Comments on: Happy Birthday, Lester Dent

By: John

John — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:50:37 +0000

@marta – I thought of your last point, too. Tried to imagine Lester Dent (or anybody) counting the words, getting to (say) 1300 words, and freaking out to find a plot twist there. Kind of like, “Oh crap… now I’ve got to pad it out!” :)

By: marta

marta — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:06:40 +0000

Well, I think there are plenty areas of life where the if-it-feels-cheap-don’t-do-it rule applies. If I have a story that could benefit from this kind of structure, then great. But there are always other structures that work.

Though I also want to add that I don’t go by any word marker–x number of words means plot twist here. But I do try to go for the chapter ending that begs for the next chapter.

By: John

John — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:28:15 +0000

@marta – Figured you might get a laugh out of that. :)

I have to admit I’m torn on the “isn’t that what we want?” question.

Sure, I’d hate to lose a single reader, let alone LOTS of readers, because I’ve insufficiently maintained their interest.

On the other hand, gimmicks like cliffhanger chapter endings and such feel cheap, y’know?

So the question then becomes, if you DON’T use time-honored techniques of maintaining suspense (or at least interest), then how do you keep the pages turning?

By: marta

marta — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 04:36:39 +0000

Oh my gosh, I’m an idiom! Ha.

I don’t have a list of rules or a formula exactly, but when I rewrite my rough draft, I try to make connections, increase the tension, find the cliffhangers, and get the ending. Try being the operative word here.

But even for stories not pulp fiction, the rules make sense–not to follow blindly, but to keep in mind for a story that will keep a reader with you page after page. That’s what we want, isn’t it?