a wealthy business-pig who is ready to retire. He

imagines that he could be a famous author, and it just seems reason-

able that he ought to be able to buy his way into a book contract.

Little Pig grew up poor, but he started a business with his two

brothers when they were young. The business grew and grew, but

Little Pig found his brothers annoying. They were lazy and old-

fashioned, and they were holding back the company’s growth. Little

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 195

Pig felt certain that as long as they were in the company, it would

never reach its potential. They were, in fact, robbing him of the suc-

cess that was due him. He made an offer to buy them out, but they

both refused.

So Little Pig made a sleeping potion, injected it into the Big Bad

Wolf while he slept, murdered his brothers late at night in their

houses, and left wolf prints all over. The Big Bad Wolf was arrested,

and with no alibi, he was convicted. Now he’s out of prison, but Lit-

tle Pig knows that the wolf has no suspicions of him, so he’s safe.

Little Pig comes to the conference with his idea for a novel. Papa

Bear and Mama Bear are no help, so he goes to Baby Bear’s classes.

But Baby Bear keeps droning on about his Snowflake Method, which

Little Pig finds very pedestrian. It sounds far too much like work.

Why can’t he just be creative and then hire out the details, as he al-

ways has in business?

But Baby Bear isn’t having any of that, and the Big Bad Wolf

keeps making fun of him. Little Pig gets more and more angry. The

establishment is apparently stacked against him, and his money is no

good for helping him get published. Finally, in a rage, he stalks out of

class and goes to get a latte at the coffee shop. His nephew, Tiny Pig,

texts him asking where he is. Tiny Pig was due to fly in tomorrow,

but he’s apparently in town already.

Little Pig tells him he’s in the back patio of the coffee shop. Tiny

Pig arrives and asks him about the job they had discussed a couple of

weeks ago. Little Pig sneers and tells him he’d be better off going

back to school and getting a real education instead of chasing sorori-

ty girls and getting drunk. Tiny Pig injects him with a paralyzing

drug. Little Pig collapses to the ground, frozen. He watches while

Tiny Pig makes wolf prints all around him and then slits his throat.

Little Pig’s last thought as consciousness fades is that he’s been hit

by a speeding karma.

196 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Tiny Pig:

Tiny Pig is a trust fund brat. His father was murdered by the Big

Bad Wolf and his mother is a socialite who has remarried and

doesn’t care much about him. Tiny Pig went to college and wasted all

his time chasing sorority girls and getting drunk. Once he reached

the age of twenty-one, he got full access to his trust fund and blew

through the money incredibly fast. Now he’s nearly broke, and

thinks that the best thing to do is get a cushy job working for his

uncle.

But his uncle, Little Pig, is about to retire. He refuses to help Ti-

ny Pig get a job. Instead, he tells Tiny to go back to college and get a

real education and then get an honest job and work his way up. But

Little Pig lets slip some information about the death of Tiny’s father.

Tiny puts things together and realizes that Little Pig killed his father.

He decides to kill his uncle, partly for revenge and partly so he can

inherit his wealth.

Tiny gets a potion that paralyzes people and tracks down his un-

cle at the coffee shop. He injects him with the potion and puts wolf

tracks all around him and then kills him.

His plan works. The Big Bad Wolf is arrested for the murder,

and Tiny stands to inherit all of his money. But when Goldilocks

finds proof that the Big Bad Wolf is innocent, Tiny has to act. He has

an extra syringe, which he had made as a backup in case the first

wasn’t enough to disable his uncle. He tries to inject Goldilocks with

the potion so he can kill her, but she sprays him with pepper. Robin

Hood helps subdue him and Goldilocks calls the cops, and Tiny is

hauled off to prison, where he soon confesses to his crime.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 197

Mother Hubbard:

Mother Hubbard is a poor widow who wants to get rich by writ-

ing a novel. She is fixated on what an interesting life she’s had. But

all that has ever happened to her is that she goes to her cupboard

every day and it’s bare.

Mother Hubbard is writing a novel about a poor widow exactly

like herself. She does not want to write a romance, in which the

widow finds a rich husband. She is not interested in writing a thriller

or a mystery. She wants a slice-of-life story about herself.

Baby Bear is not much impressed with her story, and Mother

Hubbard can’t imagine why. She hates the arrogant and overbearing

Little Pig, and she’s intimidated by the Big Bad Wolf. She does like

Goldilocks, although the dear girl seems to live in a fantasy world.

Robin Hood:

Robin Hood is a happy young man who lives in Sherwood Forest

with his band of merry outlaws, feasting on poached deer and out-

witting the Sheriff of Nottingham. He likes nothing more than a

party that lasts all weekend, a huge barrel of ale, and swarms of will-

ing wenches.

Robin Hood would like to write a novel, a series of episodes

based on his own life. He’s not a very hard worker, and when he goes

to the writing conference to learn how it’s done, he realizes that this

is beyond his skill.

