Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Sorry that I have commented in a while. I hope it will not stop you from commenting on this query. Thanks in advance for any comments. For several years all of the Federal Law Enforcement Agencies have been looking. All they have are whispers and theories. It started with three beautiful young Amer...

edmjill, looks like you've got the blog post thread pretty much to yourself!

Welcome to the board, by the way, and feel free to join in on other threads, too!

"Which of these names is in fact the nominative feminine singular of the gerundive mood imported direct from Latin?"

I didn't find it a grammar test so much as a grammar terminology test, and I gave up on it.

First off, definitely query them separately rather than in the same letter. Secondly, work on both query letters, and see which letter -- which pitch -- comes out stronger. Query letter writing is an art in itself. Feel free to offer them up for critique here at Bransforums. I think you will find th...

Hello all! I began writing a query for my novel "Cursed" and I need help revising it. It's still in it's first draft so I'm only focusing on the meat of the query, rather than the bit about me at the end. Let me know what sounds wonky, what doesn't make sense, what you would cut, what you...

When William Chenette and Bradley Pinard are killed in a drunk driving accident after their high school graduation, the small town of Lafayette, Vermont is left reeling. Especially devastated are their four closest childhood friends, Dan Cody, Jeffrey Marineau, Benjamin Larivee and Aaron Foley. Thi...

Good luck with your query! Let us know how that goes with the two agents.

When Scott and Jessie's daughter is kidnapped, they fear the worst as all that's left behind is a pool of her blood. Awkward and not a hook. When the daughter is kidnapped the parents fear the worst: she might be murdered. That is not unique enough for a one-line opener. It is not a set up. It does...

Closer??? :) Dear Mr. x, When Scott and Jessie's daughter is kidnapped, they fear the worst as all that's left behind is a pool of her blood. Ashley is seventeen-years old and her disappearance is quickly thought to be a homicide. Their cozy, northwest town is stunned by the news when police find t...

My book has a romantic story between my main character and her rescuer that I have been trying to work into my Query so how about this: Dear Agent, Sixteen-year-old Cara Smalls' world is turned upside down when she becomes the victim of a demon attack. Tristan, her rescuer, tells her that he is a m...

Your query, while decently written, has one main problem as I see it: most of it is contained in the short first paragraph. The first paragraph is quite good. But after that, very little new info is added. And so it feels like walking on a treadmill -- a lot of striding but not much travel. And so I...

I'll be part of a panel on self-publishing and marketing, at Peregrine Book Company, April 14 at 2 pm, in Prescott, Arizona. I'm the presenter for House of Lit Author Services, helping authors publish their books. We're also giving a couple of seminars this spring. One is at the Dewey-Humboldt Libra...

Hi, would it be a complete waste of time to forward a 100 page taster of an unfinished novel to an agent? Yes. And more than a complete waste. Potentially damaging. You could turn off an agent you are interested in, for good. I have two objectives for wanting to do so - the hope of interesting an a...

Justin Thomas is an inventor with a few successes. The road to his latest invention is somewhat rocky though. This invention is a self generating electric vehicle. The smear campaigns by the oil industry, the scoffing by auto makers and the snide remarks from the Senate are over. It has become time...

I thank you in advance for any comment. Query for St. Johns Daphne Flowers’ stock in trade had gone up as the economy had gone down . An FDLE Agent, Daphne was a practicing forensic accountant. This meant she followed the money. She was good at it, much to the dismay of many Ponzi and Pyramid schem...