You have a shiny new idea for a book, but how do you make that idea into a story? Most people start with whatever excites them most. If you like worldbuilding, then you may start with a setting idea. Or maybe you want to tell a certain person’s story, or you have a cool idea for a plot. Regardless of which you start with, you can use that idea as a springboard into crafting the story using the Snowflake Method.
Snowflake Method
The Snowflake Method for brainstorming is where you imagine scenes and piece them together. It’s a way to move your idea into a story, and then you can actually order it into a plot. There are five steps.
1. Pick Your Inspiration
Find something that inspires you! If you are a visual person, look at pictures to prompt your mind for ideas. If you are more of an audio person, listen to music, poetry, or nature noises to start your imagination. Read quotes, watch movies, anything that gets your mind turning through “What if” statements.
2. Imagine
Close your eyes. Yes, literally close them (unless you want to stare at a visual for brainstorming, but don’t look away from it!). You need to block out all distractions and let your mind focus on your inspiration. You’ll find your mind relax and wander. Let your imagination take control and see what you discover. What image do you see? What do you hear? Maybe the happy fairies in your picture suddenly look panicked and start racing away. Follow that idea until you feel you’ve exhausted it.
3. Write It Down
Take a couple minutes to write down what you imagined in brief notes (not too brief that you don’t know what you’re talking about though). You can put it on an index card or a sheet of paper or a word doc. Once you have it documented, move to a blank page so each brainstorming scene is in a different section.
4. Repeat Steps 1-3
Do this over and over and see where it takes you. Keep the same initial idea you had and try it in different directions or a continuous line. If your shiny new idea is a volcano setting, then make sure all your brainstorming rounds are set there. Likewise, if you have a specific character in mind, always use her as the protagonist in your scenes. Keep going until you have a nice pile of scene ideas.
5. Link Them Together
Go through your scene ideas and pick out the ones you are most interested in for the story. Then lay them out and work on arranging them into a plot. You may have one scene where you protagonist is a mother and another where she is single. If you like both scenes, be creative in linking those roles. Maybe she starts married and divorces, or starts single and marries, or she is married but gets thrown into the past making her temporarily single (Outlander, anyone?). This example is easy to see how you could link the scenes, but some will be harder. Those will be the most fulfilling to link because you have to get inventive. If you have to work hard to connect scenes, then your readers won’t see it coming. You could have some great plot twists.
Final Thoughts
Some people have to write linearly, and others have scattered thoughts that they shoved together. The Snowflake Method is a brainstorming exercise that works for both groups. You can imagine random scenes and stick them together, or you can work linearly. The important part is to find a place with inspiration but no distractions and then let you imagination run wild.
Thanks for reading!
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