He can’t help admiring Goldilocks. She’s a hard worker and has a

fascinating story. And she’s quite a good-looking wench, although

just a bit snooty. Robin Hood does not like Little Pig at all, and he

finds the Big Bad Wolf a bit obnoxious.

When Little Pig is killed, Robin Hood isn’t sad. When the Big

Bad Wolf is arrested, Robin Hood isn’t surprised. But when Goldi-

locks develops an unhealthy obsession to clear the Big Bad Wolf,

198 • RANDY INGERMANSON

Robin Hood is concerned. Wenches shouldn’t take life so seriously.

He tries to talk reason to her, but she gets angry at him and tells him

that she doesn’t like to be called a wench. Imagine that! She is one

weird wench.

Robin Hood is not the kind of guy to let a wench get away with-

out a pursuit, so he keeps an eye on her. When he sees her going to

the coffee shop patio, he hangs out near the conference center, wait-

ing for her to come back so he can talk to her. He sees Tiny Pig go to

the back patio, but can’t see or hear what goes on back there. But

when he hears Goldilocks screaming for help, he’s there in a flash,

with an arrow nocked. He helps arrest Tiny Pig and hopes Goldi-

locks will thank him in the way any red-blooded guy wants to be

thanked by a lovely wench.

Step 6: Long Synopsis

This story was too short to need a long synopsis. The short syn-

opsis was enough to allow me to create the scene list in step 8, so I

skipped this step.

Step 7: Character Charts

Goldilocks

• Age: 30

• Height: 5’5”

• Weight: 115 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: Northern European

• Color of hair: Blonde

• Color of eyes: Blue

• Personality type: Amiable driver

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 199

• Hobbies: Reading, writing

• Favorite books: Goldilocks likes exciting thrillers with strong

romantic storylines. She’s a big fan of Ken Follett and Jack Hig-

gins.

• Favorite movies: Casablanca

• Description of home: She lives in a three-bedroom house in the

suburbs, about ten years old. She has a large kitchen with an is-

land in the middle and marble counters.

• Educational background: She went to college and got a degree in

marketing.

• Work experience: She worked for a year or two after college

and before she had children, but she’s been unemployed for

about eight years and her job prospects are weak.

• Family: She is married with a daughter in grade school and a son

in kindergarten.

• Worst childhood memory: She once got lost on a walk in the

woods. When she came to a cabin, she went in and helped her-

self to some porridge. She broke some of the furniture and then

fell asleep on a bed. When she woke up, three bears were in the

house. She ran away, screaming, badly traumatized. Her parents

were terribly disappointed in her and have told her all her life

that she could have done better. She has an irrational fear of

what other people will think.

• Strongest character trait: Goldilocks is smart and energetic, and

when she has things to do, she gets them done.

• Weakest character trait: She’s afraid of what other people will

think of her, and this hamstrings her.

• Greatest hope: To write a novel that everybody will love.

• Deepest fear: To write a novel that everybody will hate.

• How character sees self: She lacks self-confidence and doesn’t

realize how talented she actually is.

200 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• How others see character: They see her as smart and organized,

with an endearing lack of self-confidence.

• How character will change: Goldilocks will develop the self-

confidence to trust her own instincts as a writer.

Baby Bear

• Age: 29

• Height: 3’2”

• Weight: 200 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: Bear

• Color of eyes: Brown

• Color of hair: Brown

• Physical description: Baby Bear is a small bear.

• Style of dressing: Wears fur

• Sense of humor: Playful and a bit of a prankster

• Personality type: Analytic amiable

• Hobbies: Writing

• Favorite books: A fan of the classic fairy tales. He reads widely

in all categories, and likes suspense and fantasy and YA.

• Favorite movies: Pride and Prejudice

• Description of home: A small cottage in the woods, which he

grew up in.

• Educational background: He is smarter than your average bear,

and got his degree in creative writing.

• Work experience: Writes fiction and teaches fiction.

• Family: The only son of Papa Bear and Mama Bear.

• Male friends: His childhood friend is the Big Bad Wolf, who has

a criminal record but seems to have reformed. However, the Big

Bad Wolf still insists he didn’t kill those pigs, and Baby Bear

thinks he should just come clean. But he had an exemplary rec-

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 201

ord in prison and is a good agent, and Baby Bear wants to give

him a second chance.

• Worst childhood memory: He went out for a walk one day as a

cub and returned home to find his food eaten, his chair broken,

and his bed slept in by a blonde human child who shrieked loud-

ly and ran away. Baby Bear has dreamed for years of finding the

girl and bringing her to justice.

• Strongest character trait: Much smarter than your average bear.

• Weakest character trait: Loyal to a fault. He grew up knowing

the Big Bad Wolf and has stood by him, even after he went to

prison and was clearly guilty.

• Greatest hope: To be a great novelist himself someday, and not

just a famous teacher of fiction.

• Deepest fear: That none of his students will ever be any good.

• How character sees self: A smart bear who knows great fiction

and knows how to teach it.

