From Randy Ingermanson:¹¹1 Randy Ingermanson, “The Snowflake Method For Designing A Novel,” Advanced Fiction Writing. 

1. One-sentence summary: Write a one-sentence summary of your novel.

2. One-paragraph summary: Expand that sentence to a full paragraph describing the story setup, major disasters, and ending of the novel (three disasters and a resolution²²2 Probably better: three threats of disaster. ).

3. Key character info: For each major character, write a one-page summary sheet. (Motivation, goal, conflict, epiphany.)³³3 I’d probably add weaknesses, strengths, and values. 

4. One-page synopsis: Expand each sentence of your summary paragraph into a full paragraph.⁴⁴4 Five paragraph is about a single page. 

5. Character sketches: Write up a one-page description of each major character and a half-page description of the other important characters.⁵⁵5 Tell the story from the characters’ perspectives. 

6. Long (four-page) synopsis: Expand the one-page plot synopsis of the novel to a four-page synopsis.

7. Character bibles: Expand your character descriptions into full-fledged character charts detailing everything there is to know about each character.

8. Scene list: Take that four-page synopsis and make a list of all the scenes that you’ll need to turn the story into a novel.

9. Scene detail: (Optional) Begin writing a narrative description of the story.

10. Start pounding out the real first draft of the novel.

It’s important to realize that this is not an approach where each step is linear. It is possible (and likely even beneficial) to go back to a previous step, even all the way back to the beginning, and adjust as needed. It is an iterative process.

This approach cycles between enriching plot and character, which are the two most important aspects of a story.⁶⁶6 “Lecture #6: Worldbuilding Part Two,” 2020 Creative Writing Lectures at BYU: Brandon Sanderson on Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, YouTube video (Brandon Sanderson, 2020).