Snowflake method in personal essay

Since creative nonfiction is nonfiction that uses techniques from fiction, the snowflake method can be used to plot a personal essay. Here are the steps:

1. Write a one-sentence summary. Summarize your personal essay in one sentence. Here are some guidelines:
   1. Shorter is better: try for fewer than 25 words.
   2. Don’t use any character names.
   3. Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Since you are the main character, what do you want to win in the story?
   4. Don’t give away the ending.
2. Write a one-paragraph summary. Expand your one-sentence summary to a full paragraph of five sentences, organized like this:
   1. Explain the setting and the story backdrop and introduce one or two lead characters.
   2. Summarize Act 1, ending with your first disaster. This disaster forces your lead character to commit to the story.
   3. Summarize the first half of Act 2, ending with your second disaster. This disaster causes your lead character to change his thinking from a false Moral Premise to a true one. As a result, your lead character commits to a new way of thinking and acting for the second half of the story.
   4. Summarize the second half of Act 2, ending with your third disaster. This disaster causes your lead character (and your villain, if you have one) to commit to ending the story.
   5. Summarize Act 3, in which you lead up to a final showdown where the lead character either succeeds or fails. You then resolve the story with a happy ending, sad ending, or bittersweet ending.
3. Write a summary sheet for each character. Doing this step could inform and improve your synopsis and scenes. It can also be helpful in essays where other characters are involved. For the sheet, fill up the following but don’t feel obligated to provide everything. Some information don’t apply to some characters.
   1. Role: (Hero, heroine, villain, mentor, sidekick, friend, etc.)
   2. Name: The name of the character.
   3. Goal: The concrete goal of the character for this story.
   4. Ambition: The abstract ambition of the character.
   5. Values: Several sentences that begin, “Nothing is more important than …”
   6. Conflict: What keeps this character from achieving his goal?
   7. Epiphany: What will this character learn by the end of the story?
   8. One-sentence summary: A one-sentence summary of this character’s personal story.
   9. One-paragraph summary: A one-paragraph summary of the Three-Act Structure of this character’s personal story.
4. Write a short one-page synopsis. Expand your one-paragraph summary into a full page. Do this by expanding each sentence in that paragraph to a full paragraph of its own. Its purpose is to help you start filling in the details in your story.
5. Write a character synopsis for each character. (Optional) Write up the backstory of each character along with their role in the main story. Usually, half a page to a page is about right. Explain why that character is the way they are, what they want out of life, and anything else that you find interesting. Explain how they fit into the story. These character synopses help you empathize with each character, particularly the villain.
6. Write a character bible for each character. (Optional) Drill deep into each character by providing the following information.
   1. Physical information: Name, age, birthdate, height, weight, ethnic heritage, color of hair and eyes, physical description, and style of dressing.
   2. Personality information: Sense of humor, personality type, religion, political party, hobbies, favorite music and books and movies, favorite color, and the contents of his wallet or her purse.
   3. Environmental information: Description of home, education, work experience, family, best friend, male friends, female friends, and enemies.
   4. Psychological information: Best and worst childhood memories, a one-line characterization, the strongest and weakest character traits, the character’s paradox, their greatest hope and greatest fear, their philosophy of life, how the character sees himself, and how others see the character.
7. Write a list of all scenes. Using a spreadsheet, create a list of all scenes with each row representing a single scene. Each scene needs to have conflict. If there is no conflict in a scene, then it’s not pulling its weight and you need to add conflict or kill the scene. Don’t put in scenes that just “add atmosphere” or “explain the backstory” or “show the character’s motivations.” Conflict is the gasoline that makes a story run.
8. Write a plan for each scene. (Optional) Go through each scene and jot down some crucial information that will help you write it. Here are things you can include in your plan:
   1. Include the characters involved.
   2. Describe the setting.
   3. Add dialogue snippets if needed.
   4. Analyze the scene’s conflict. Is it a Proactive Scene (goal, conflict, setback) or a Reactive Scene (reaction, dilemma, decision)?
9. Write the first draft.