Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Friday Night Lights, all the way. Especially season four, where it turned into The Wire: West Texas. ;-) I love Vince as a new character and I can't wait to see what happens in season five. I have a couple of friends who are extras on the show, so I might get a sneak peek at what is coming up. Not ...

Friday Night Lights, all the way. Especially season four, where it turned into The Wire: West Texas. ;-) I love Vince as a new character and I can't wait to see what happens in season five. I have a couple of friends who are extras on the show, so I might get a sneak peek at what is coming up. Not t...

At my real job I see the names off most of the babies born in the state and the weird name thing is not limited to fiction. After I had my son, I was in the hospital, and the lady in the other bed was on the phone asking people how to spell Gabrielle because that's what she wanted to name her daugh...

This whole subject is close to my heart. Here's a SAMPLE of the names in my MS (fantasy, btw) People: Asherasinosia Asmodym Axmyl Azomyn Calchas Cryzba Ebshesa Gonmyr Korbyn Velryk Vrugan Grinlai Gyan Twai Idouchoh Jakfyr Jakorus Kwynzar Borcai Fletus Raghuv Ondsyr Xyahda Oscilnar Ranhulyr Ashyrea ...

The Clan of the Cave Bear, hands down, followed by the sequels. I keep copies in the house at all times. If I lend one out, I go to the used bookstore and buy another. lol. They're just books that I can pick up and read. Another one I love is Roots. I'm not sure how many times I've read it, but I re...

I have the opposite problem. I had a couple people comment on the common names of the characters in my book. Jim and Bill. Thing is, these are military type guys, they are late 40s, early 50s. Those names are/were incredibly common then and I wanted the characters to be believable and very much cons...

I'm not too bad with grammar and spelling, my problem is leaving out little words. It, a, the, etc. I'm not the worlds fastest typist, maybe 40wpm when I'm on a roll, and so I guess my fingers just decide to skip the little words to catch up to what I'm thinking. Also, I find that editing one part m...

I was playing around with the query, and since I haven't read the story, my suggestions may be totally inappropriate for your manuscript. As always, take what makes sense and leave the rest. Every twenty-three years, Anna Rodwen has to set out on a new search to find the man she loves -- and it's b...

I begin most writing sessions by editing the previous scenes. I need to refresh my memory of what just happened in the story anyway, and it's not like I can let a typo or awkward sentence just slide. I might forget about it. After about ten minutes of editing, I start a new scene. Of course, this do...

Trying to finish muscling through GAI-JIN by James Clavell. Started it because I loved SHOGUN but this one is not nearly as good. Seems to be overly long just so it can be called an epic. There are great parts but so much of it could go. Next up is THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT by Diana and Liz Welch with D...

I went to the used bookstore the other day and stocked up on a variety of books. I haven't had a chance to read them yet though. My second novel is a romantic suspense, so I bought three or four of those, a couple of sci-fi (Ender's Game and Red Lightning) and a few others. All together, I got 10 pa...

I'd write what I want to write. If you're not doing that, well, all the rest becomes less meaningful. I agree with this. I'm having trouble with my first novel too, in that it really doesn't fit in a neat little genre package, but it's what I wanted to write and I'm glad I did it. I may never sell ...

I had fun with my blog today. I posted in the voice of Coach Taylor, from Friday Night Lights. I think I might make him a regular guest blogger. ;-)

Broken down, I think each part of the book report is fine, I just question all of it on just two books. It's overkill to me, and sucks the enjoyment right out of reading the books.

The post on men and books got me thinking about kids and books. I've tried so hard to get my children to love reading, but it hasn't taken. It almost did when I homeschooled my two oldest sons for a few years each during middle school. I set aside time every day where they had to read, but I didn't ...