• How others see character: A great teacher and mentor.

Big Bad Wolf

• Age: 29

• Height: 6’0”

• Weight: 180 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: Wolf

• Color of hair: Gray

• Color of eyes: Black

• Physical description: He is a huge wolf, with intense black eyes

that look right through you. He has gray fur and sharp canines

and he worked out a lot in prison, so he is incredibly well mus-

cled.

• Style of dressing: Wears fur

202 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Sense of humor: He has a sarcastic wit and doesn’t hesitate to

puncture an inflated ego. However, he’s quite kind to people

who lack self-esteem, and he’d never willingly hurt their feel-

ings, but he does sometimes just because he’s a bit insensitive.

• Personality type: Driver expressive

• Hobbies: Long-distance running, reading, eating (he especially

likes pork ribs).

• Favorite music: Punk rock

• Favorite books: Thrillers, war novels, especially World War II

novels, science fiction

• Favorite movies: Die Hard (all four)

• Favorite colors: Gray

• Description of home: Has a nice, cozy cave.

• Educational background: Self-taught while in prison. He read

most of the prison library, and especially loves fiction.

• Work experience: He was framed for the murder of two pigs at

the age of nineteen and sent to prison. He worked in the laun-

dry and was paroled for good behavior. He worked in a literary

agency for two years and has recently started his own agency,

the Big Bad Wolf Literary Agency.

• Family: He comes from a pack of fiercely loyal wolves. However,

none of them believe that he didn’t kill the pigs, so he feels a bit

uncomfortable with them. They’re a violent bunch, and he’s the

quiet and studious one.

• Male friends: He grew up with Baby Bear, who maintained

friendship with him while in prison. However, Baby Bear has

never quite believed that he’s innocent. Baby Bear insists that

Big Bad Wolf “had your reasons for what you did.”

• Female friends: Is dating a very nice she-wolf who has a boom-

ing career in real estate. Big Bad Wolf hopes something will

come of it. Her family is a bit upset about his prison record, but

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 203

she finds him brooding and mysterious and is probably more at-

tracted to him because of his dangerous reputation than for his

actual personality.

• Enemies: Little Pig has always hated him for murdering his two

brothers. It was Little Pig’s weeping testimony on the witness

stand that helped put Big Bad Wolf in prison.

• Worst childhood memory: His favorite uncle was lynched by a

mob of angry woodsmen after having lunch with Little Red’s

grandmother. Big Bad Wolf knows his uncle was guilty, but

even so, he feels that the woodsmen were way out of line and

should have waited for the court to exact justice. Big Bad Wolf

despises lynch mobs.

• One-line characterization: A dangerous-looking wolf with a soft

heart.

• Strongest character trait: Speaks impulsively and sometimes

uses frightening language because he tends to exaggerate.

• Weakest character trait: Tends to be too honest and forthright

when giving his opinion, so he sometimes unknowingly hurts

people’s feelings.

• Greatest hope: He wants to discover fresh new talent among the

younger generation of writers.

• Deepest fear: He fears that he will give in to the violent impulses

of his wolfish nature.

• How character sees self: A friendly, engaging, intelligent, but

highly misunderstood wolf.

• How others see character: A terrifying, sarcastic, unempathetic,

dangerous wolf.

Little Pig

• Age: 64

• Height: 4’3”

204 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Weight: 300 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: Pig

• Color of hair: Little Pig is bald.

• Color of eyes: Pink

• Physical description: He’s a pig.

• Style of dressing: No clothes. Sometimes wears a black bow tie.

• Sense of humor: Little Pig is overly serious and never jokes.

• Personality type: Driver analytic

• Hobbies: He has an outstanding stamp collection, which he pays

an assistant to keep up to date.

• Favorite music: A big fan of Wagner

• Favorite books: Any books on business management. How to

Win Friends and Influence Enemies.

• Favorite movies: Documentaries

• Favorite colors: Pink

• Description of home: Little Pig once had a fine brick home that

he built himself. Later, as his business took off, he moved into a

mansion in a gated community that has its own golf course. He

doesn’t use most of the rooms, but he has a few servants who

live there and keep the place up—a butler, a cook, and a house-

keeper.

• Educational background: Harvard Business School

• Work experience: Little Pig started a business selling straw,

sticks, and bricks early in life with his brothers. Later, they

moved into building supplies and created a chain of stores that

competes with Home Depot and Lowe’s, but targets contractors,

not do-it-yourselfers. They then branched out into pharmaceu-

ticals, where they made a killing. Little Pig became CEO after

the tragic murder of his brothers.

• Family: Little Pig’s parents died many years ago, leaving him

and his two brothers to fend for themselves. They began a busi-

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 205

ness together, and it grew rapidly. After the tragic murder of

Little Pig’s brothers, the business grew exponentially under his

leadership. Little Pig never married, but one of his brothers left

a wife and a son (Tiny Pig). Tiny Pig grew up affluent and is a

spoiled brat.

