Today was a good day in that I got the short story done, but my productivity was lacking a bit.
I did a Power Hour this morning which was great. Be sure to watch the replay. I also spoke at the Riverside Writers Club today.
Otherwise, I actually spent a decent amount of the rest of the day NOT writing. I did some reading, discovered some new music, and just chilled out. I felt like I needed to do that, so I’m not terribly worried about my word count today. I’ll make it up.
I’m still 10,000 words AHEAD of where I need to be if I want to hit my goal. I can easily make up 1700 words in the coming week, no problem.
Anyway, I finished this story. It’s called “The Goddess of Crime.” I’ll let it sit tonight and I’ll do a quick once-over tomorrow before shipping it off to my editor. Then, I’ll submit it to magazines. This way, if magazines don’t bite, it’s already edited for a future collection that I publish.
Anyhoo, someone asked me to write about my experience with the Lester Dent Plot Formula. I was practicing this formula with the short story.
Overall, it went very well. The story clocks in at about 6500 words, and the Dent Method generally recommends about 6,000 words.
Read about the Plot Formula here: https://creativewriting.fandom.com/wiki/Lester_Dent_Master_Plot_Formula
In short, you divide a 6,000-word story into four parts, each part being 1500 words. You then subdivide those parts further into 500 word chunks, which makes them very easy to write.
I like this method. It makes stories very easy to write, especially if they’re pulpy. This story in particular is very pulpy so that helped. Lots of action and drama. This wouldn’t be as easy to use for a more relaxed short story, for example.
My biggest challenge with short stories right now is that I’m still rusty. I just need to keep writing them before it feels natural to me. But overall, finishing a story in 3 days is a pretty good accomplishment, but I know I can do better than that. Preferably, I’d like to finish the story in 1 day, 2 max.
Anyway, that’s my night. Have a good night.
YTD Word Count: 48,650
Plan: 1,252,000
Words Over/-Under Plan: 10,150
Days Ahead/-Behind: 3.69
Projected Annual Word Count: 1,474,200
Projected Decade Word Count: 14,742,000
Deadline 12/31/2023
Days to Go Until 12/31/23: 476
Word Count Average: 3,475
Average Pulp Speed: 2.1
