Nathan Bransford - The Forums

LOL not really. It's a break from trying to figure out my latest chapter title! Some tweaks O faithful feedbackers. Dear Agent BOZO, Over the last week, Reece Paine's life has been a tangle of events requiring every ounce of her wits and some extreme cookie bribery, just to maintain her sanity. Reec...

You wanna know? The "kidnappers" end up being a bunch of human television show flunkies who have found out about paranormals and started "collecting" paranormal kids so that they can train them up and start airing a reality TV show. She busts the ring with her pals (they can't go to the cops, becaus...

To explain shortly, and to try to get some idea of how you might present this: This is a comical novel about a snowball of events that seem frightening and intense at first, but end up okay. While finding the kidnappers is a plot thread winding through the book until the end, and her emotional quand...

cut I'm seeking representation for cut-Insert: My YA fantasy HARP-BROKEN, complete at 67,000 words. Based on Irish mythology, it should appeal to readers who enjoy Herbie Brennan or Charles de Lint. Place this paragraph at the end. It's not attention grabbing enough, but it needs to be included. Wh...

Yay! I figured it out. Stubbornness pays.

First person can be difficult for me (at least in my current work) because it is so much easier to maintain the proper personalities of other characters and develop them fully. Also, I think it is more difficult to maintain tense. I DO think it is absolutely 100% easier, if you are a skilled author,...

Hmmmm. That was brilliant. BUT, what if I am writing a cross-genre book and there is almost 30,000 words difference between the averages? I guess I should just write the book and throw caution to the wind. It seems to work for me in everything else. Carpe diem, I suppose.

How do I change the topic on a query feedback post? Someone said "we'll find it" and I didn't need to start a new one every time, but I am not getting 8 hundred 15 million (yeah I am too lazy to type the frigging numbers out) posts of feedback back, so I am freaking out. Well not freaking, but I hav...

I feel much better about this one. EGADS, I wrote about 8,000 words this weekend and I'm off to write about another 8,000. Yeehaw! Thanks for the feedback, I am also getting some helpful info from the WWW when I take writing and toddler breaks. The first line here is a "housekeeping" line. I have pu...

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of current stats on average word counts according to genre? I know that publishers are not as hot about longer books at the moment, and I am concerned that the info I'm using might be a little old. I'm in the final frenzies this week of finishing my manuscript...

Your outline is just a jumping board. I would try writing about five chapters, making some more notes on characters and other details, mapping out some more of the minor conflicts and researching some of the details you want to include but don't know all the nitty gritty about, and seeing if there i...

MUCH BETTER! This is more condensed and it shows off your story far better. It pulls me in and makes me ask positive questions about instead of confusing me. Edits are suggested to make it more polished only, not because your effort is lacking in ANY way. You are definitely on the right track here....

ROTFLMAO Okay, I have some editing I am doing, but I have to say that YES her mother in law IS a demon. After a great deal of thought and some of the input I am getting, I think that 1) I need to market this as a specifically cross-genre book that is CHICK-LIT and URBAN FANTASY, with a dash of myste...

I have been working on my first drafts of my query as well, so I will try to help if I can! This site was VERY helpful. http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx I also found it useful to make a two column form with events of my novel on one side (including emotional events) and level of pace on the ...

Edited again! :) I feel there is a better "main" plot line running through the query this time. Hopefully it will be enough to get the manuscript read. It is not a one plot line, one main conflict story. It's more a snowball of events happening in a short period of time. That is far more difficult t...