• Best friend: Friends? Little Pig has no friends. But he has a lot of

competitors.

• Enemies: Little Pig’s only enemies were his brothers, who were

ruining the family business. So Little Pig killed them and inher-

ited the stock of one of them and got full control of the compa-

ny. His nephew Tiny Pig has now grown up and has a one-third

share in the company, which earns him some dividends, but

that’s not enough for him. He wants a cushy job that will pay a

high salary, and Little Pig knows he’s incompetent, so he refuses

to give him any sort of position in the company. Tiny is faced

with having to sell off stock to maintain his lifestyle. But Tiny

stands to inherit from Little Pig, and when he figures out that

Little Pig killed his father, he decides to kill two birds with one

stone.

• Best childhood memory: Little Pig loved to wallow in the mud

on long summer afternoons with his brothers when he was a

small child.

• Worst childhood memory: Little Pig often heard terrifying tales

as a child about the legendary Big Bad Wolf who huffed and

puffed and blew down houses. Little Pig had nightmares about

the Big Bad Wolf. When he finally met a wolf who was big and

bad, it was an easy thing to use him as the fall guy for the mur-

der of Little Pig’s brothers.

• One-line characterization: Little Pig is a male chauvinist pig, a

psychopath who has got where he is by stepping on the hands of

206 • RANDY INGERMANSON

those below him on the ladder of success, and by pulling down

those above.

• Strongest character trait: Little Pig always gets what he wants,

because he thinks that everybody has a price and everybody can

be bought.

• Weakest character trait: Little Pig lacks empathy and can’t put

himself inside the skin of anyone else. So he’s completely unfit

to be a novelist.

• Greatest hope: Little Pig wants to be famous as a captain of in-

dustry and a great novelist—a multitalented but humble self-

made pig.

• Deepest fear: Little Pig is afraid that somebody will learn his

deepest secret—that he killed his own brothers.

• Philosophy of life: Take what you can! Give nothing back!

• How character sees self: A self-made pig who pulled himself up

by his own bootstraps and made a success from very humble be-

ginnings.

• How others see character: An arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical

pig who thinks he can buy everything and everyone.

• How character will change: He’ll be killed.

Tiny Pig

• Age: 24

• Height: 3’8”

• Weight: 280 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: Pig

• Color of hair: Tiny is bald.

• Color of eyes: Pink

• Style of dressing: Pigs don’t wear clothes. Tiny sometimes wears

a nice sport jacket.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 207

• Sense of humor: He loves frat-boy humor. Nothing is funnier

than dumping a pitcher of beer on your best buddy while he’s

getting friendly with his girlfriend on the couch.

• Personality type: Expressive expressive

• Hobbies: Drinking, playing pool, gambling, chasing girls

• Favorite music: Hip-hop

• Favorite books: Tiny is pretty sure he’s NEVER read a book.

• Favorite movies: Animal House—it’s a documentary!

• Description of home: Tiny grew up in a luxurious mansion,

compliments of his trust fund. Now that money is running low,

he’s scaled back to a very expensive apartment with all the good-

ies.

• Educational background: Tiny skated through high school and

college. He thinks he majored in business administration, but

he’s not actually sure.

• Work experience: Frankly, there just aren’t a lot of job oppor-

tunities for kids from well-to-do families. Business owners tend

to hate those types and only give jobs to impoverished kids will-

ing to work for minimum wage. So Tiny has had to struggle

against discrimination all his life and has never actually had a

job. But he’s looking, and he’s quite sure that an upper-level

management position in his uncle’s business would be just the

thing for him. But his uncle is being such a tightwad and keeps

asking stupid questions like what can Tiny actually DO for the

company.

• Family: Tiny’s father was murdered when Tiny was a teenager,

and the Big Bad Wolf was convicted. Tiny’s mother was a

wealthy socialite, much younger than his father, and she wasn’t

much fazed by the death of her husband. Tiny is an only child,

and now that he’s an adult, he doesn’t keep much track of his

mother anymore, except on holidays.

208 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Best friend: Tiny has just a huge raft of friends he knew in col-

lege. They had the absolute BEST time in their fraternity. Most

of the guys have gotten jobs now or else are still in school trying

to find themselves. Great guys, all of them, and Tiny was always

free to give them money when they were in a pinch. But now

he’s in a pinch, and it’s very strange, but none of his friends have

anything to spare for him. The economy, you know.

• Strongest character trait: Tiny is very generous with his money.

Always has been. He’s also very gregarious and knows lots of

people and loves to hang out with them at parties. He’s extreme-

ly popular and is considered a success with the ladies.

• Weakest character trait: Tiny just doesn’t like to work hard.

He’s TALENTED, you know, and talented people can get by

without grinding it out.

• Greatest hope: Tiny wants to take over the company his father

and uncles founded and become the next CEO. He hopes to be-

come an industrial magnate and possibly go into politics some-

day.

