Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I'm 31. I made my first attempt at a novel at age 21, and got about 75k words in, but then never finished. It was absolute drivel. I made another attempt at age 25, and got about 25k words in and failed. Then at age 31 I was about to delete the file that had those 25k words that was six years old, b...

I think they are representing both. However, I think that they need to really love a book in order to take on a client - We've all seen the stats, and if an agent is going to make you one of their new clients, then they probably want to be absolutely sure that they can sell your first book... they p...

I personally blame Nanowrimo for many things: 1: Making writers feel like failures for not getting 50k words done in a month 2: Making writers put off something they want to write to November so they have something for Nanowrimo 3: Making writers flood agents inbox with queries for unpolished work -...

Hello All! Several of the agents I'm querying have requested a "brief" synopsis (whatever that means), so I'm trying to cut this baby down to size. So far I've cut it down from 10 pages to 5 (and from 5 to 3 on attempt 2, and now down to 2 pages). The comments so far have really helped. I'...

Marilyn - I personally think that it's 60k words of perfection.... which isn't bad for something that is 60,376 words long :) The thing that worries me is that the competition for representation and traditional publication is so intense that I would hate to have someone say, "I like it, but I'm...

polymath - Thanks for the numbers from the BLS - I would assume that technical writers are probably the ones that are pulling that average way up, as many of them not only have to be solid writers, but also technical experts in what they are writing about. i think in college I had to take 3 writing ...

Perhaps I'm just being the typical guy when I start to think about the size of my novel... I look at the puny 60,376 words that it took to completely tell the story that I had outlined, and I can't help but think, this thing needs to be bigger. The problem is though, that every time I add anything t...

I don't really think credentials are that important... I think that motivation level is by far more important than a big vocabulary. I would guess that 95% of words in 95% of novels are things that everyone knows, and that it's how you string them together that matter. Grammar and punctuation? It ca...

Jessica, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "arc"? However, those 4 characters each have about 1/4th of the novel that is told through their perspective, and none of the key things that those characters do could be perceived through anyone else's point of view without crazy amounts of h...

Thanks Lunetta - the story alternates between 4 points of view, the two brothers (one consumed with rage, the other trying to be the voice of reason), the father (to show his loneliness and feeling of helplessness), and the caregiver (to show the terrible things she's doing, but to show that she fee...

Dear ---, When a manipulative caregiver burrows her way into Don Williams’ life and sets her sights on stealing his fortunes, his sons will stop at nothing to get her out of his life and protect the family business. The only solace that Don Williams finds in recovery after he suddenly falls ill is t...

I'll preface by saying that I'm clueless... If you are doing the writing, but borrowing from his comics, then you would be the one querying/selling the novel, but you would need an agreement with him that would "license" you to use his intellectual property. I would imagine that if his com...

Sadly, I thought my first novel was ready, but it wasn't... the stakes just weren't high enough (although I still think it would make a great screenplay). Here are the stats: Sent out 3 months ago: Queries: 31 No Responses: 18 Form Rejections: 8 Too Busy Rejections: 3 Requests for partials: 1 Out of...

I think the question we should be asking is how did Meyers hit the jackpot in spite of the writing? It seems to be a consensus that many people don't think her writing is that great with respect to some literary classics. Yet, despite that, she's sold more copies than some truly great authors. Don't...

Is your co-author actually going to be doing any writing in the story or did he just spend time outlining the "universe" that it is set in?