Nathan Bransford - The Forums

It's fifty years since Ángel Valdés led the revolution that made him leader of Caribbean Zamora. Now in his twilight years, he has respect, a loving family, and absolute power. All he wants is to die in peace and leave a stable country to his daughter Haydee. But as death draws near, Ángel starts t...

You shouldn't run in to a copyright issues there, and if you have a specific reason for your inclusion of these details in the text, go for it.

My coauthor and I handle this two ways in our WIP. When we have a viewpoint character having a conversation in a non-English language, we just tell the reader what language and continue the dialogue in translation. When the viewpoint character doesn't speak the non-English language, but is hearing i...

That's pretty awesome-- everything looked tasteful and beautifully made.

I do the 'check and answer email', and 'make snack'. To this list I would like to add 'get glass of whisky' (me) and 'go on a Wikipedia wander' (Michael). Actually, I don't procrastinate that frequently, since I spend most of my time doing work, etc. and am really happy to have some 'me time' to wri...

I'm going to be the voice of dissent and say that a battle scene can work as an opening. I think you have to be very much in the character's viewpoint and intensely involved in their thoughts and emotional reactions, since this scene is also your reader's first time "meeting" the character...

I agree with cheekychook: describing someone's body language is a great way to break up monologues, as it gives some insight into the character. If you're in the POV of the character giving the speech, you can have bits of their thoughts there as well, especially if the thoughts are not quite what t...

My coauthor and I have a historical fantasy novel set in 18th century Scotland. I've published academic work on the time period we're writing about-- should I mention that in the query letter?

Michael is quite stoic, but totally freaked when we decided to off one of the viewpoint characters (well, she's not dead but is no longer human, and not able to recover). I tend to be pretty stoic about my characters suffering, but seriously squee when they have a cute moment.

That would still be sci-fi, wouldn't it, since the magic is explained by technology?

I think the line for fantasy magic is that there is not scientific explanation.

Yeah, I discovered that during an undergraduate English course-- didn't buy any books, but got to read some really good stuff.

Thanks, guys! I'm hoping my good luck carries through with this partial (and that my new baby daughter works out the difference between night and day so that I can get SOME sleep!). :D Congratulations! Also, I've heard that babies who don't sleep a lot turn out smarter... so that can cheer you up w...

Margo - It's getting to the end of the story, and along the way worrying about the language, and that it's not 'literary' enough, but truthfully, primarily plot. I have 60k on my first and 80k on my second and I'm pretty confident I'll be able to use very little in the heel of the hunt, so to speak...

“The present battle of the past conquest is always the key to determining the future.” Seven year old Grace loves to dream about being reborn as a guardian angel. It's not like Grace actually wants to die, but sometimes she thinks that mysterious life sounds so exciting – until it actually happens....

I'll bite-- my coauthor and I have a historical fantasy novel set in 18th century Britain and are happy for any feedback.