• Deepest fear: Tiny is terrified of being poor and having to work

hard. That’s just not what talented pigs do, and it’s way beneath

him.

• Male friends: Too many to count. Everybody Tiny knew in col-

lege was his friend.

• Female friends: Too many to count. Every girl he knew in col-

lege was looking for a good time, and he was only too happy to

give it to them.

• Enemies: Tiny can’t think of a single person who hates him.

Although his uncle, Little Pig, doesn’t seem to appreciate his

amazing talents, but that doesn’t really count as an enemy. Tiny

visited his uncle recently to ask for a job. At dinner, Little Pig let

slip something that proved to Tiny that he murdered Tiny’s fa-

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 209

ther. And Tiny realizes that if he kills Little Pig, he can not only

avenge his father’s death but also inherit the business and get

the cushy job he wants.

• Best childhood memory: Tiny remembers the many great par-

ties his parents used to throw when he was a small pig. Tiny

would spy on the adults and sneak drinks of the punch and en-

joy the atmosphere.

• Worst childhood memory: Tiny used to have to visit his grand-

parents on Thanksgiving and listen to long, boring stories about

growing up poor and having to scrabble for a living. Who

would want to live like that?

• One-line characterization: Tiny believes he’s the most talented

person on the planet and that he deserves all the good things

without having to work hard.

• How character sees self: A brilliant, gifted pig who’s had some

setbacks in life but has risen above those by the sheer force of

talent.

• How others see character: A lazy trust-fund pig with an entitle-

ment mentality and no work ethic at all.

• Philosophy of life: Life is great, so enjoy it, because you deserve

it, you talented thing, you.

Mother Hubbard

• Age: 75

• Height: 4’9”

• Weight: 150 pounds

• Ethnic heritage: A broad mix of all the traditional European

ancestries that Americans have.

• Color of hair: Gray

• Color of eyes: Light blue

210 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Physical description: Mother Hubbard is a stooped but vigorous

old woman with a gleam in her eye.

• Style of dressing: She wears long, dark dresses that sweep the

floor. She wears her hair in a bun and has wire-framed glasses.

She’s afraid of being mugged, so she has a small pistol that she

conceals in her apron.

• Sense of humor: Self-deprecating

• Personality type: Expressive amiable

• Hobbies: Cooking, sewing, ironing, dancing

• Favorite music: Big-band music from the ’30s and ’40s

• Favorite books: Fairy tales

• Favorite movies: The Wizard of Oz

• Favorite colors: Purple, gray

• Contents of purse or wallet: She doesn’t have a purse, but her

apron has plenty of pockets.

• Description of home: Alas, her home is pretty bare. It has a thin,

worn carpet in the small living room. The kitchen has old lino-

leum and plain, unvarnished cabinets. The cupboard is also

plain and unvarnished, and it’s quite bare.

• Educational background: Mother Hubbard graduated from high

school and got married. That was just what you DO back when

she was young, and she doesn’t see why these young girls want

to go off and get schooling and wait years and years to get mar-

ried and have babies, because it just doesn’t make any SENSE.

• Work experience: None. Mother Hubbard has never worked

outside the home. Her husband had a job years ago, but then he

left her a widow. She has a small pension, and that’s really all she

needs.

• Family: Mother Hubbard is a widow with five children who

have now all grown up and established their own homes. They

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 211

still care about her, but they’re busy and she doesn’t see much of

them.

• Worst childhood memory: Mother Hubbard grew up in a poor

family, and the cupboard was always bare.

• Greatest hope: Mother Hubbard hopes to become fabulously

wealthy someday.

• Deepest fear: That the cupboard will always be bare.

• How character sees self: A poor old woman who has been cheat-

ed by life.

• How others see character: A poor old woman who is obsessed

with bare cupboards.

Robin Hood

• Age: 35

• Height: 6’0”

• Weight: 180

• Ethnic heritage: Saxon

• Color of hair: Golden

• Color of eyes: Blue

• Physical description: A good-looking young man who wears

leather and carries his bow and arrow wherever he goes.

• Sense of humor: Happy and cheerful

• Personality type: Expressive driver

• Political party: He opposes the Sheriff of Nottingham and sup-

ports Richard the Lionhearted.

• Hobbies: Archery, drinking ale, chasing wenches

• Favorite music: Ale-drinking songs

• Favorite books: Books?

• Favorite colors: Gold and green

• Contents of purse or wallet: A few gold coins

• Description of home: He lives in a cave in Sherwood Forest.

212 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Educational background: None

• Work experience: Robin Hood has never worked. He poaches

deer from the forest and steals from the rich and gives some of it

to the poor, but a guy’s got to live, so he keeps what he needs.

• Family: His merry band of outlaws are his family.

• Best friend: Little John

• Male friends: Little John, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlett, Much the

Miller’s Son

• Female friends: Maid Marian

• Enemies: The Sheriff of Nottingham is constantly trying to ar-

rest Robin Hood.

• One-line characterization: An outlaw who lives by his archery

skills.

