Snowflake Pro is a writing tool that was created by Randy Ingermanson, author of How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method. It is free to download with the purchase of his book. I’ve been using this tool for my latest project, and I like it so much I thought I’d take the time to review it for other writers.

The snowflake method is a story planning tool for gradually building on the basic premise of your book. You start with one sentence that summarizes your storyline. In the next step, you expand this into a paragraph. From there, you take each sentence in your one-paragraph summary and expand each sentence into a paragraph until you have a one page summary–a short synopsis. You’ll expand this further until you have a detailed, multi-page synopsis.

I found the software to be useful for brainstorming. When you’re creating characters, it asks questions about their motivations, conflicts, backstory, characteristic traits, etc until you really get a handle on that character. You do all of this brainstorming before you start writing. That way, you don’t have to go back and make up a reason why your character acts the way he does. The character development informs the writing, not the other way around.

The software comes with a tutorial that I found to be quite helpful. So helpful, in fact, that you can use this method without reading the book if you follow the tutorial. It was like taking a class in the Snowflake Method. Each step has an audio lecture you can listen to on your computer, lecture notes, and help notes at the bottom of the page. You can listen to Randy Ingermanson himself explain the method step by step. He also provides examples drawn from familiar books and movies that you can review to see how the completed project should look.

When you complete all the steps, there is an option to print the entire thing out as a proposal, all formatted in a professional style.

If you’re a pantser, this will not be your jam. I get that. You can still use some of the technique when your first draft is written. In the past, I have relied on beat sheets to inform my writing, but I’ve become a detailed outliner after having to do multiple revisions on my past work.

I actually enjoyed planning out my story with Snowflake Pro. I felt good about the story I was building. It got me excited about writing it.

Like all writing tools, it is possible to fritter away time thinking about what the contents of your character’s purse would be, so I’d advise you don’t go to that level of detail unless you need to in order to know what to write. Don’t let the tool keep you from writing the actual book.

However, I recommend giving Snowflake Pro a try. It is a low-cost (or free*) tool that can be helpful when brainstorming the premise, underlying structure and characters for any novel.

*Randy Ingermanson is no longer selling the software but you can still download it for free at https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/contact/download-again/snowflake-pro-download-page/ The password is snowflake.