Why I am writing this post
I love writing stories, but I've always gotten stuck at some point. Just look at my Down with Divine posts. Yes. I've written a handful of chapters after this, but I lost direction as to what to write next. I was pantsing hard, and apparently I have only so much pantsing juice before it runs out. Now I am not going to pickup writing down with divine again. Any time soon, or maybe ever.
I hate planning anything, but a while back stumbled onto the Snowflake Method. My normal method fails to produce the stories I want to be written. So what did I do, procrastinate. Then nothing got done. Damn it. So, if that is what I have to do to get the stories out of my mind, so be it. But I am going to try and writing something new. Well. Newish. Fanfic. I am not going to tell you of what, yet. You will have to guess.
So what's the plan? I'm going to follow the Snowflake Method and document the results of each step. I've not found anywhere on the internet that does this. Everyone documents the first couple of steps and then stops because it is hard work. As much work as writing the plot for an actual book. 😂 So wish me luck.
Following the plan
I am not going to cover the explanation of using the Snowflake Method, but you can read about it here. We are just going to follow each step. Oh, by reading these posts you should know: you will be exposed to spoilers at some point because I'm planning the whole story and plot over the course of this series.
Step 1 - Take an hour and write one sentence.
Sounds easy, right? Why would anyone need an hour to write a single sentence? Okay, let me show you my first try, which took a few minutes at most.
A ragtag group of sleuths investigate the tangled mystery of an ancient mask.
It is okay, but it is just not quite right. Missing something that it can't put my finger on. So, I had to start over and over again using almost the whole hour. Here is the list that I came up with.
Ideas
A ragtag group of sleuths investigate the tangled mystery of an ancient mask.
A group of friends turned investigators are hired to find a stolen relic.
Friends turned rising star sleuths investigate an ancient relic that holds dark secrets.
Rising star sleuths investigate the theft of ancient relic finding a brier patch of secrets and mysteries.
The tangled mystery of an ancient mask.
Friends, lovers, family, and ragtag group of investigators clash to find the truth.
After a string recent of successful investigations the team is called to find a relic stolen by ghost.
The best team of investigators are at it again. This time with the theft of an ancient relic and secrets older then your great-great-grandparents.
Friends turned investigators are hired to prove a ghost stole an ancient relic, but they will have to untangle secrets from the past to prove it.
Hired to prove a ghost stole an ancient relic. The team has to untangle a web of secrets.
Sleuths hired to prove a ghost stole an ancient relic tangled in a web of secrets.
Private Investigators hunting for proof that a ghost stole an ancient relic.
Paranormal sleuths hired to prove a ghost stole an ancient relic tangled in a web of secrets.
A ghost stole a relic from the museum. Now all the team has to prove it.
A ghost stole an ancient relic tangled in a brier patch of secrets. Now all the team has to do prove it.
End Thoughts
Don't be afraid to drop as many thoughts here as possible. Especially the 'dumb' ideas. Maybe they will turn into magic or maybe not. Just drop them in the list, so your mind will stop bugging you about them. These took about 52 minutes to come up with this list of possibilities. Not the whole hour, but I felt spent. Notice there are a lot of reoccurring themes and ideas. So which one do you think I was, my final choice. Find out in the next post
Find the tools and files I'm using in the Snowflake Method Series.