Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Wow. When I started these forums I had absolutely no idea they would still be alive and active 10 years later. As pointed out by our illustrious moderator John T. Shea, today marks 10 years since the start of these forums. THANKS SO MUCH to everyone for being a part of these forums, sharing your inf...

Good question and I'd say it really depends. First, I don't know that I would necessarily come out and tell the agent how long it took you or assume that your future books will necessarily follow the same trends as your past one. Let me tell you that writing while under contract is very different th...

TVZ wrote: ↑

June 6th, 2019, 7:16 am

Thanks Nathan. My main question is, is a PDF file the best thing to leave for them to be able to print & publish? Or should I leave the Microsoft Publisher files that I used to design the books?

Probably both.

Do you remember when you decided you wanted to be a writer? What was the spark? For me it was reading Roald Dahl's books. I loved them so much I wanted to write my own. But I forgot about that dream for a while until I was in high school and a classmate's murder made me take up the pen again. I've b...

Yes - this often works in reverse, where authors who were previously published will sometimes pay their publisher for the files when their books go out of print, and then use those to self-publish.

Everyone's got a place they go for peak creativity.

Mine's like the Drifter's song -- up on the roof.

What about you? Where's your favorite place to write?

One of the trickiest challenges authors face is figuring out how to literally tell the story. First person, third person limited, third person omniscient.... How do you choose a POV that works for the plot and is true to your characters? How do you go about figuring how you're going to write? Do you...

Hi Clio, I talk about that in this post: https://blog.nathanbransford.com/2018/0 ... k-proposal

Hi Jerry,

Are you dead-set on hardcover? I would check out CreateSpace and Ingram Spark, where the publishing process is pretty straightforward.

Don't worry about the flavor of the moment. Instead, write what you love, make it as good as possible, and let the chips fall where they may!

Waiting is absolutely the worst part. 1,000% agree.

To me it's all in the execution -- I've read some terrific books that were written by women and feature a male protagonist, and you simply lose yourself in the narrative. When I was an agent especially, I also read ones that missed the mark. I do think this question goes both ways though. What do yo...

I tend to want to know things in general rather than for them to be left vague. I would vote for fully, visually described.

Want to see how your editing approach compares to mine? Below is the query up for critique on the blog tomorrow, July 11th. Feel free to chime in with comments, create your own redline (please note the "font colour" button above the posting box, which looks like a drop of ink), and otherwise offer f...

Below is the page up for critique on the blog on Tuesday, June 13th. Feel free to chime in with comments, create your own redline (please note the "font colour" button above the posting box, which looks like a drop of ink), and otherwise offer feedback. When offering your feedback, please please rem...