Snowflake Method: Step One
Step One: Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.
When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should appear very early in the proposal. It’s the hook that will sell your book to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!
Some hints on what makes a good sentence:
Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
No character names, please! Better to say “a handicapped trapeze artist” than “Jane Doe”.
Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.
Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art form.
So here are my drafts for step one:
A young man goes on a journey of Discovery and Adventure.
A young man is pulled from his home and thrust into a journey of adventure.
A young man is taken from him home and finds his place in a world of magic and monsters.
An average boy discovers a wondrous gift but is taken from his home, and embarks on a journey of discovery.
A young boy discovers his wondrous gift, and finds his destiny in a world of Dragons, magic and Kings.
Final Decision:
An average boys discovers his wondrous Destiny in a world of Dragons, Magic and Kings!
I think this last one really covers everything I want to portray in my story. Typical Hero’s Journey story about a young boy who is taken from his home (slavers) and sees all the darkness of the world, and meets different characters throughout the journey. Over the course of the story the villain is introduced who is the last of the Black dragons, which are manipulative, harbingers of death and destruction. That is all you get for today!
