Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Would appreciate comments/reactions/suggestions/feedback Title The Sailor and The Carpenter El Marinero y el Carpintero (A story of 18th Century New Spain) Genre historical fiction promotional "quick teaser" A young English farmer is taken from his home to serve aboard a merchant ship bou...

This is the (much reworked) opening of my WIP, CONTROL. It's YA urban fantasy, and as yet - as always - incomplete. If you've got time, take a look and let me know what you think. Thanks in advance. --------------------- The light overhead was too bright. She twisted over in her half-sleep state, t...

I suppose I support a descriptivist view of grammar than than a prescriptivist view. While the word "alright" is less common, I would argue it is still acceptable. My college days were a few years ago, but I do remember my grammar professor claiming that "alright" was alright. Of...

Emily, I missed your critiques :) Thanks so much for this one. Working hard on this opener and I really see what you mean. Will update and hope you had an amazing holiday season! Awww thanks! It's good to be back. And I did want to say that I have been reading your posts for awhile now and you are ...

Sometime in the not so near future I plan on sending this out again. It'll be my third or fourth round of queries. The second to last paragraph was included after the first round as a way of catching the attention of agents. Just let me know what you think works and what doesn't. Devi Ashara did no...

Speaking of unpronounceable names, I always loved Patricia McKillip's Riddle Master trilogy. One of her characters was a powerful wizard called Iff of the Unpronounceable Name. Of course that wasn't his full name, no one could say his full name because it was ridiculously long what not. And Iff of t...

Doubleplusungood! Censorship is really the enemy of art. And although this news is certainly disheartening, I can't say it's really surprising.

But is it just me or did anyone else think of that Family Guy episode. "Please hand me the oar n-word Jim." :)

Down the well wrote: And a pox on any agent that would reject for using italics, I thought before hitting submit.

LOL! This made me laugh. But yeah, if an agent is going to be that unreasonable and anal-retentive would you really want to work with him? Hells no.

Hey guys! I haven't been on here awhile and I was wondering what you think of my new first chapter start. Are you hooked? I am currently working on revisions for a publisher and agent, so I really would like to know if you are hooked or not. As always, be HARSH. :) CHAPTER ONE Vitiosus took slow st...

Thanks. Newer Version, pared down a little: Dear Agent: The only traces of magic left in Rell's world are the violent, semi-sentient mage storms made up of the ashes of the magic-wielders killed in the great war. this sentence is still a bit unmanageable, especially for a hook, the very first impre...

I use italics in my own writing. I find it easier that quotation marks and visually sets it apart more. I have a manuscript where two characters have telepathic discussions sometimes while having a verbal discussion. The italics really helped clarify things so I would recommend them. I think they ar...

Thanks Emily and A La Vanille. I've taken your suggestions and rewritten this for clarity. Hope it is better. Explaining things like the Wild Magic would kill the mystery, so i left them. Thank you again. Revision 3... Dear agent, Cash Flaherty is fed up with his small Texas town <-- strikes me as ...

Sorry everyone, my house flooded over Christmas. We are stuck in a hotel for a month, so I didn't have time to do much earlier. Now it looks like I have all the time in the world. Here is a rewrite of the query. Please let me know what you think.: Most people dread the thought of being completely a...

OK, here's the revised version. Cash Flaherty is fed up with his small Texas town and the office-bound future that’s mapped out for him. To break away, the seventeen-year-old books summer school in Ireland. It pisses off his workaholic dad, which suits Cash just fine. Whatever gets him a new life. ...

Is it terrible that I pretty much live inside my head? So mostly no, I don't go licking walls or eating strange things to write with better description. Maybe I should? One thing I have done, though, is gone on field trips. I have been writing a real-world modern-day fantasy series which takes plac...