Y1M2 - Snowflake Method

Well, life hit me upside the head two ways from Sunday, so I had to pause the 5YP to deal with more urgent matters for a couple of months 😅 But the good news is, I’m stubborn and don’t quit easily - so I’m back!

I’ve completed a short story for M2, though admittedly, I did not use the Snowflake method to do that. It felt more useful for longer fiction than shorter fiction, so I’ve chosen instead to use it on my current WIP to try the steps out. So far, I’ve found it helpful. While I have tweaked and adapted it a little to my own processes (as the book suggested we do), I’m about halfway through the 10 step process in just the last week.

I did not join MeetUp, but I do have a local writer’s group that I plug into as well as some close writer friends I connect with virtually.

For the first 15 years of my writing life, I pantsed because I didn’t know there was any other way. I’ve spent the last 10 years studying the craft of writing and different outline structures, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m really somewhere in between - even more, I’ve learned every project has different nuances and needs. I’m a teacher and I love learning new things, so I greatly enjoyed learning the Snowflake Method to add as a new tool to the toolbelt.

I’d purchased the Snowflake Method book a few years ago, but didn’t get around to reading it. For some reason, I thought it was going to be a dense dry read, but it was actually a super quick and easy read. I loved the fable format and found the examples extremely helpful to ingest and comprehend the points. Honestly, after a rough several months, it was a relief to have an “easier” step back into more normal routines.

As mentioned, I’m trying out the Snowflake method on my current novel. I’m curious to see how the process fits into my current writing process. What I like most about the method is how it’s adaptable to different types of writers. The book was also pretty clear about this: use what works, throw out what doesn’t - every writer is unique. It didn’t pressured the reader into one single right way and gave the reader freedom to do what works for them while also pushing them to try something new and encouraging them to do whatever hard work comes. It felt less like an outlining method and more like an organizational structure you could use to arrange whatever brainstorming process you personally use.

Another encouraging read - thank you for adding it to the list! Onward!