Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Poly: Thank you for the comments and thoughtful explanation as far as POV changes and linear storyline. The reason for the change to first was that it just felt right describing the world and actions through the eyes of my main character. For instance, it felt better having him say that the situatio...

Brenda, you are awesome. I just wetn back and started re-reading chapter one to see if there was a point to slip it in and found a perfect spot. I line talked about a guy picking up Max's cane and handing it to him. I just made it say a guy wearing a black leather duster and gray felt fedora picked ...

Thanks for all the help. And it is easy to do because all i need to do is insert the proverbial "guy in black coat and hat" who seems to always be around, just on the fringe, watching and following but seemingly not acting. Maybe he interferes directly once or twice to help the main charac...

I had a thought and i think maybe i can merge it with your suggestion and have something like this: Okay, so supposedly dead doctor isnt dead. But he isnt the real "bad guy" either. Yes, he developed the treatment but during experimenting with it he discovered the problems with it and trie...

I feel like the tension comes from the chase and the unravelling of the facts. There have been, of course, physical confrontations trying to keep the mani character from continuing to dig. Its gonna be figured out the there is some kind of a radical fertility treatment involved but i thin that the t...

I recently shifted my WIP, PREACHER'S BLOOD, from third person to first person. The shift feels good because i can get into my character's head more and we see how he sees things and views the events as they happen around him. I am really enjoying the switch. However, what i am wondering is if the s...

Has anybody here ever started a novel in 3rd person, then read it and considered a switch to 1st person? A switch to 1st person would force the removal of some sections that were in 3rd but it might also serve to deepen mystery and suspense because the reader will not see other things going on, they...

I was reading through early chapters of my WIP and found that it came out in first person as opposed to the third person it was written in. I have considered revising and shifting over to first person for the protagonist while staying in third person when not on the protagonist. I have read some nov...

One of the earlier posts suggested villains can do "stupid things" and my initial thought was the reader would want to know why this person was kidnapped as opposed to killed, thereby increasing the possibility that the protagonist gives up his quest. I had also considered there being a hi...

This is definitely a villain. Not a nemesis. The kidnap victim definitely adds focus to the goal of the main character. I just didnt know if it could have been considered a good tactical move by the villain. There is no extortion here. The villain isnt going to tell the protagonist to go away or giv...

Thats the problem - i am not sure if there is a credible motive for not killing her. I dont know if there is any tactical advantage for the abduction. Bad guy abducts her, knowing it will only further motivate the main character and killing her wont be a deterrent. I think that will also only serve ...

Got a thing. Could be a bad guy tactical error or just a mistake by me, the writer. Either way, i think this needs a fix, or someone to show me reasoning that says it was not an error. Here goes: My main bad guy has gone and abducted my female lead (not the full lead, she works alongside the main ch...

Sounds like an idea to me. My manuscript is not complete, i am only about 40k in but if you want to do the exchange i am game. Message me mwith some details on how you would like to proceed.

Thanks, guys. I see where you say the indent can be .5 and the margins for all around should be somewhere between 1 and 1.25. I never used that either, i checked my pages and see those numbers are set to 0. So i went back and set the number to 1 and when i started writing a page it looked really, re...

Ok, thanks, i see what you mean. I also actually went and experimented with a blank page and i found you can use the section labeled "paragraph" to set a first line off by 0.5, which i assume is what i am shooting for. It also has a way to change the margins for the left and right side. I ...