Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Lol, Lorelei... 2666 is on my shelf and staring at me this minute. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no... My current guilt book is David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest . One of my writer friends put the whammy on it by saying "you'll never finish that!" Which means I have to. Yes I said yes I will ...

I'm headed back to Ace Hardware this morning for another ream. I think a writer must know every paper source within a fifty-mile radius.

I also dream of a time when a printer company makes a universal ink cartridge.

I don't kill my darlings. I kill the bad parts, not the good. I think "kill your darlings" might just be one of the worst and most dangerous bits of advice ever given to writers, the way it has been interpreted. I believe it meant to kill what is good, or necessary, or logical only to the ...

Don't overdo it. Include smells, yes, and include colors, but there are some problems with being too exact and lavish in your descriptions of anything. One, you descend into purple prose. Two, you get in your reader's way. When you say your character walks into the kitchen and smells garlic, your re...

Why these sorts of vampire stories work: Vampires are irresistible. They represent the sexual urge. Young women, teenage women who are just beginning their sexual lives, are facing major, adult decisions. The risks of becoming sexually active are many. Along comes the vampire. There is no risk of ri...

Not mentioning the word count is a no-no, because if you get to the full submission stage, any agent will be VERY cranky to find out how short it is, even if they didn't auto-reject your query letter for the omission. Yes, a too-short novel is a turn-off. Also, don't think an agent will be happy to ...

I just bought two reams of paper at Ace Hardware. I live in a small, small town.

I was with you until the word count. That is a short, short book. Any chance of another 40K?

A theory for the success of an equally good book: "A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people ...

Finished the Kingsolver, finished the Erdrich, and the time has come. I'm goin' in: Robert Bolano's 2666.

Aloha!

Writer on the north shore of Kauai, one novel published, second in the editing phase, shall be querying this summer. MFA in screenwriting from UCLA. Money earned in Second Life, avatar name Rusalka Writer. Don't be a stranger!

Finishing Kingsolver's The Lacuna, started Erdrich's Shadow Tag, and just got Demick's Nothing to Envy.

I couldn't get pass the craptastic writing.

Just finished reading my newest out loud. Twice. Takes three days each time. Three long days and plenty of lozenges. 97K.

And when you're querying your next book, don't mention PublishAmerica. They are not a publication credit.