On March 2, 2024, Kasie and Rex took on the last three plot types from the Kindlepreneur resource. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Snowflakes, Five and Seven, Story Spines

Agenda

• Quick Catch Up
• Plot Structure Review
• Snowflake Method
• Five and 7 Acts
• The Story Spine

Listen to the podcast

Segment 1

We’ve spent a few weeks on the various plot structures available and basically been working off this resource that gives us 11 basic structures:

1. The Fichtean Curve
2. The Three Act Structure
3. The Hero’s Journey
4. Freytag’s Pyramid
5. The Five Act Structure
6. Save the Cat Beats
7. The Snowflake Method
8. Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
9. The Seven Point Story Structure
10. The Story Spine
11.  In Media Res

We’re now down to numbers 5, 7, 9 and 10, leaving out 11 because we covered it here and three because that deserves a point-by-point breakdown which we gave here and here and here. Though it’s been a few years, so we might go back to it..

Segments 2

The Snowflake Method has ten steps and is called the snowflake method because these steps can sometimes happen simultaneously. Here are the steps:

1. Craft a one sentence summary: get your book down to its absolute essence. If you can’t get it to fit into one sentence, then your core idea is not defined well enough.
2. Write a one paragraph summary: from there, expand your single sentence into a full paragraph.
3. Create character synopsis: once you have a basic idea of the plot, you can start creating basic ideas of the characters.
4. Grow your story to a one-page description: now that you have an idea of the characters, you can expand your single paragraph to a full page.
5. Review and refine your character descriptions: you can now expand your characters even further, now that you have a better idea of the story.
6. Create a four-page plot outline: now you can really dig deep into the plot.
7. Create full-fledged character charts: now you can really dig deep into the characters and flesh out their back stories.
8. Break down all of your story scenes: you should have an idea of how many scenes you need to write, so now is the time to build each one.
9. Sketch out your novel chapters: you can now combine your scenes as needed and create chapters.
10. Write the novel’s first draft: with full character templates, scene outlines, and chapter outlines, you are now ready to write the entire first draft of your novel.

Notice it’s got a lot of planning to it. In fact, the snowflake method is more thinking that writing. So what do we think of that?

Segment 3

The Five- and Seven-Act structures are likewise a lot of planning:

1. Exposition: We establish the ordinary world and basic setup of the plot.
2. Rising action: a series of events as the protagonist pursues their goal.
3. Climax: everything converges into the point of no return.
4. Falling action: the consequences of the hero’s decisions thus far.
5. Resolution or catastrophe: final resolutions where the hero is at the highest or lowest point of the story.

And:

1. The hook: while getting to know the protagonist and the environment in which they live, there should be something at the beginning to hook the reader and get them interested in learning more.
2. Plot point one: then something unexpected happens, the inciting incident, which pushes the character outside of their comfort zone into an unfamiliar world.
3. Pinch point one: the character comes into conflict with the antagonist, and the main purpose of the protagonist is revealed.
4. Midpoint: in this step, the character takes full responsibility for the quest, and begins stepping up to take action.
5. Pinch point two: but with further conflict with the antagonist, the character reaches rock-bottom and it seems that all hope is lost.
6. Plot point two: the protagonist finds new knowledge or assets to help them succeed.
7. Resolution: the climax happens, everything is resolved, and the protagonist either does or doesn’t achieve their goal.

You’ll notice the “hook” in seven-act structure is a more enticing exposition than “life as usual” and that the rising action includes two “pinch points” which are those decisions the main character has to make to move them away from comfort but closer to their goal.

Segment 4

Finally, there’s Story Spine which is a “favorite of Pixar” according to our resource. It goes something like this:

• Once upon a time…: You set up your main character in the situation they are starting from.
• And every day…: You establish more exposition about how this life is normal.
• Until one day…: You have an inciting incident that shakes things up.
• And because of this…: The characters forced to leave their place of comfort and go on an adventure.
• And because of this…: In the pursuit of their goal, actions have consequences. The protagonist may achieve their first goal, but it leads to something else, which leads to something else, etc.
• Until finally…: At this point, we enter Act III and the final climax of the story.
• And ever since that day…: We learn how the hero has changed over the course of the story, and what they are bringing back to them to their ordinary world.