Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Regan, I hear ya! I've been absent from the forums all summer trying to keep up with my day-job, which has ranged from 45-50 hours a week, plus grad school and two freelance clients. Ick! It has not been pretty. I do have one suggestion that works wonders for me. I carry a mini tape recorder so I ca...

I'll second some of the greats that people have already mentioned: Anne McCaffrey, J.K. Rowling and Brandon Sanderson. Plus, I wish I could capture characters like Robert Jordan, and voice/pacing like Rick Riordan or Karen Marie Moning. Oh, and Jim Butcher and Sarah Rees Brennan should get a mention...

Definitely! All. The. Time. I outline my scenes pretty well in my mind before I ever put them down on paper. It helps me catch plot holes and see where the story is going...plus, it's fun.

I love his description of characters having a line-item veto over the setting/plot. My characters tend to pull out that veto from time to time.

Holy buckets, Batman! Must check it out - I knew about his podcasts, but not the entire lecture series. Thanks for the heads up!

In general...about a year. I'm really trying to crank on this latest WIP though, and it looks like my first draft on this one will take about 6 months.

That's an awesome review, Matt! Major congrats.

Hope they keep coming.

I second Matt! Plus, the new "Kane Chronicles" book and Dresden.

Hey Brenda! I just blogged about building complex characters yesterday...spooky timing. ;) Check it out! I'm going to cheat a bit since I've read your pages. I think you have all the elements there to make incredibly interesting characters. Some ideas: - Slow things down: Give them time for reflecti...

It was SO great to meet all you guys! I really enjoyed our discussions, workshops and random writing meet-ups. ;) Plus, who doesn't love a good crit group with 90+ mile-an-hour winds howling outside and debris flying around your 25th floor window!?! Thanks to all of you for sharing some awesome insi...

Welcome to the forums! And kudos to you for taking the dive into query-mania. It sounds like you've got a neat concept here for a story, though I think your query makes it a little more confusing than it needs to be. I think a lot of that can be fixed by changing the order in which you reveal some o...

I just read through the comments so far, and I want to give a word of encouragement to all my fellow fantasy/sci-fi writers out there. Don't let the blank stares or embarrassment get you down. I guess I've been lucky in that, more often than not, when I tell someone what I write, they say "That...

You might be a writer if...
Stop by and add your own endings to the list.
http://nicole-singer.blogspot.com/2012/ ... er-if.html

The Author Behind the Curtain
Recognition...and when it's good to not get any.
http://nicole-singer.blogspot.com/2012/ ... rtain.html

I agree with Sommer and Matt. If you mention it as a shortsword somewhere early on, then refer to it as a gladius throughout, I think you'll be fine. The reader will already have a "short" image in their mind.