Last week, I introduced the snowflake method and explained I’d be taking a week to outline and give an example of each step. This week, we’re moving on to step two.

The second step of the snowflake method is to expand your one sentence summary into a one paragraph summary. This is not the back cover copy. This paragraph summarizes the entire book, including the ending. This is pretty easy if you have a vague idea what your book is going to be about, especially if you follow the three disasters and an ending format.

Sentence one should be the backdrop.

Sentence two through four should each be a disaster.

And sentence five should be the ending.

I was going to do an example from Aphrodite, but since it’s four books into a series, it’s not a great example of what could ultimately be used as a querying tool if done right. So I’m making an example of Persephone instead.

Sentence one: Backdrop

Persephone thought she was just a typical, modern day teenager until she realized she was being stalked by a season.

 

Sentence two: Disaster One

When Boreas, the god of Winter, attempts to whisk her away to a not so winter wonderland, she’s rescued by Hades and offered refuge in the Underworld.

Sentence three: Disaster Two

Unable to physically reach Persephone in the Underworld, Boreas begins going after her through her dreams.

Sentence four: Disaster Three

When Persephone learns to defend her mind from the deranged ice god, he kidnaps Persephone’s best friend and threatens to kill her unless Persephone agrees to take her place.

Sentence five: Ending

In a desperate bid to save her friend, Persephone embraces her power as a goddess and succeeds in killing the god of winter, only to learn an even larger danger is lurking closer to home than she had ever imagined.

Put it all together.

Persephone thought she was just a typical, modern day teenager until she realized she was being stalked by a season.When Boreas, the god of Winter, attempts to whisk her away to a not so winter wonderland, she’s rescued by Hades and offered refuge in the Underworld.
Unable to physically reach Persephone in the Underworld, Boreas begins going after her through her dreams. When Persephone learns to defend her mind from the deranged ice god, he kidnaps Persephone’s best friend and threatens to kill her unless Persephone agrees to take her place. In a desperate bid to save her friend, Persephone embraces her power as a goddess and succeeds in killing the god of winter, only to learn an even larger danger is lurking closer to home than she had ever imagined.

Is this a perfect summary? Heck no. It leaves out almost everything important. The relationship with Hades, Thanatos, Persephone’s entire arc. But this does serve as a great framework, because these are the three disasters that set the rest of the plot into motion. This paragraph isn’t the place for character development or interpersonal drama. This is incredibly broad strokes. The next step fleshes out the characters. But more on that next week.