Nathan Bransford - The Forums

She went on to tell me she'd have stopped reading after my first chapter (page 11) because she was "quite frankly, bored" but she muddled through since she was, after all, judging a contest. Was this followed up by anything useful such as I was bored because you......and then a reason whi...

A hash, #, is a typesetter's mark for space. Traditional Standard Manuscript Format calls for an empty line in a manuscript to be marked with a single left flush hash to indicate the line isn't an accidental empty line. It's placed right where a typesetter looks when completing setting the previous...

When I change scenes with a chapter, which for me is when there is a change of location, time etc that I don't feel needs a brand new chapter, I leave a space between paragraphs. So a usual para would start with an indent and a scene change starts with a double space and no indent. I noticed this me...

Another Mac lover... Maybe not so much for my WIP but for my real work when I write in foreign languages these are invaluable: Option + u = umlaut (then just type the vowel) e.g. ü Option + i = little hat e.g. î Option + e = accent e.g. é Option + c = ç Actually option plus anything gives a symbol b...

Switching perspective seems to be popular in crime thrillers right now. Off hand I can name Meg Gardiner, Simon Kernell and Nicci French but I am sure there are more. I've seen examples of it being 3rd to 1st and vice versa. When its done well, which in the most the instances I have read it is, its ...

Genre: Cosy mystery Word Count: 396 I took one last look around the room, which was now devoid of all my feminine touches. If I was going to go through with this it had to be completely thorough and that meant everything had to go. There must be no reason left for him to contact me. No DVD’s or CDS’...

Thanks for the replies. It seems Italics are the way to go. I originally used italics and then someone said to avoid them as much as possible as they are hard to read, so reverted to speech marks but back to italics. And a pox on any agent that would reject for using italics, I thought before hittin...

I agree with Polymath. Are info dumps really that bad? Okay, if it just a boring backstory (or whatever) badly written then leave it out. If the info could easily be cut and pasted later on to feed the information in bits, then consider doing that. But I, as a reader, have no problem with being fed ...

I mean literally. What's the correct way to write them, if there is one. I have always used speech marks: " Oh my god," thought Marion looking at him in dismay. But I'm reading something at the moment where all the thoughts are just in italics: She looked at him in dismay. Oh my god

+1

Like anything, done well, it can be a great way of writing. Depending on the story, who the story teller is etc.

There's something very cosy and campfireish about being told a story.

My current WIP starts with a newspaper article. Originally it went straight into a scene (semi-action) but I felt the 'atmosphere' needed to be set and this fake article gives insight into the world it is set in (a not so distant future). I also tried describing the world in the first few chapters b...

Cloud Atlas is another e.g. of several very loosely connected stories and is very well done.

The only thing I can think of thats the same story but different view points is Vantage Point (the film not a book) but that worked well. Depends how much repeating there was perhaps....

I edit on screen. I find it easier to play with sentences then. I only printed off my final draft so my husband and I could both separately catch any last typos and work from the same print. I read first then pass the pages to him. As we both have good eyesight I printed two pages to a page and chan...

I just go back and change stuff. Probably not the most scientific method. :D Oh thank god, I thought it was just me who kept it simple :) If its definite edit (mistakes, typos) I just change. If its adding stuff I just add. If its a re-write I use the Word revision tool and then ask my beta readers...

Synopsis Its 1925, England, and Mags and Henri are out to save the world from evil. Again. Extract Mags said nothing. She was in a bit of a fix now as Valdheeta well knew. When it came to a magical fight there was no comparison, Mags would die within minutes and Valdheeta would show no remorse. The...