Nathan Bransford - The Forums

She rummaged in the refrigerator, and saw
a box of crayons and a skateboard.
"Skate-tagging again, Quincy? And where's my beer?"
“The witch used it for a spell.”

Quincy licked his paw. "A talking-cat spell."

"Stupid cat!" she exclaimed, but then she noticed
he was out of food. "Sorry Quincy."
They had nothing left to eat, though.
She rummaged in the refrigerator, and saw

Crystal sat at her desk, unhappily reading
her query letter for the 9,284th time.
Her cat, Quincy, jumped directly on the

Here is a game that is very popular on another Forum that I frequent. I'll start a story with the first seven words, and then we all add to it 7 words at a time. Have fun!


Crystal sat at her desk, unhappily reading

Has anyone here not heard that old joke?

Hi Heather, You are so busy, yikes! Here are my thoughts: I think your poor novel could remain on life support while you work on a completely different project. Is there a chance you could get your creative juices flowing again by writing a short story? Or writing an essay about your childhood, or a...

Good one, Susan! Bravo. I liked your essay a lot.

(Whine: But those rules are so pesky! Do I reeeeeally have to follow them?)

Hi SuCue, Your book sounds very interesting - I wish you the best of luck with it. I am wondering if you can call it something like this: "Commercial fiction with a humorous slant." "Literary fiction with a thread of humor." "Mainstream fiction with a touch of comedy." ...

Here is the first sentence of GRAYLAND, my literary-minded science fiction novel:


Experiments featuring primitive humans were all the rage in University research, and finally – finally! – Marie was going to be involved.

I agree. If they win on the merits of their writing, then in my opinion, they won...

like strawberry-scented Ebola That made me laugh out loud. Okay, my worst barf experience: We were on a Holland America cruise to Alaska about seventeen years ago. There were five of us crammed into a tiny cabin, my husband, myself, and our three kids. Daughter starts barfing. Not nice in a little ...

Hi Candy, Your query grabbed me right away. I think it has great potential - it's new and fresh and I believe that's what they look for. It certainly made me want to read your memoir. Good job, I wouldn't change your query very much, and the best of luck to you! Evelyn Dear Agent; One in three women...

I'm 46. I've been writing as long as I remember; I wrote stories as a child on my Mom's old Royal typewriter, and then read them aloud to anyone who would listen. I filled my school notebooks with doodles and story outlines and stuff like character names and their family trees. I even was known to m...

Has this ever happened to you? I'll be working on my book, merrily editing and having a grand 'ol time. An idea will occur to me - a FANTASTIC sentence or two that is perfect in every respect. I'll write it into the scene, and then sit back and think what a great writer I am. Just as I'm about to pa...

Interesting question. I've lost count of how often I read the manuscript. A hundred times maybe? Like others, each day I read what I've previously written and edit as I go. I find this helps with the flow between scenes and keeps the story cohesive and moving along. By the time I've reached the end,...