Writing Article: Lester Dent's Pulp Plot

Here's a fun little article, although it's more of a formula for short pulp fiction than an article. If anyone knew how to write it should be Lester Dent writer of most of the Doc Savage pulps. Here it is . . .

Lester Dent Pulp Plot Plan


I think I might give this a try with a fantasy. To make it an even more lowbrow, pulp-like piece of hack work (in a good way) I’ll use a bunch of random tables to generate characters, settings, and other stuff. In fact I will do just that. Fun!

Spoke Too Soon . . .

. . . When I said my WIP had died on its arse. I added another few thousand words taking it to 57,634 in total. I decided I’d plug on even though a) it's not the genre I want to write in and b) the way I’m writing it, it is going to need a big rewrite. Both these reasons apply to my first novel attempt which died after just 36,000 words. I’m also going to give that another try.


Why?

Because I believe that not finishing a project is a bad habit for a writer to get into. I’m going to finish both. I doubt I’ll ever publish them, but I’m going to finish first drafts, and at least one rewrite. This is not just stubbornness on my part. I hope to learn and improve by doing this. These unfinished works won’t be my main priority, I’m planning a 50K novella that is a) in the genre I want to write in, and b) written in a way that works better for me. But I will chip away at them until they’re finished. However long that takes.

Disappointing January

Ach. January was dissapointing: only 10k words, too many 0 days, two stories finished but in need of rewrites and edits, and my WIP  died on its arse at 56,000 words. Still, that's a slight improvment on my first attempt at a novel which died at 38,000 words. Third time lucky?

Jan


1st: 952
2nd: 0
3rd: 0
4th: 536
5th: 1,346
6th: 546
7th: 1,519
8th: 0
9th: 0
10th: 896
11th: 1,165
12th: 447
13th: 0
14th: 304
15th: 760
16th: 0
17th: 0
18th: 607
19th: 0
20th: 0
21st: 0
22nd: 0
23rd: 0
24th: 0
25th: 671
27th: 0
28th: 0
29th: 0
30th: 0
31st:0

Jan Total: 10,813
Jan average: 348