Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hi, I'm a bit late to the party, and I hope I don't ruffle feathers, but there are some things I can see that you can do better, and I like it when people do better. Please take what I say with a grain of salt, and maybe a shot of tequila :) Dear Agent, I'm looking for representation with you becaus...

I'm trying to take off at least most of July to get myself clear of any "lingering bad ideas" and allow some new ones to filter in. Then, it's off to rewrite hell. A wise forum member suggested that I do still write, so I'm going to create a "bonus" or novelette, not in any of th...

Brenda,

Those are the ones I do best. The ones I suck at are along the lines of "Oh, you need some transitional stuff... nice... six weeks for 2000 words"

This just shows we need a recipe section on this website. Books and food seem to go together like... a donut and a book... crap. Someone come at me with an analogy that doesn't involve food and books. Meanwhile, I am going to perfect an edible book made of bacon...

I only know how to make a few things (I'm not Indian, and only started eating Indian food a few years ago, but yes, good Indian food is something that I must have on occasion). If you want the recipes, give me a shout. I ended up reading Wild Talents. I wasn't aware, at the time, that it was self pu...

You still have to deal with too many "ED" words "placed" himself, etc instead of "places" The king should "fall ill" not ", fallen ill" Also. This sentence: When all of them are in one place, they have been called into another realm, The Mirror Realm...

NP. I found a book, finished it, looking for another :) Enjoy the vacation. (apparently everybody is going...) What kinda Indian food? ( I ended up making chicken tikka masala, mango chutney, cucumber raita, and store bought naan -- burned the first set of mangos ) If you still have any recommendati...

Do yourself a favor, though. Worry first about getting that book polished until you can see your face in it before you query or you will be hurting your chances. After that, there are lots of good sites that have lists of agents. www.agentquery.com is a good one, but that book needs alpha testing be...

It reads much better now, but you still have to wrangle out more specifics, as well as stop using "ed" words. "When the bishop assumes rule" not assumed rule. I know it happened, but you need to put people into the moment. Also, it is not enough to tell the reader this is going t...

I looked at the Mazerunner books, but they did not appeal to me. I finished reading Wild Talents in 3 days. It was weird. The beginning was solid, the middle held me with fast pace, and then the last few chapters let me down. My point in this was that, at least from my perspective, if you have a &qu...

Set in the magical world of Unibeltrasia Don't put this here. You need to start with a hook . When Prince Tamiron Lluch of the Empire of the Far East rebell s against his own, the peace and stability of the region is put in jeopardy , for the fall of empire itself -- not needed means the utter dest...

Elbow, You are not your character. Do not do it in first person. You are the author. The rules for a query are pretty set nowadays. You should follow a standard query format unless directed otherwise. The best way would be to follow an agent's website, or guidelines on their blog. Each query should ...

Been looking for a YA book that was not about sparkly boyfriends or girls who needed saving. I had wanted to see if I could find one with a male MC, as that's the type I am writing, but it wasn't important, really. I came across one that looked interesting, called Wild Talents, and so far, I'm only ...

I'd be afraid of similarities crossing over. I had thought of it, though.

Yeah... that line from Wuthering Heights is unintelligible in most cases. I was thinking of adding a few phonetecisms for flavor, but I think I'll use far fewer for garnish instead. .