In my last post, I discussed using the Snowflake Method simultaneously with the Save the Cat beats to develop a story and end up with a first draft. I expanded this idea with an Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded.
Or if you prefer, right click on the graphic below to expand it. Once the image is open, it can be downloaded.
What’s the difference between Save the Cat and The Snowflake Method?
This post is very niche. It’s for writers who are familiar with The Snowflake Method. It’s for writers who practice the Save the Cat beats. It’s most notably for those who are closer to being plotters than pantsers when it comes to writing a novel. Just letting you know.
But, whoever you are, however you write, feel free to venture further if you have an interest in using these two methods together. Remember: the Save the Cat beats are for plotting the story and the Snowflake Method is better for developing a first draft. I believe they can be used together to enhance a writer’s experience for crafting a novel.
How Can A Writer Use The Snowflake and The Cat Together?
Using the graphic above as a guide, how can a writer combine the forces of The Snowflake Method and the Save the Cat beats? I’ve broken down the graphic into the following bullet list. It may seem like overkill, but if you’re a methodical writer, you may find it handy.
- First of all, the writer should be familiar with both methods in order to use them together.
- The Snowflake Method (created by Randy Ingermanson)
- The Save the Cat beats for novels (written by Jessica Brody)
- Start with the Save the Cat beats. See the orange column on the graphic. The writer brainstorms her novel with by summarizing each of the beats. Try to keep your summary for each beat one sentence. Or you can skip this step and go straight to the next bullet point and develop your beats with the assistance of the Snowflake Method.
- Now, the writer can develop the beats using The Snowflake Method. Find the first green column on the graphic called “1: One Sentence.” Can you summarize your beats into one sentence? Don’t use any proper names. Just create an overarching statement encompassing the whole story.
- The second green column says to write a four (or five) sentence paragraph about your story.
- Sentence 1: Summarize your story in all the Act 1 beats, roughly from the Opening Image through the Debate.
- Sentence 2: Summarize your story from the Break into 2 up to the Midpoint beat.
- Sentence 3: Summarize your story from the Bad Guys Close in through the Gathering the Team beat. (or you can stop at the All is Lost if you want.)
- Sentence 4: Summarize your Finale and Final Image beats.
- The writer may be tempted to include a lot of detail in each sentence, but remember, she’ll get to do that in later Snowflake Method steps. And remember: the graphic is just a guide. It suggests a sentence cover from a certain beat through another certain beat, but that’s up to the writer. The idea is to summarize the novel in one paragraph.
- The next step is to write a one-page summary for each character. Spend about an hour on each. Include their:
- Name
- 1-sentence summary of their storyline
- Motivation
- Goal
- Conflicts and flaws
- For the snowflake, the character’s epiphany. This is roughly parallel to the “dig down deep” part of Save the Cat’s finale beat.
- Go to the 4th green column: Paragraphs (or one page). Write one page (or roughly four paragraphs) expanding your story from your one paragraph. Here’s a guideline from the graphic:
- Paragraph 1: summarize the beats from Act 1
- Paragraph 2: summarize the beats from the first half of Act 2
- Paragraph 3: summarize the beats from the last half of Act 2
- Paragraph 4: summarize the beats from Act 3
- Go to the 5th green column: Character’s Point-of-Views (POVs). Write a page for each major character. Tell the story from their POV. Use each Save the Cat beat to know where that character is during that part of the story. For minor characters, write a half a page.
- Go to the 6th green column: Four-page summary. Now the story is really expanding with more details. Take your paragraphs from step 4 and expand them into one page each. Use the Save the Cat beats as a guide. Create a little more detail for each Act.
- Go to the 7th green column: Character Charts. Take a week and develop each of your characters from steps 3 and 5. Dig deep. Develop their histories. What bad thing happened to them in the past? Give details about how they talk, dress, interact with others, etc. Have fun. Enjoy the process.
- Go to the 8th green column: Scene list. Okay, take everything you’ve done, from both the beats of Save the Cat and the steps from The Snowflake Method and make a scene list. Use a spreadsheet software like Excel or make a list in a Word document. Or Google Docs. Whatever works for you.
- Go to the 9th green column: Scene Summaries. Take each scene from step 8 and expand it into a paragraph. Randy Ingermanson, the creator of The Snowflake Method, says he doesn’t do this step anymore and goes straight to step 10. If you feel confident in your story to go ahead and write the first draft, go for it. Or you can spend some time and develop each scene before the narrative process begins. It’s up to you.
- Take everything you’ve done so far and write your first draft. Go for it!
The Save the Cat beats and The Snowflake Method are both ideal for taking a brand new idea and developing it from scratch, or plugging in an already existing work-in-progress.
As for me, I plan on updating a novel project with this bullet list. I have a rough draft of this project, so it would benefit from writing the next draft using the graphic from above.
And that’s my proposal for combining The Snowflake Method with the Save the Cat beats. Will it work for you? Let me know.
Friday’s Findings
Here are some more links about The Snowflake Method and The Save the Cat beats:
- How To Outline Your Novel Using The Snowflake Method | Thriving Scribes
- How to Outline Your Novel with the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet (savannahgilbo.com)
- How to Use the Snowflake Method to Outline Your Novel – 2024 – MasterClass
- Master the Save the Cat Beat Sheet and Write a Great Story (campfirewriting.com)
- How to Plot A Book Using The Snowflake Method – Jericho Writers
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-cat-302280/
Andrew M. Friday 
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