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How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson (book review)

October 28, 2021 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

Are you writing a novel, but having trouble getting your first draft written? You’ve heard of “outlining,” but that sounds too rigid for you. You’ve heard of “organic writing,” but that seems a bit squishy to you.

Take a look at the wildly popular Snowflake Method—a battle-tested series of ten steps that jump-start your creativity and help you quickly map out your story. All around the world, novelists are using the Snowflake Method right now to ignite their imaginations and get their first drafts down on paper.

In this book, you’ll follow the story of a fictitious novelist as she learns to tap into the amazing power of the Snowflake Method. Almost magically, she finds her story growing from a simple idea into a deep and powerful novel. And she finds her novel changing her—turning her into a stronger, more courageous person.

Zany, Over the Top, and Just Plain Fun

How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is a “business parable”—a how-to guide written in story form. It’s zany. It’s over the top. It’s just plain fun. Most important, it’s effective, because it shows you, rather than telling you.

You’ll learn by example how to grow your story idea into a sizzling first draft.

You’ll discover:
* How to define your “target audience” the right way, so you know exactly how your ideal readers think and feel. Forget what the experts tell you about “demographics.”
* How to create a dynamite selling tool that will instantly tell people whether they’ll love your story or hate it. And you want them to either love it or hate it.
* How to get inside the skin of every one of your characters—even your villain. Especially your villain.
* How to find a deep, emotively powerful theme for your story. Do you know the one best point in your novel to unveil your theme—when your reader is most eager to hear it?
* How to know when to backtrack, and why backtracking is essential to writing great fiction.
* How to fire-test each scene to guarantee it’ll be high-impact—before you write it.


This was a weird little book, but quite informative. It was weird because it’s actually a story about how to write a novel.

Ingermanson creates a world in which Goldilocks wants to learn to write and Baby Bear teaches her. While she’s learning, Ingermanson utilizes all the steps and strategies he discusses to create a tension-filled story. At the end of the book, he walks you through each step to show you which parts of Goldilocks’s story align with which step so you can see how the process looks.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Goldilocks story technique, but I loved the content in the book and will definitely use it in my own writing. I also found this book to be easy to read and digest; I will definitely recommend it to new authors looking for tips on strengthening their stories. Get your copy here!

(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

Filed Under: book reviews Tagged With: book review, How to Write a Novel, Randy Ingermanson, writing books, writing tips, writing tools

Continuing Education: A Writer’s Best Friend

February 4, 2019 by Karin Beery Leave a Comment

After more than a decade in the publishing industry—writing, editing, and now working for a publisher—I’m still learning. If you’re hoping to publish and sell your book manuscript, you need to be learning too.

Publishing a book involves more than simply writing a book, especially in our current state of the anyone-can-publish-anything-on-Amazon market. If you want to set yourself apart (e.g. if you want to sell more copies of your book), then you need to learn everything you can about every aspect of the industry. Then go back and do it again.

Right now I’m re-reading Plot Versus Character by Jeff Gerke. I recommend it to many of my clients and authors because I read it years ago and it changed my approach to characterization. But recently I wanted to reference something from it for an author and I couldn’t remember where to find it (or if it had even come from that book). That’s why I’m reading it again, and I’m learning just as much this time as I did the first. When I finish this book, I’m planning to re-read Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Rennie Browne and Dave King.

I’m not only re-learning, though. Later this year I’ll be attending the Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference as a faculty member. My primary goal is to meet writers and take pitches for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolina’s women’s fiction, historical romance, and western imprints, but I plan on learning while I’m there. I applied for and have been accepted into the Professional Writers Track, taught by Randy Ingermanson and James Rubart. Just because I’m there to help others advance their writing careers doesn’t mean I shouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to advance my own.

I realize not everyone can afford to attend a writer’s conference, and not everyone has the time to read (though you shouldn’t be writing if you aren’t reading, but that’s another topic for another time). That’s why I strive to share helpful writing and editing tips on this blog. Don’t let time or money prevent you from learning. Hone your skills one blog post at a time. Just don’t stop learning!

What’s your biggest struggle right now—plot development, attracting an agent, book sales? Leave a comment below, and we’ll get you some suggestions and recommendations to help you out!

My debut novel—Summer Plans and Other Disasters—is now available on Amazon! Sign up for my monthly newsletter and you’ll receive the unpublished prologue: find out what inspired Calista Stephens to make those summer plans. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for writing tips, updates on Guiding Light, and more!

Filed Under: best practices, publishing, writing Tagged With: Jim Rubart, Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference, Randy Ingermanson, writing conferences, writing resources, writing tips, writing tools

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ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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