the snowflake project

Yikes. 10 days since my last post. That’s a few too many. But in order to make up for my tardiness, I worked extra hard this weekend and finished the final two character charts.

Here’s Aryenne’s.

Here’s Torik’s.

So, now that I’m on the final step of the process (prior to actually WRITING the novel, that is), and because of the nature of the work from here out, I’m going to be changing the format of the snowflake project’s blog (what you’re reading right now, for those of you who are keeping track).

I’ll still be talking about the novel and my various wrestling matches with its content. I’ll still be posting content as I write it elsewhere on the site – I promised to write a novel online, and that’s still what I’m doing here. However I want to use this blog for more than just a platform to announce when I’ve written another 500 words. That would get super lame, extra fast.

So this is going to become a proper blog. I’ve got a few topics lined up that I hope will spark some discussion and help bring in a new cadre of readers. You’ve already seen some of this with book reviews (via Goodreads), and one political rant (I promise I’ll keep those to a minimum). Expect more like that – but probably with a bit of a narrower writing focus.

By no means whatsoever am I qualified to give writing advice – and you certainly shouldn’t treat this blog as a “how-to”. I’m just a guy trying to write a novel. I intend to share that with you, as well as other aspects of my life I hope might hold your interest.

So please, email me with questions or ideas for stuff I can talk about here. I’ll either talk about them, or I’ll throw up a post that says I don’t have a clue – and hope the comments section comes alive with useful information nuggets for all (I always order the 10-pack and ask for 2 sauces).

After a much too long wait, I give you: Sky-Kicker’s Character Chart!

Let me say this: creating a made-up language is extremely hard. Naming characters is tough enough, nevermind naming everyday objects or concepts in a way that seems remotely convincing. I have new respect for Adam, naming everything in the world. But despite the pain of it, the language of the Eldest (which also happens to be the ancient tongue of the religion of The One God) is taking shape, tiny piece by tiny piece. I don’t expect to have a real working vocabulary ever, but there will be enough words to support several phrases that I’ll need to pull out.

In other news:

I’ve been struggling with time management lately – as evidenced by my long absence from this blog/site. Yesterday, I paid $10 + tax for an iPhone app that tracks all the time I spend on everything (as long as I remember to push the buttons when I start something and when I stop it).

It began with a desire to limit TV watching in order to read more and write more. But as I’m realizing the possibilities, I’m seeing that I’ll gain a much better understanding of how precious time is and really start using it better. Even now, it’s ticking away the minutes I’m spending writing this blog post.

Achi’s character chart is complete and live on the site.

Get straight to it here, or find it via Achi’s character page.

I’m getting a really good sense of Achi’s personality and what drives him. His path towards villainy is becoming clearer in my head.

The last thing I wanted was to make him into a cliche, so hopefully I can avoid that by keeping him sympathetic. The chart I’m using really helps with that by asking about your character’s fears and vulnerabilities without any prejudice. Villains have pathos too!

I’ve officially moved on to step 7 of TSM – full fledged character charts.

Kos’s chart is finished and live on the site. You can access it through his character page or go directly to it.

The chart I’m using (which I didn’t at all set up as a chart, but rather more like a questionnaire…) is fairly extensive. I stole it from this book, so you are welcome to steal it from me – but buying the book wouldn’t hurt either. I’ve met one of the authors, Tee Morris, and he’s a fantastic guy. You could do a lot worse than supporting him.

I’ve started in on Achi’s chart, and you’ll have that in a few days. Even just the first few items on the chart are very useful – it’s really important to know what your characters look like!

It was pointed out to me via email this morning that I am a neglectful cad. Not in so many words, mind you, but I took the message to heart.

I recently promised to post more frequently and then immediately proceeded to renege on that promise. I’m sorry for that. I’ll try to be better.

I’m all finished with step 5 of the Snowflake Method, and you can read Torik’s plot summary on his character page.

Step 6 has me bogged down, however – I’m still slogging through it. I have a hard time with what the level of detail should be for step 6 (the long format plot summary), and mine is turning out to be slightly more detailed than expected – either that or my story is longer than TSM typically allows for. I fear what should be a 4 page summary will end up being closer to 10 pages, but we’ll see. I’m about 3/4 of the way through, and I’ll post it the moment I’m done.

Part of the reason I haven’t been in touch is that I’m dragging my feet on step 6. I’m itching to begin writing the actual novel, but there are still two steps to go before I can. The snowflake itself is becoming a chore, and I need to get INTO it again. I hope that I can in the next step – the complete character charts.

Stay tuned – I’m aiming to have step 6 done by the end of the week.

I’ve added a plot summary from Aryenne’s point of view – you can find it on her character page.

I’m finding this exercise to be instrumental in developing the edges of the story. Kos’s journey as a hero is fairly straightforward – if I had started writing with only his story in mind, I’m sure the result wouldn’t be as rich as I can now see it becoming. Writing out these character POVs has really made me eager to start actually writing the novel itself – but there are three more steps to go (I’m going to skip step 9 – if I start providing too much detail before actually writing, I may not be as eager to tell the story afterward).

As I write this post, I’m already 1/3 of the way through step 6, which I’m finding is more or less directing itself as I write it.

Continuing with the 5th step in The Snowflake Method, I’ve added a long format plot summary from Sky-Kicker’s point of view. This gives a little bit of insight into the doings of the Elves or Eldest in Kos’s universe.

You can find Sky-Kicker’s plot summary on his character page.

Hit me with comments on how you feel about the name “Sky-Kicker”. My thinking was that it would be a rough translation from a proper name in Elvish. And further, that the Elves have a type of society and that’s similar to an aboriginal tribal culture.

I’ve completed my second Character Plot POV – this time for Achi, the antagonist. It’s a little shorter than the one I wrote for Kos, and subsequents will be even shorter (for Sky-Kicker, Aryenne and Torik).

You can find Achi’s over on his character page. I know these are a lot to read and they aren’t written very well, but they’re just lists of events and general thoughts/feelings the characters may have. Very rough stuff – so please forgive me.

I hope you’ll read them and suffer through the poor writing so that you can alert me to any horrible problems I might be setting up for myself when it comes to the plot.

Sorry for the long delay – but the one page summary from Kos’s point of view turned into something more along the lines of three pages, and I’ve been suffering from a particularly nasty cold.

Anyway on Kos’s Character Page, you can find the whole story from his point of view. I’ll be following that shortly with a (hopefully) shorter version from Achi’s perspective.

I’m beginning to see how much material is hidden away in this plot, waiting to be unpacked in prose. It’s exciting!

The final stage in Step 3 is done (unless I need to add more later!) – Read the third secondary character’s summary from the characters page.

No decent fantasy novel is complete without a roguish trickster in the cast of characters. Torik provides that for this one.

I’m not sure at this point whether I should move to the next step (step 4, expanding my 1-paragraph summary of the novel into 5 paragraphs) or if I should spend some time on world-building. I need to break from The Snowflake Method at some point to world-build. Likely a few times. I’ll think on it – and let me know in the comments below whether you think now is a good time!