It’s such a funky book actually! I cut that part out where I explain it because the video was too long, but it’s a novella about Goldilocks finding the method of outlining that’s “Just right.” It’s actually really cute and instructive. I’d recommend!
I like the algorithm approach to development of story. You have demonstrated the algorithm VERY WELL. I can't fix a meal until I have the ingredients and then I follow the instructions of the recipe to create the meal. Meal Prep Dogma makes a good meal. The "Snow Flake Method" is a recipe for creation of an outline (recipe) to develop a delicious story, a meal to be consumed. Great video.
That’s a great way to describe the Snowflake method process. For those of us who enjoy building a story methodically, I think it’s a great tool! I’m glad you found the video useful :)
Okay, I think I’ll definitely pick this book up. It sounds like there’s a couple of great things that could be beneficial to my process. The craft book I just picked up is Take Off Your Pants (recommended by Katie Whismer) and I really like the way the author laid out the story beats in that one!
I'm totally a pantser. One of the advantages of it is that you are actually writing. All. The. Time. Regarding disasters, the best ones are the ones that the characters create themselves. "Find the worst choice your character can make, and have him make it." I don't know where I heard that, but it's good advice, so long as that terrible choice is supported in his characterization and isn't immediately fatal to the character or the story. If snowflake puts desiging the disaster before the character, that seems to me to be a pretty basic flaw. The disaster can be anything, so long as the character thinks it is a disaster. For some characters, a zombie apocalypse is a disaster, for others, getting turned down for a date is just as much of one. I can't know my characters well enough to fill out that form until I see what they do and what they say in different situtations. I start them with a basic set of traits and a core yearning or value, but then flesh them out from there. Even their main goal, that is a plot point, not a character trait. Yeah, I'm a big believer that all good stories are the stories of a specific character, and there are no inherently good or bad plots. The only reason the plot is there is so the character can develop, grow, change without the reader getting bored. And sometimes to make a point the author wants made, but that is dangerous ground. That kind of thing is beter left as theme, and better expressed as questions or dilemmas and not answers. All that said, I haven't yet gotten to the point of doing a second draft of a very long and complex work. I think after writing the 0th draft, something a little more plotter oriented might be worth looking at. But at that point, a lot of the steps you've discussed here are essentially done. In fact, I recently went back to review a novel length thing I pantsed a couple of years ago, and I did make a character list and a scene list during the review, but it was more about identifying, modifying, and re-ordering what had already emerged in draft 0. Filling a few holes, too, but in any case, that goes a lot more smoothly when the characters and the basic story line and some subplots or secondary arcs have already been roughed out.
I have heard that advice about having the characters cause the disasters. I think that not all disasters are caused by the character (like the catalyst often isn’t) but for disasters further into the book, I think that’s great advice. Especially for third disaster right before the climax, that’s what helps the character change and grow. It really should be their own fault so they can learn from it.
Yeah, sometimes the world just has to have its way, regardless of what the character does. But as a rule of thumb, the more of the plot that is driven by agency, the better. And even a natural disaster, how a character handles it matters more than that it happened. Also, natural events can become disasters (or become opportunities) based on the character's reaction. "It really should be their own fault so they can learn from it." Or because the disasters he causes reveal his character. I recently wrote a scene where a character turned a wonderful opportunity into a relationship-wrecking disaster because the other person uknowingly and with good intention did something that triggered his major internal conflict. It was supported earlier as a latent issue, but he reacted badly, and the incident brought that internal conflict to a head and made him have to finally deal with it (after going on a bender for a couple of days). Not all disasters are huge. And, by the way, pantsing... I didn't know he was going to react how he did till I was typing it. I was completely in his head, and subconsciously knew him better than I thought I did.
I’ve been really interested in this book!
It’s such a funky book actually! I cut that part out where I explain it because the video was too long, but it’s a novella about Goldilocks finding the method of outlining that’s “Just right.” It’s actually really cute and instructive. I’d recommend!
I like the algorithm approach to development of story. You have demonstrated the algorithm VERY WELL. I can't fix a meal until I have the ingredients and then I follow the instructions of the recipe to create the meal. Meal Prep Dogma makes a good meal. The "Snow Flake Method" is a recipe for creation of an outline (recipe) to develop a delicious story, a meal to be consumed. Great video.
That’s a great way to describe the Snowflake method process. For those of us who enjoy building a story methodically, I think it’s a great tool! I’m glad you found the video useful :)
Okay, I think I’ll definitely pick this book up. It sounds like there’s a couple of great things that could be beneficial to my process.
The craft book I just picked up is Take Off Your Pants (recommended by Katie Whismer) and I really like the way the author laid out the story beats in that one!
Thanks for the recommendation! I hadn’t heard of that one, but I’m always looking for more craft books. I’ll check it out!
I'm totally a pantser. One of the advantages of it is that you are actually writing. All. The. Time.
Regarding disasters, the best ones are the ones that the characters create themselves. "Find the worst choice your character can make, and have him make it." I don't know where I heard that, but it's good advice, so long as that terrible choice is supported in his characterization and isn't immediately fatal to the character or the story. If snowflake puts desiging the disaster before the character, that seems to me to be a pretty basic flaw. The disaster can be anything, so long as the character thinks it is a disaster. For some characters, a zombie apocalypse is a disaster, for others, getting turned down for a date is just as much of one.
I can't know my characters well enough to fill out that form until I see what they do and what they say in different situtations. I start them with a basic set of traits and a core yearning or value, but then flesh them out from there. Even their main goal, that is a plot point, not a character trait.
Yeah, I'm a big believer that all good stories are the stories of a specific character, and there are no inherently good or bad plots. The only reason the plot is there is so the character can develop, grow, change without the reader getting bored. And sometimes to make a point the author wants made, but that is dangerous ground. That kind of thing is beter left as theme, and better expressed as questions or dilemmas and not answers.
All that said, I haven't yet gotten to the point of doing a second draft of a very long and complex work. I think after writing the 0th draft, something a little more plotter oriented might be worth looking at. But at that point, a lot of the steps you've discussed here are essentially done.
In fact, I recently went back to review a novel length thing I pantsed a couple of years ago, and I did make a character list and a scene list during the review, but it was more about identifying, modifying, and re-ordering what had already emerged in draft 0. Filling a few holes, too, but in any case, that goes a lot more smoothly when the characters and the basic story line and some subplots or secondary arcs have already been roughed out.
I have heard that advice about having the characters cause the disasters. I think that not all disasters are caused by the character (like the catalyst often isn’t) but for disasters further into the book, I think that’s great advice. Especially for third disaster right before the climax, that’s what helps the character change and grow. It really should be their own fault so they can learn from it.
Yeah, sometimes the world just has to have its way, regardless of what the character does. But as a rule of thumb, the more of the plot that is driven by agency, the better. And even a natural disaster, how a character handles it matters more than that it happened. Also, natural events can become disasters (or become opportunities) based on the character's reaction.
"It really should be their own fault so they can learn from it." Or because the disasters he causes reveal his character.
I recently wrote a scene where a character turned a wonderful opportunity into a relationship-wrecking disaster because the other person uknowingly and with good intention did something that triggered his major internal conflict. It was supported earlier as a latent issue, but he reacted badly, and the incident brought that internal conflict to a head and made him have to finally deal with it (after going on a bender for a couple of days). Not all disasters are huge.
And, by the way, pantsing... I didn't know he was going to react how he did till I was typing it. I was completely in his head, and subconsciously knew him better than I thought I did.
Did you skip step 6: the 4 page synopsis?