Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Well, I've had dinner with Diana Gabaldon. OK, there were 299 other people in the room too, but I did have a nice opportunity to chat with her at another point in the conference. There are certainly a great number of mid-list authors that should take a page out of her book when it comes to being cha...

Just as an experiment, I "friended" charlotte49ers the day I posted this.

I really don't think it has done either of us any good.

I actually started a thread a couple days ago in this same forum, called "Beta Basics" for this same subject. My beta readers are far different from my critique partner. My betas are first and foremost readers. Voracious readers. Readers that even read books they aren't really interested ...

I found my writing partner, Sophie*, at the First North American Historical Novel Society Conference in Salt Lake City Utah in April of 2005. We were in the lobby of the hotel waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to the airport. We talked a little bit about how much we had enjoyed the confere...

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and I've come to a somewhat disturbing theory. Perhaps this thing we all seem to have is some sort of genetic code. It's never been such a serious affliction that it has drawn scientists in to study it, but we might all just be one misplaced protein...

Well, I've decided to make everyone posting in this thread my official friend. What that might mean I don't know, but if something especially cool happens I'll be sure to tell you all about it.

I was checking to see if I had any messages, because, you know, if Nathan sends me a note saying "Yo dude, when are you sending me your manuscript?" I want to reply promptly. While I was there I kind of noticed for the first time that you can mark messages as being from a friend or foe, wh...

Matthew Rush wrote:Sounds tasty.

Pretty good. Sometimes I stretch it out a bit by adding a maraschino cherry and a touch of vermouth. I take the extra steps when I need to ponder before sitting back down at the keyboard. Back when I was a smoker that was my pause, but now I sometimes need something else.

Now now now, they didn't steal those books, they bought them from a publisher who paid an author good money (maybe not much money, but money) for his efforts. And just because it sounds like your book doesn't mean it is your book. Your book is really probably nothing like that one in fact, it just b...

This is something I've got a vested interest in too. Personally, I think the question should be focused around debut novel length and YA rather than all books in general. I too have noted exactly how many books there are in excess of 120K, mainly Sci-fi and fantasy. Science fiction, fantasy, and hi...

When the weather is cool, I like a nice cup of coffee liberally laced with brandy. If I feel that I have been especially productive I will treat myself and drop a Hershey's Kiss into the mug. This of course is a Friday/Saturday night thing, since that coffee will keep you going into the wee hours. T...

Oh good Lord yes... I can't seem to convince myself that my book is good enough to bother querying. Why go to all that effort writing three versions of a synopsis (small, medium, and large according to various agent desires) and a killer query only to be rejected? It's time to consider ceramics or s...

Well, *I* just got a new kitty. Old Tessie, a "third hand cat" we took in over 10 years ago wandered off a couple of weeks back. We looked and waited but I think it was her time and she knew it and wanted to go on her own terms. At least that's what I tell myself. Monday evening, we adopte...

I'll stand before you with no shame or regret in proclaiming my failure as a blogger. Oh sure, I keep it because of the name, because who knows, one of these days I could find myself living a life of leisure. Then I would have some time for it, but I'm much too anal about public posting and writing ...

I think the important thing to remember about world building is that just because you know it doesn't mean you have to tell your reader all about it. I write historical fiction. Part of the reason I am drawn to it I think is because it gives me this absolutely tremendous excuse to go off on these re...