The Snowflake method is often used to structure novels, but it can be used to structure short stories too. This method allows you to work through the plot of your story in increments and structure the scenes required for your story in a spreadsheet. To get started with this method, you will need to come up with a one sentence summary of your story. It should sell your story and highlight the big picture.Keep the summary short and sweet, using non-specific descriptions and terms with no names. Try to use 15 words or less and focus on tying a larger theme with character actions.
For example, your one line summary might read: “A seemingly perfect marriage is disrupted when the wife disappears.”

, Once you have your one line summary, you should expand it to a full paragraph that describes the story set up, the major events, the climax, and the ending of the story. You can use the structure of “three disasters plus an ending” where three bad things occur in the story and build up to the climax of the story. The idea is that things only get worse and worse for the protagonist until they reach the climax and then the ending or resolution of the story.Your paragraph will be made up of five sentences. One sentence should describe the story set up. There should be one sentence for each of the three disasters. Then, one final sentence that describes the ending.
Your paragraph may read: “Nick and Amy have a seemingly perfect marriage and appear happy to those who know them. But one night Amy disappears under mysterious circumstances and foul play is suspected. Nick is soon accused of her murder and must defend himself in court. Nick discovers that Amy faked her own murder and is still alive, but determined to put him in prison. Nick confronts Amy and they argue, but ultimately, Amy blackmails Nick into staying in the marriage.”

, Once you have your summary, you should focus on fleshing out your characters. Create a storyline for each of your main characters, noting important characteristics like the character’s name, the character’s motivation, the character’s goal, the character’s conflict, and the character’s epiphany. Each character’s storyline should be about one paragraph long.Your character synopses do not need to be perfect or polished. You will likely go back and tweak them later or deviate from them when you start writing scenes of the novel. But at least the synopses will help you get a better sense of your characters and where they fit within your story.
An example character synopsis might be: “Nick is a thirty five year old reporter who is laid off from his job after ten years in the business. He has been married to Amy for ten years and views her as his golden bride, his ideal wife and partner. He struggles with his lack of employment, especially because Amy comes from a wealthy family and has recently inherited a large sum of money. He believes he needs to be the provider in the marriage and is threatened by Amy’s financial independence and success in her career. When Amy disappears, he is conflicted by his need to find her and his unhappiness in his marriage to her. He eventually realizes that Amy has set him up and is trying to frame him for her disappearance.”

, Once you have written character synopses for each of your main characters and have your one paragraph summary, you should try to expand your summary into scenes using your characters. The list of scenes will help you get a better sense of the overall plot of the story.


Use a spreadsheet program to organize the scenes, as this will make it easy to write out each scene in order. Depending on how long your story is, you may have 50 scenes or over 100 scenes. Create two columns in the spreadsheet, one for the POV character in the scene and another column to explain briefly what happens in the scene. Then, list the scenes one by one, using your summary as a guide.
For example, one entry might read: “Nick discovers Amy is missing. POV character: Nick. What happens: Nick comes home for a long night working at the bar and finds the front door has been kicked open. He also finds a pool of blood in the hallway and signs of a struggle in the living room, with turned over chairs and scratches on the walls. He searches the rest of the house but finds no sign of Amy.”
Continue to do this, creating scenes that correspond to your plot summary. You should then have an outline of your plot and a list of scenes that correspond to your plot. This should make it easier to then put the scenes together and form a cohesive story.
Write a one sentence summary.
Create a one paragraph summary.
Create character synopses.
Make a spreadsheet of scenes.
{"src": "wikihow-all_validation", "title": "How to Write a Plot Outline2"}