Nathan Bransford - The Forums

This might be an odd comment, but I felt a bit disembodied while reading the first few paragraphs. It was not obvious from the start that this was a first-person narrative, and so it felt like it was written in rather distant third-person. My first criticism was going to be that I was not experienci...

I've been thinking about this recently and my answers are similar to yours. I don't always enjoy the act of writing. Some days I love it, some days I hate it, most of the time it's something I do because it's part of the process. I like having written, but the act of writing can be a pain sometimes....

I don't write romance as a genre, but I do write romance in my novel(s), so I hope I can be of some help. =) I think any fictional romantic relationship needs to show the reader what these two (or three, or four...) people... -like about each other (what attracted them in the first place, what trait...

I hate to give a vague response, but it depends. When I'm bogged down with school/work, I usually choose writing over reading. On "average", if there were such a thing, I read about 3 books per month. I am a slow reader. P.S. Do textbooks count? Because my A&P book could be split into ...

Having an "attack of conscience" wouldn't work for me when everyone else was killed in cold blood. A more plausible reason (for me) would be that the woman has information or skills that the soldier needs, so killing her is not an option. Or maybe he is a rebel against this attack and need...

I love seeing how a character handles stress when all his resources are stripped away and his back is up against the wall. I love watching characters overcome hardship. But there is a point where too much is too much. If a couple of really bad things happen to a character in a book, and he responds ...

I tend to be most productive in the morning or late at night. I love the stillness of these times, and the knowledge that I won't be needed for anything. On non-rainy days, I feel guilty staying inside during the afternoon when I could be going on a run. Writing during a rainy day or night is my fav...

Telling: Henry was rude and impatient. Rita felt embarrassed by his outbursts.

Showing:

"How much longer is this going to take?" he bellowed. "We've been in this goddamn line for fifteen minutes!"
"Henry, please," Rita murmured as the heads started to turn.

Definitely not! I remember enjoying sexy/attractive characters when I was a teenager (probably because I was a gawky, awkward, acne-prone wallflower of a girl =P), but these days, I tend to roll my eyes when a character is described as being extremely attractive in conventional ways. It annoys me ev...

polymath wrote: substitutes fireworks or crashing waves or some other traditional or quirky symbolism for graphic scenes.

*cough cough* "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" *cough cough* =P

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules for this. Agreed. I think importance and relevance are key here. A fully described sex scene should be intregal to at least one of the following: the character(s)/setting/plot. The focus should not be so much on the mechanics of sex, but on the reacti...

^^Those are amazing :) I don't even write fantasy, and I find amazing advice there. They really are! And hilarious, to boot. World building is an overwhelming subject for me and Limyaael's advice has helped me out a ton. Working backwards (Such as, what is the clothing made from? Where does that ma...

I don't know about books, but I loooooooove Limyaael's Fantasy Rants! I gained so much insight on purposeful world building.

Right now I'm a peon in customer service, but I'm in school for Occupational Therapy. *fingers crossed* in a few years I'll have a "real" job! My original plan was to do exactly what you do (RN working with Alzheimer's), but when I got my NAC I realized that rehab was what truly interested...

I really like this thread! And SteevO, I wish you the best of luck! Advice that I would give: 1. Write something that interests you. Don't worry too much about audience or what you think other people want to read. Write what YOU like and have fun with it. 2. Books about writing can help you only so ...