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).

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.

I’ve just added the first female character profile – she’s caught in a love triangle between Kos and Achi.

Head over to the Characters page, or visit her dedicated page to read her summary.

I have one more secondary character I want to write up before moving to step 4 – and he’s male. I’ll admit that troubles me slightly. I don’t want my novel to lack a reasonable number of strong female characters – but I’ve only thought up one. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to add female characters to the story without making them into love interests for the males.

The easiest way would be to do what Frank Herbert and Robert Jordan did and create a powerful, all-female society or organization whose power runs through the entire world. I don’t necessarily want to do that – as it seems just a little be cliché. However, if it really does fit, I will. We’ll see how it goes!