• Greatest hope: He wants to live free.

• Deepest fear: He fears being captured and losing his freedom.

• Philosophy of life: Live free or die.

• How character sees self: The most fun-loving guy on the planet.

• How others see character: A weird guy who wears leather and

carries a bow and arrows around EVERYWHERE.

Papa Bear

Mama Bear

Step 8: Scene List

1. Goldilocks starts her first novel and freezes. She can’t figure out

how to get started. So she decides to go to a conference.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 213

2. Goldilocks takes her first class from Papa Bear and then tries

outlining. But it doesn’t work for her at all. It’s too boring.

3. Goldilocks takes a class from Mama Bear and then tries “organ-

ic” writing. But that doesn’t work either. It’s too muddled.

4. Goldilocks is desperate. She sees a major track on the Snowflake

Method and decides to take it.

5. Goldilocks joins a series of classes by Baby Bear, and he makes

her volunteer to be an example and teaches her how to define

her target audience.

6. Baby Bear pushes Goldilocks hard and finally gets her to write

her one-sentence summary.

7. Baby Bear explains about the snowflake fractal and growing

your story out bit by bit. Then the Big Bad Wolf shoots him

dead.

8. Baby Bear explains the Three-Act Structure and helps Goldi-

locks write her one-paragraph summary.

9. Goldilocks learns about character Goals, Ambitions, and Values

and puts together something for her main characters.

10. Goldilocks wins a prize for her one-page synopsis—lunch with

the Big Bad Wolf.

11. Baby Bear tells Goldilocks that her villain is two-dimensional.

She improves him quite a bit, but then Little Pig tells her that

the wolf will hate her villain.

12. Goldilocks goes to lunch terrified of what the Big Bad Wolf will

say, but he loves her villain and tells her about his own life.

13. Goldilocks takes Baby Bear to task because she has to backtrack,

but he explains that backtracking is essential.

14. Baby Bear teaches how to write a long synopsis, and Little Pig

leaves after Goldilocks turns down his request to help him and

the Big Bad Wolf tells him off.

214 • RANDY INGERMANSON

15. Baby Bear teaches on how to write a character bible while the

wolf naps. Quite a bit later, they all hear sirens.

16. Little Pig has been murdered and the Big Bad Wolf has been

arrested for his murder.

17. Goldilocks visits the wolf in prison and thinks he’s innocent and

vows to clear his name.

18. Goldilocks can’t think of a way to clear the wolf, so she does her

homework and staggers to bed.

19. Goldilocks learns about scene lists, and when Baby Bear men-

tions time stamps, she has a revelation.

20. Goldilocks finds proof that the wolf is innocent. But when she

shows it to Tiny Pig, he tries to kill her.

21. Goldilocks is so terrified she can’t scream, but finally manages to

pepper spray Tiny Pig.

22. Goldilocks explains everything to the class, and Baby Bear

teaches on Goal-Conflict-Setback and Reaction-Dilemma-

Decision and step 9 of the Snowflake.

23. Goldilocks maps out scene 1 and starts writing, and the words

come smoothly. She’s writing her first draft, and she loves it!

24. We summarize the ten steps of the Snowflake Method

25. We see the Snowflake design for this book.

Step 9: Scene Details

1) Goldilocks starts her first novel and freezes. She can’t figure out

how to get started. So she decides to go to a conference.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: The Impractical Dream

• Narrative summary on Goldilocks and her impractical dream to

write a novel.

• Goal: To write her first chapter.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 215

• Conflict: She doesn’t know how to get started, and she’s afraid

to start in the wrong direction.

• Setback: She only writes one word all day: “The.”

• Reaction: Goldilocks cries.

• Dilemma: How to learn how to get started?

• Decision: Go to a writing conference and learn how to write a

novel.

2) Goldilocks takes her first class from Papa Bear and then tries out

outlining. But it doesn’t work for her at all. It’s too boring.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Goal: Take a class in outlining by Papa Bear.

• Conflict: She doesn’t like outlining.

• Setback: She hates her novel, and she hasn’t even started writing

it yet.

3) Goldilocks takes a class from Mama Bear and then tries “organic”

writing. But that doesn’t work either. It’s too muddled.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Goal: Take a class in “organic” writing by Mama Bear.

• Conflict: She already tried this, and it didn’t work for her.

• Setback: She still has only one word: “The.”

4) Goldilocks is desperate. She sees a major track on the Snowflake

Method and decides to take it.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Reaction: Goldilocks feels desperate.

• Dilemma: Now what?

• Decision: Take a class in the Snowflake Method by Baby Bear.

216 • RANDY INGERMANSON

5) Goldilocks joins a series of classes by Baby Bear, and he makes her

volunteer to be an example and teaches her how to define her target

audience.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Target Audience

• Goal: Learn how to write a novel.

• Conflict: Baby Bear makes Goldilocks sit in front of the class and

define her target audience.

