Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Thanks again people - everyone who has commented has helped a lot. Strange thing about trying to see through other people's eyes and yet retain your own perspective. The contest, in a way, is not overwhelmingly important in terms of the character developments. It is a culmination point, a reward alm...

Hi Quill and Ellie G Your comments are exactly why I decided to test my query here. First, Quill, it seems you want a synopsis rather than a query. From other posts in this forum, and other forums, there is a lot of discussion about Show versus Tell. Have more-or-less decided a Query is Show whereas...

UPDATE - PLEASE SEE VERSION 6.5 ON PAGE 1

PLEASE SKIP OVER EARLIER VERSIONS AS THE WHOLE QUERY HAS CHANGED TOTALLY

Thanx astrogirl and I have thought about the genre too. Some comments in the forum say the genre is all-important. But others say agents will interpret genre differently, therefore let them decide based on the query. Do others think stating a genre may pre-filter the query from some agents and so mi...

One thing lacking for me is POV. Am not sure if this is YA and so much of the story will revolve around 10-year-old Casey - what happens to her, how she feels, etc.

Or is the story an adult-focussed action-thriller with Casey in the background?

THIS IS THE NEWEST REVISION, #3 - do not scroll down Dear Agent: In the spring of 1938, a baby boy dies in a remote farm home in drought-stricken northern Saskatchewan. His father, Gus, immerses himself in his daily chores, caring for his beloved horses, worrying about the absence of rain. The one ...

Hi everyone. Here is version 6 and this time I need to add Serzen to the thank you list. Have returned to the “Nathan style” to help me stay focussed. Dear Nathan, I chose to submit to you because of your tastes in literary fiction and suspense, and because your blog is a consistent source of infor...

Well thanks again bcomet cos that really helped. Somehow I keep reading with "full knowledge" sitting in back of my brain, so don't see how much I need to explain. Here, then, is version 5.5 which I hope helps reflect my novel in a better light. Home-raid survivor Ella knows about pain an...

Hello again and here is version 5 and this time I need to add GeeGee55 to the thank you list. Dear Nathan, I chose to submit to you because of your tastes in literary fiction and suspense, and because your blog is a consistent source of information and a pleasure to read. Ella knows about pain and ...

... have found that without music playing I tend to stare at the screen and read instead of typing as if I need the music to help those neurons fire away :) At the moment I have a bit of everything playing: Ladyhawke, vampire weekend, mumford & sons, and regina spektor I agree with Victoria tha...

One difficulty I have with many forums and blogs about writing is the lack of context. While I understand that comments and advice can leap genres, it would help me enormously if most posts could be tagged with a genre in some way. At the moment it is necessary to read just about every post before f...

Hello again and here is version 4 - with huge thanks to maybegenius , Astrogirl , bcomet , Yoshima and jordynface . I also liked the idea of Nathan’s Query Template, so here goes: Dear Nathan, I chose to submit to you because of your tastes in literary fiction and suspense, and because your blog is ...

Thanks again maybegenius. As there have been little other comment that could mean little interest (in the Query and/or the theme) or no other recommendations. So wonder if I should send the Query to 10 agents and see if there is response. Even negative data is better than no data at all - lol.

Thanks for the comment Astrogirl - love the name by the way. Although I know the Query needs to be clear and crisp - agents are busy and probably overloaded - there is a nagging thought that something needs to stand out. If 20 Queries arrive with similar clean styles, almost to a formula, what sets ...

The discussion on alpha and beta readers is interesting. In computing the alpha testers will test to destruction and the app may need to be heavily rewritten. Beta testers are usually finding the smaller problems and hiccups. Back in the day (yes, I did work in newspapers many years ago) the compani...