Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Cole - I need to start with the disclaimer that if I knew how to use the quote button properly, I would. However, no such luck, so my comments are here, sorry! Also, I get the feeling you have worked on this a lot and it basically says what you want it to say - it is SO important for your query to r...

I've had some great insight already and have revised this bugger several times, but could use fresh eyes. The asterick in the last paragraph is where I took out a line about sub-plots. I feel like somthing else needs to go there, but haven't quite gotten it right yet. Please let me know what you thi...

You have A LOT of suggestions here. Don't forget that your first versioin just needed a little tweaking - don't make so many changes that you lose your own voice in it. One comment I do want to add is that I felt like in the first post on this thread, you had an added hook that Gus feels that someth...

When you wake up, grab your laptop, and finish the sentence as if you had never drifted off at all.

Yea! I like your changes, this version is better. Congrats on the partial!

KappaP - so loved your post; LOVED your post! Lafayette cracks me up, too. Plus, you're right. Don't do it just to say you've done it. Do it because it has to be done. I hope everyone gets that I mean: Don't add characters that aren't needed. Add characters that are. Love them all and do them justic...

Erica, rural Wisconsin, mother of two, wife of one, preschool teacher to many. About to query my contemporary YA with a bit 'o science mixed in. Busy, busy, busy! Good luck to everyone!

On this topic over the past 20 years, there are no rules. I love Scott's post - go with that. I know people who disgust me, people who inspire me, people who. . .well, make my life either better or worse. That's it.

I think you should be fine either way, especially in social service - type jobs. If you're still worried, put copies of the articles into the portfolio you take to interviews.

Evelyn - I just popped over to the thread on critique partners and saw your name on it. Are you still looking? My ms is complete (well, until I edit again, of course) at just over 59,000 words - contemporary YA with a little science thrown in. I'm new to this forum, but lurk and participate on sever...

I'm 34, which oddly enough makes me exactly double the age of the mc in the novel I'm querying. Although I respectfully ask to be 30 again, since the first two years of each of my son's lives went by too fast to count! Anyhow, I have no idea how many stories I've written - the first I remember is 8t...

I have heard that your book needs to be the focus of the query, and, although only an opinion, I think you can afford a second paragraph about your plot. For example, why would Leo choose to come to a 21st century American high-school if he could go anywhere he wanted? Why does Helene think he's her...

"And I don’t say it, but all the things I’m wondering, all the reasons I’m nervous, can be summed up in one line, one succinctly put question: What if we’re not the same? And I don’t mean us as individuals, but as a group. As a solid, sturdy, unflappable-in-the-face-of-tragedy group." I think this i...