Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I've always assumed that if a section of the story is boring to me, with my ability to see the whole story and understand all the characters' motivations, then my readers will be snoozing.

I'm a pantser. My novels start with a character instead of a plot. I'll have a general idea for a plot, but the details of the plot change as I write. I tend to write very slowly, not because I don't know where the plot is going, but rather than I'm very particular about how I get there. I'll think ...

I often write to music, even when alone. I use different music for different tasks. When I'm in "creative" mode, actively putting a new part of the story on the page, it's some kind of soft music that I've heard many times before. Norah Jones usually does the trick. When I'm editing or pro...