Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Phew.... I'm glad others on here are "putter-inners." From all the blogs I read, you'd think nobody ever writes short. I was getting lonely (and a bit self-conscious). Anyway, if I do need to cut, I do a few things. First, I identify all of the passive sentences. If they work just fine as ...

Awesome KatWalk - you sound like my perfect audience! I'll PM you and we'll work it out. Thanks!

I see there are some people doing the same on here but wasn't sure if everyone had paired off yet or not. I have completed the first draft of my novel, which I'll categorize as a comtemporary fiction with some light techno-thriller aspects. I'll need someone that has a smart phone or understands how...

Hey cheeky and karen - my definition of "finished" is completion of the first draft. Yeah, yeah I know there is still a ton of work to do after that but I think it's quite an accomplishment to finish a first draft. Plus, it gives you more opportunities to celebrate in the future (yay! my e...

I agree with Mira. I would just identify a more broad genre and let the agents figure it out. If you have a killer query and book, the agent isn't going to care that maybe you misidentified the genre. Good luck.

Wine? Vacation? Six pack? A naked run through the woods?

I am nearing completion of my second novel. I was too stupid to realize after my first one that I had actually accomplished something (as bad as that book was) so I did nothing except maybe sigh.... Not sure what I'll do this time.

Ok, it's time, I think to put an author website out there. I'm going to be entering the query process soon and I've read that having an author website is a good way to show "you're serious." As if spending the time to write an 80,000 word+ book doesn't show you're serious enough... Where d...

You have a clear talent for writing and for turning a few phrases. I do think that this beginning has a couple of things I'd change. First, it's a bit too "try hard-y" for lack of a better phrase. It's the kind of writing where you get the feeling the writer is really showing off their cho...

I like opening #1 but rewrite the first sentence. I thought it was a bit awkward. I do think that maybe this scene isn't the best way to open. Why not get right to the action? Something clearly happens, why not start with the stepdad holding the kids or something like that?

I like that you start with a scene in which something is happening. A lot of people start with exposition that does nothing to pull you in. I think that perhaps this is a bit too emotion dependent here. I don't know the characters enough to really care if one is leaving or not. I don't know them wel...

First thing you should do is pour yourself a drink. Congrats- you've completed a novel. That's pretty effing cool. Then, I'd recommend putting the MS away for a month or so. I'd write a short story to submit to literary mags and then return to the MS. I would do this BEFORE sending to beta readers. ...

One. Didn't even finish it. Perhaps I'll go back to it someday. Good character study, I think, but essentially plot less.

Title: THE DIM MAN Genre: Literary Fiction Tim Woodman hurried down the inside hallway of his condo building. Careful not to let his quick-step walking turn into a full-fledged run, Tim hoped to disguise his worst intentions from his neighbors. A scolding is what she'll get even though a beating is ...

Let's say I wanted to write a semi-fictional account of a real person - something like DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY - based on actual historical references, etc., Do I need to get permission from anybody who may, say, "own the story" if that exists? Or can I just write it? The story I'm looking...

The only thing that I'll add that I don't think anybody has said is that make sure that if you switch MCs that the second MC has a deep enough story to tell. Sometimes you get swept away in the moment (or at least I do) and think a certain character could be an MC only to discover that they don't ha...