The Lester Dent Formula

[Y0d4F3tt]

Searching through the Aethernet that is an endless vacuum to me, I came across the 'Lester Dent Formula" for short story writing. This 'format', paired with Ray Bradbury's theory that all new writers should write one new short story every week for the first year of their writing. His theory is that after 52 weeks you will have 52 stories, and they can't all be bad.

Has anyone tried either of these theories, and what are everyone's thoughts on the use of 'formula'?

Understand that my reasoning to apply this theory into play is that if I use formula now, in the beginning, just to get the words out, then after the year has passed, I should be able to do this without thinking about it as well as get into the habit of writing everyday. Thoughts?

 

[FifthView]

The most common and incredibly useful advice given, anywhere, is to write write write write. The more you write, the better you'll become.

Short stories are a pretty good place to begin.

 

[Steerpike]

It can be useful, particularly for practice. I don't know how successful strict adherence would be, unless you're writing to a specific market that is looking for old-style pulp adventure (that's more or less what Dent was talking about I think).

Here's Dent's formula, for those who aren't familiar with it: Dirty 30s! - The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot

 

[FifthView]

I think that using a formula is fine for practice, when you are starting out and trying to get the hang of things. Once you've become familiar with a formula, you can always then begin to experiment with it, improvise. I think the only danger would be if you stopped at that one formula and never tried to push its boundaries and expand from it later—unless of course what you keep creating with the formula is the exact sort of thing you want to keep creating.

 

[Y0d4F3tt]

That is a good point - repeating the formula would lead to running into the same thing.

This is why I began this, to see where the flaws were, and already, I see that my train of thought should have never left the station.

I think that I will still try the Bradbury process though, of trying to write one short story a week. At least that way, something is started and finished

 

[Ben]

I referred to this formula when I started writing my entry for the current top scribe challenge -- actually looked at the same website Steerpike linked. I had to adjust the template a bit which I imagine will always be necessary and gives the stories some variety. I.e. You can change the fist fight confrontation to a verbal one, etc.

 

[Ben]

One caveat I would add is that if you follow his template, your story will definitely have a very "pulp adventure" feel - which is just one of many things you can do with a short story. Bradbury's stories obviously have a very different feel and purpose than Dent's. You can probably get more out of it, if you write 52 stories, by trying out different styles and themes.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I don't write a short a day, but I've participated in so many challenges here, over the last 5 years I've compiled over a hundred. I guess that breaks down into roughly one ever few weeks? And yeah, I think it's great practice. I just don't know whether one a day is the best thing to stress. In a single day (which many of my stories were written in despite being given a longer time limit), you don't get to really sink deeper into a story than your initial go of writing it. So, you might get loads of ideas on paper that could later be polished, or compiled and made into an anthology, or be written bigger and turned into a novella or novel, or maybe they could be submitted to an online magazine. Anyways, my point is, if you only spend a day on each, sure, there are lots of stories, but there will probably be some quality issues present that you never get to address in that year because you have to move on so quickly. If you wrote two a week and took one day completely off writing, you'd have three days on each story, which would give you enough time to write it, read it, analyze it, and edit it one good time before moving on to the next. And your one day off a week will be the day to recharge that every writer probably needs and doesn't allow themselves.

I mean, try the strategy out, It can't hurt. But if it creates burnout, scale it back. If you see weakness pervading your one-a-day stories, try taking three days each and seeing if that improves things.

 

[Ray M.]

there's no right way to do things, is what I know. It differs from person to person. That formula may work for some people, for others it won't

if you fancy anything of the sort though, I suggest trying it out

 

[Penpilot]

As mentioned, writing and writing lots won't hurt, especially when you're starting out. Just set realistic expectations for yourself. Some of the stories may be stinkers. Some you may struggle with, so may take more time than expected.

Treat it as something to be experimented with and to be learned from.

If you become a student of writing, you'll find lots of "formulas"/tools you can play with. Some will be incredibly useful to you, while others, not so much. You'll never know until you try them out.

 

[Helen]

Searching through the Aethernet that is an endless vacuum to me, I came across the 'Lester Dent Formula" for short story writing. This 'format', paired with Ray Bradbury's theory that all new writers should write one new short story every week for the first year of their writing. His theory is that after 52 weeks you will have 52 stories, and they can't all be bad.

Has anyone tried either of these theories, and what are everyone's thoughts on the use of 'formula'?

Understand that my reasoning to apply this theory into play is that if I use formula now, in the beginning, just to get the words out, then after the year has passed, I should be able to do this without thinking about it as well as get into the habit of writing everyday. Thoughts?

I wouldn't call it a formula. That's doing it an injustice.

I think the technique has merit. For a start it'll help overcome any inhibitions, blocks etc. Give you a pool of somewhat developed ideas / outlines etc.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Is he any relation to Arthur?!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[TheCatholicCrow]

OMG! I've never heard of this before. Rewriting a pulp piece (yes, I know there's no market for it, I just love the genre) and have been trying to figure out what's off in the pacing. I'll have to see how it compares to this template (which sounds pretty spot on for pulp).

Not sure it'd be helpful for most Fantasy subgenres, unless you're doing Speculative Noir (I've seen it a few times and it's actually amazing. I really wish this was like a legitimate genre because I would definitely read it... by all means, use the template, throw in some Jazz and whiskey and let me know how it goes for you

 

[Heliotrope]

I just had a read about it here

Dirty 30s! - The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot

And I'm not sure how this is different then the traditional 3AS? It hits all the key beats and questions, including the inciting event, midpoint reversal and second act disaster.

Looks like a great template to me. I use it often for both shorter and longer peices.

 

[Miskatonic]

Hi,

Is he any relation to Arthur?!

Cheers, Greg.

Or Harvey.

 

[Addison]

I'll admit I've never really tried writing a short story. The last time I wrote a short story was in my first semester of college. I think I only wrote two or three flash fictions and maybe two short stories. But they weren't exactly original works. One was greatly inspired by "Duck Tales", the other was an attempted fairy tale rendition. Even during those assignments I was working on novels. I started one or two new ideas that semester that are still as I left them. Talk about writer's block.

But I'll give this Lester Dent thing a try.