• Setback: She still doesn’t know how to write her novel, and

they’ve wasted all this time talking about boring marketing.

Yuck!

6) Baby Bear pushes Goldilocks hard and finally gets her to write her

one-sentence summary.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Story In One Sentence

• Goal: Learn the Snowflake Method

• Conflict: Baby Bear wants her whole story in less than twenty-

five words! Ridiculous!

• Setback: She comes up with a great one-sentence summary, but

she knows that isn’t a whole novel.

7) Baby Bear explains about the snowflake fractal and growing your

story out bit by bit. Then the Big Bad Wolf shoots him dead.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Creative Paradigm

• Goal: Figure out how to get from one small sentence to a whole

novel.

• Conflict: Goldilocks doesn’t believe that this is going to work

for her. It sounds too simple, and writing a novel should be

complicated and difficult.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 217

• Setback: Baby Bear is murdered by the Big Bad Wolf.

8) Baby Bear explains the Three-Act Structure and helps Goldilocks

write her one-paragraph summary.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: The Importance of Being Disastrous

• Reaction: Goldilocks is shocked, terrified, and furious.

• Dilemma: The Big Bad Wolf threatens her if she uses the Snow-

flake Method.

• Decision: She attacks him and then learns that it’s all a big

scam—Baby Bear isn’t dead, and the wolf is his helper.

• Goal: Learn Three-Act Structure.

• Conflict: Goldilocks has a tough time getting it.

• Setback: She creates a nice summary paragraph, but it’s feeling

flat because it’s all about plot, not characters.

9) Goldilocks learns about character Goals, Ambitions, and Values

and puts together something for her main characters.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Nothing Is More Important Than Characters

• Goal: Create character sheets.

• Conflict: Goldilocks doesn’t understand Goals, Ambitions, and

Values.

• Setback: Goldilocks does all her character sheets except her vil-

lain’s. Baby Bear must not have meant for her to waste time on

the villain.

10) Goldilocks wins a prize for her one-page synopsis—lunch with

the Big Bad Wolf.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Story in One Page

218 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Goal: Show Baby Bear what she’s done.

• Conflict: Baby Bear suggests that her villain is a bit spotty, and

the Big Bad Wolf argues with Goldilocks.

• Setback: Goldilocks wins a prize for her one-page synopsis—but

it’s lunch with the Big Bad Wolf!

11) Baby Bear tells Goldilocks that her villain is two-dimensional.

She improves him quite a bit, but then Little Pig tells her that the

wolf will hate her villain.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your People’s Secret Stories

• Goal: Write character synopses for all her characters.

• Conflict: Goldilocks reluctantly agrees to work on her villain.

• Setback: Little Pig tells her she’s ruined her villain by making

him three-dimensional and the Big Bad Wolf is going to laugh

at her.

12) Goldilocks goes to lunch terrified of what the Big Bad Wolf will

say, but he loves her villain and tells her about his own life.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: The Second Disaster and Your Moral Premise

• Goal: Goldilocks just wants to get through lunch with the Big

Bad Wolf, even though she’s sure he’s going to reject her.

• Conflict: The Big Bad Wolf loves it and tells her about his own

life as a villain. He explains that her story finally has a Moral

Premise.

• Setback: Goldilocks is pleased that he likes it, but now she’s up-

set that she’s going to have to do a lot of backtracking.

13) Goldilocks takes Baby Bear to task because she has to backtrack,

but he explains that backtracking is essential.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 219

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Why Backtracking Is Good

• Goal: Take Baby Bear to task because the Snowflake isn’t perfect

on the first try and Goldilocks has to backtrack.

• Conflict: Baby Bear says backtracking is good.

• Setback: Some of the students leave because this is getting to be

too much work.

• Reaction: Goldilocks is discouraged and tired.

• Dilemma: She would like to skate over her work if she’s only

going to have to come back to it later.

• Decision: She does her best and decides to talk to the Big Bad

Wolf about being her agent.

14) Baby Bear teaches how to write a long synopsis, and Little Pig

leaves after Goldilocks turns down his request to help him and the

Big Bad Wolf tells him off.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Long Synopsis

• Goal: Goldilocks wants to ask the Big Bad Wolf to be her agent.

• Conflict: Goldilocks learns that she can’t get a good agent with-

out writing a synopsis, but the agent probably won’t even read

the synopsis closely. It sounds like wasted effort.

• Setback: Goldilocks is upset by the Big Bad Wolf’s bad-tempered

outburst at Little Pig, and now she’s not sure he’d be the right

agent for her.

15) Baby Bear teaches on how to write a character bible while the

wolf naps. Quite a bit later, they all hear sirens.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Character Bible

• Goal: Goldilocks is eager to continue working on her characters.

220 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Conflict: Goldilocks really has a lot of research to do on her

characters still that she hasn’t dreamed of yet.

• Setback: A siren begins wailing outside, and only then does eve-

ryone notice that the Big Bad Wolf is gone.

