Nathan Bransford - The Forums

There's no section in looking for a writing partner, or a co-writer, as far as I found so I thought this would be the best place. I'm working on a short story that's a narrative told in rhyme. I find that though I might have started off strong in the beginning, I just don't have the chops to continu...

Hello All. I'm currently working on a collection of related short stories to complement a bigger novel project. I'm looking for someone who'd be willing to stick with it from beginning to end. In return I'll critique your material, be it short stories, a novel or whatnot. Right now I'm at a low 23,0...

Indeed, although most of them are digital copies since I've had critique partners online, I have hard copies of my WIPs from college that I keep in folders mark with the draft number, the date and who looked it over. Sometimes I reread them just for the comments though, I had one guy who made it a p...

Bamboozle. It's just fun to say.

I have this weird nack of finding new music that I designate as "the soundtrack" for that WIP. Sometimes it's experimental house music, gentle ambient stuff, movie soundtracks, or even more lyrical stuff like Linkin Park or Foo Fighters. All in all though, I like the soundtrack/ambient stu...

Trying to add to some of the themes of that brief I posted, but I hope I do a better job of conveying the story, while excising the unnecessary. Quill, you're posts have been very insightful and stimulating, and only motivates me to keep trying. So here goes, without underlining: Raiana Draco though...

So I'm trying Nathan's query mad lib formula and see if I'm going in the right direction. Much shorter and hopefully compelling :) Raiana Draco is an alchemist runt living in a closed magic driven community. But when her elders sell out their youth to a warring nation to harvest the crystals that gi...

You may want to do the same. I agree with Krista... The opening with the girl waking up seems a bit weak. I also found it odd that she doesn't have a name. Is she not important enough to have a name? I suppose some of my screenwriting training coming in here. I don't like to give a name until someo...

Yep, it's reading like a synopsis rather than an teaser. To me at least. And there are far too many terms to wrap my poor brain around (emergency wormhole device, C.U.T. outposts, decaying moral), while I'm trying to decide whether or not to ask for the full meal (your manuscript). Could you give i...

Thanks everyone again for your input. This character's POV is more passive and isn't suitable for a query. So I return back to Rai, and now with some new details that have been integrated into the story, I give you Draft No. 4! Critique away! Out of the closed community of the Magic Academy of the N...

A few years ago I got into LARP (LIve Action Role Play) and some dice games (Mutants and Masterminds) and found that those could be a good way to do some writing. You have to made the setting, build the worlds, its people, but also build the adventures and have to be flexible about what the players ...

Hey Nathan, Seeking advice on personalizing query letters. How much info should we reveal about the research we've done on a particular agent? I don't want to seem like a stalker and have bullet points from every sentience I think is relevant from their last interview, but I don't want to be too vag...

Hey all. Just got done with a wonderful critique partner. Just finished their revisions and looking to strike out again! I'm draft 10 into the WIP and looking for someone who's thorough and I'll do the same. I'm strongest with characters and story pacing, grammar I do okay but looking for input on t...

Bang ~ Went something mechanical and large. The sound stirred the female student like a startled sleeping beast, and bolted up to a sitting position. She removed the large silk hood from her face. Light struck natural red irises’ that snapped to the holographic sundial. It was Noon. She groaned, ann...

I'd be interested in trading too. If you want to trade the first ten, see if we're a fit, that'd be cool. We can discuss how to go about it after we've agreed. Query below: Out of the closed community of the Nine, the newest evolution of Man proceeds. But once Raiana Draco, one of their top students...