Randy Ingermanson - How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method

How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method

Randy Ingermanson

Published by DitDat, Inc.

G OLDILOCKS HAD ALWAYS wanted to write a novel.

She learned to read before she went to kindergarten.

In grade school, she always had her nose in a book.

In junior high, the other kids thought she was weird, because she actually liked reading those dusty old novels in literature class.

All through high school, Goldilocks dreamed of writing a book of her own someday.

But when she went to college, her parents persuaded her to study something practical.

Goldilocks hated practical, and secretly she kept reading novels. But she was a very obedient girl, so she did what her parents told her. She got a very practical degree in marketing.

After college, she got a job that bored her to tearsbut at least it was practical.

Then she got married, and within a few years, she had two children, a girl and then a boy. She quit her job to devote full time to them.

As the children grew, Goldilocks took great joy in introducing them to the stories she had loved as a child.

When her son went off to kindergarten, Goldilocks thought about looking for a job. But her resume now had a seven-year hole in it, and her practical skills were long out of date.

The only jobs Goldilocks could qualify for were minimum wage.

She suddenly realized that being practical had made her horribly unhappy.

On a whim, Goldilocks decided to do the one thing she had always wanted more than anything elseshe was finally going to write a novel.

She didnt care if it was impractical.

She didnt care if nobody would ever read her novel.

She was going to do it just because she wanted to.

For the first time in years, she was going to do something just for herself.

And nobody was going to stop her.

* * *

On a beautiful morning in September, after sending her children off to school, Goldilocks sat down at her computer and opened a new document. She wanted to write an exciting story packed with romance and suspense. It would star a handsome man and a beautiful woman and an evil villain during a dangerous timethe last year of the Third Reich.

She typed the first word of her novel: The.

Goldilocks stopped typing. She stared at the screen. She had a million different choices for the next word. And a million for the word after that.

The possibilities were endless.

And she couldnt type the next word. There were too many possibilities.

She didnt dare make a mistake. If she got started in the wrong direction, then shed have to backtrack, and that would be horrible.

Shed waited so long to write this story. It had to be perfect. It had to be her own, special story. She could not afford to get it wrong.

Goldilocks stared at the screen for a full hour. Stared at that one horrible, miserable, stupid word. The.

She knew she could write. Knew she had talent. Knew she had a story bubbling up inside her. But she couldnt seem to get it onto the page.

Finally she closed the document and cried.

For about five minutes.

Then she dried her eyes and took a deep breath. She wanted so desperately to write a novel. She was not going to let her lack of knowledge stop her.

All she needed was someone to guide her. A mentor. Somebody to point the way.

Goldilocks opened her web browser and went looking for a class or a workshop or a lecture on how to write a novel.

Surely, there was somebody who could teach her how to achieve her dream.

She quickly discovered a writing conference right in her own town that would be starting tomorrow.

Goldilocks was so excited, she could hardly breathe. She signed up for the conference online. Tomorrow, she was going to learn the secret of writing a novel.

* * *

The next day, Goldilocks arrived at the conference center just on time. She parked right outside the coffee shop and ran inside the main building and picked up her registration packet. She had already read the schedule and had found exactly the workshop she needed. Outlining Made EasyHow to Plot Your Novel.

Goldilocks raced to the room where the workshop was being given.

Nearly a hundred students were packed into the classroom.

She found a seat near the back.

The teacher was a large male bear who introduced himself as Papa Bear. Ive been teaching for forty years, and many of my students have gotten published. The secret to writing a novel is to plot it out in advance. My best student was Robert Ludlum, and he did pretty well for himself.

Goldilocks began taking notes.

She learned that an outline for a novel wasnt like the outlines she had learned to make in third grade, using roman numerals and capital letters and lots of indenting.

She learned that when novelists talk about an outline, they mean a synopsisa summary of the story, telling the highlights of the plot.

She learned that serious outliners often make five or ten synopses, polishing and polishing until the final version is perfect.

She learned that a synopsis can be fifty to a hundred pages long. Or more.

Goldilocks skipped the next workshop and went to the coffee shop right next to the conference center. She bought herself a latte and sat outside at a shaded table in the secluded back patio and began writing her synopsis. She typed furiously for three pages and then stopped to read what shed written.

She couldnt believe how awful it seemed. Her story was boring.

But she refused to give up. She had three pages down, ninety-seven to go.

Goldilocks kept typing, straight through until lunchtime. When she checked her progress, she had written eleven pages.

And she hated her story.

She never wanted to think about it again.

Goldilocks felt horrible. She knew that outlining worked for some writers. Robert Ludlum was a great writer, and she had enjoyed many of his novels.

But outlining didnt work for her.

She refused to believe she was stupid.

She knew she had talent as a writer.

She knew she had a story inside her.

But outlining the way Papa Bear taught was too boring for her.

* * *

During lunch, Goldilocks leafed through the program and saw another workshop that looked better. Writing Your Novel OrganicallyHow to Unlock the Inner You.

Goldilocks ran to the workshop and got there a few minutes early.

The teacher was a large female bear with soft, warm, chocolate-brown eyes who introduced herself as Mama Bear. She smiled at Goldilocks and asked her name and what she was writing. By the time the workshop was ready to begin, Goldilocks knew shed found a friend.

Mama Bear explained that the secret to writing a novel was to simply let it well up out of your soul. No need to plot your novel in advance. That was for boring, accountant-type writersthe kind who had to have a six-step procedure for kissing their wives.

The class laughed at that.

Goldilocks felt herself relaxing. Yes, this was what shed been wanting. Organic writing sounded like a very natural way to write.

Mama Bear spent the full hour talking about the benefits of writing organically, or as some writers called it, writing by the seat of your pants.

Ive had many students over the years, Mama Bear said. Stephen King writes this way. Theres nothing to it. You just sit down and watch the story unfold in your mind, and then you write it down.