16) Little Pig has been murdered, and the Big Bad Wolf has been

arrested for his murder.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your Third Disaster

• Reaction: Everyone is shocked to learn that Little Pig has been

murdered.

• Dilemma: The Big Bad Wolf has been arrested, and all the evi-

dence is circumstantial, but it looks bad for him.

• Decision: Goldilocks can’t believe the wolf is guilty and decides

to go talk to him.

17) Goldilocks visits the wolf in prison and thinks he’s innocent and

vows to clear his name.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Goal: Get the wolf’s story.

• Conflict: All the evidence points to his guilt. All Goldilocks has

is her own faith in his essential goodness.

• Setback: The wolf has given up hope.

18) Goldilocks can’t think of a way to clear the wolf, so she does her

homework and staggers to bed.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Your List of Scenes

• Goal: Figure out how to clear the wolf.

• Conflict: She tries to handle his case like a story, with character

synopses, but it’s not working.

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL— SNOWFLAKE METHOD • 221

• Setback: She just doesn’t have enough evidence.

19) Goldilocks learns about scene lists, and when Baby Bear men-

tions time stamps, she has a revelation.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Goal: Learn the next step in the Snowflake.

• Conflict: The first scene in Goldilocks’s novel is not obvious.

Whose POV should it be? And how much backstory should go

into the scene?

• Setback: Baby Bear tells her about time stamps. This is actually

not a setback, it’s a rare victory, but only Goldilocks sees it yet.

She goes running out of the room, even though Baby Bear says

class isn’t over yet.

20) Goldilocks finds proof that the wolf is innocent. But when she

shows it to Tiny Pig, he tries to kill her.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Goal, Conflict, Setback

• Goal: Get the time stamps for yesterday’s events.

• Conflict: Papa Bear doesn’t want to help, but he finally digs out

his coffee receipt. Goldilocks steals the camera.

• Setback: Goldilocks finds the proof that the Big Bad Wolf is

innocent, and shows it to Tiny Pig. He pulls out a syringe.

21) Goldilocks is so terrified she can’t scream, but finally manages to

pepper spray Tiny Pig.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Reaction, Dilemma, Decision

• Reaction: Goldilocks is terrified.

• Dilemma: She can’t run. She can’t fight Tiny Pig. She can’t hide.

222 • RANDY INGERMANSON

• Decision: She pulls out her pepper spray and gives it to him

right in the eyes.

22) Goldilocks explains everything to the class, and Baby Bear teach-

es on Goal-Conflict-Setback and Reaction-Dilemma-Decision and

step 9 of the Snowflake.

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Planning Your Scenes

• Goal: Finish the workshop.

• Conflict: None. Goldilocks explains what she did, and Baby Bear

explains how each step was part of a Proactive or Reactive Sce-

ne.

• Setback: They’re almost out of time. Goldilocks feels horrible

for hogging all the time.

23) Goldilocks maps out scene 1 and starts writing, and the words

come smoothly. She’s writing her first draft, and she loves it!

• POV: Goldilocks

• Title: Writing Your Novel

• Goldilocks sits down to write and begins typing, and the words

just flow. She writes the first scene in a fury of words, and when

she’s done, she realizes that she’s a fiction writer. She has a long

way to go, but she knows that she can write her whole novel

and it will be a good novel, well structured, with a strong theme

that arises naturally out of the story. Goldilocks is very happy.

24) We summarize the ten steps of the Snowflake Method.

25) We see the Snowflake design for this book.

223

Continue Learning...

Want to learn more about how to write fiction?

Take a look at my best-selling how-to guide, Writing Fiction for

Dummies. Since its publication in 2009, this book has become one of

the standard reference books on fiction writing. Learn how to:

• Organize your life and your writing.

• Write your first draft using the creative paradigm geared for

you.

• Edit your manuscript to get agents and editors drooling.

• Find an agent and sell your manuscript to a publisher.

224

How To Help the Author

A note from Goldilocks: “Word-of-mouth is the most power-

ful marketing force in the universe. If you enjoyed reading my ad-

ventures, I’d appreciate you rating this book and leaving a review.

Even if you write only a sentence or two, it will help. Thank you! I

appreciate you!”

225

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randy Ingermanson got his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the

University of California at Berkeley. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis using

the ideas in this book.

He’s been applying his knowledge of math to make the world a

better place ever since.

Randy is a bit like Goldilocks, a bit like Baby Bear, and a bit like

the Big Bad Wolf. He desperately hopes he’s not much like Little Pig,

but you’d have to ask his friends.

Randy is the author of six award-winning novels and is well

known around the world as “the Snowflake Guy.” He runs the Ad-

vanced Fiction Writing web site, and publishes the free monthly

Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, a wildly popular e-mail news-

letter on fiction writing. He also blogs when the spirit moves him,

and he’s the creator of Snowflake Pro, a software tool that makes

the Snowflake Method fast, easy, and fun.

You can read all the unfortunate details about Randy and sign up

for his e-zine and blog here: