Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I entered a contest on facebook here , but I entered under a completely different name (so you won't be able to tell which is mine - and I know I'm not cheating). Very few people have voted, so please click through and vote for whichever stories you like! There are less than 30 stories, and they're ...

The problem with parents is that good parents make children and even YA feel safe, and would deus ex machina every hardship of our lives if they could. It's handy in real life, and deadly in fiction. Because your ten-year old protagonist needs to be in real danger, and needs to fix it with their own...

In my three MG novels, this is what I did: 1. The parents' strategy for defending the island is clearly wrong (though moral). Protagonist lies to them and sneaks off (after eavesdropping). When they find out the truth, they stand by her side (against pirates, naturally) but immediately get hit by a ...

I have some potentially difficult news for you. . . Here in Australia I'm writing a spec-fic book with one Koori (Aboriginal) character, and I will probably need to (a) Pick a specific tribe, (b) Go to their traditional land and meet them there, (c) Ask permission to use elements of their culture. A...

There was something similar at the very beginning of John Marsden's "Tomorrow, when the war began" series (same one as the recent film) - but it wasn't distinguished from the main story. Even so, it felt awkward. Again, the book would have been stronger if the first paragraph was cut.

Usually the goal expands rather than changing (I just re-read "Sabriel" and her goal is to save her father, but then she realises that the entire Kingdom is sliding into ruin - making her goal to save her father much more important - but by the climax that plot is ended and all that remain...

Are you a steampunk obsessive? Today I wrote reviews of twenty non-fiction books that I just read in preparation for writing a steampunk trilogy set in an alternate 1850s Victoria (Australia). Definitely the best book I've read for any steampunk creator to peruse is "Victorian London" by L...

My grammar's not fabulous, but it's decent (enough that I can tutor uni students in essay writing). Bad grammar pulls you out of the book, and that's a sin. A few sins can be forgiven (more so in email or blogs), but not many. If you have three mistakes on the first page of your novel, it is perfect...

I've thrown away a book or two myself, and it's sad but ultimately such a relief to admit the truth and move on. (Five stages of grieving, anyone?) All that writing has value too - especially the long grind of editing. It's school.

I really do get itnow.

Thank you very much (especially Sommer, who managed to give me the tiniest possible bit of necessary information in the simplest possible terms - just what a noob desires). I am now firmly on the road to being totally internet savvy (that's what all the cool kids like, right? RIGHT?)

I know there's more we can learn about first paragraphs. Since it's in front of me (and, sidebar, brilliant from beginning to end), here's the first paragraph of "Dreadnought" by Cherie Priest. Down in the laundry room with the bloody-wet floors and the ceiling-high stacks of sheets, wraps...

It's clear that everyone (eg. Nathan) but me knows how to toss off a line like -- I already wrote about horses in which the word horses is a full link to another section of the internet. I've been blogging for years now and I still don't know how to do it. I always have to say I already wrote about ...

I count my writing hours, crossing off hundreds of little boxes each year. It helps.

In the beginning I found it necessary to tell his story to the female lead in order to show her why he didn't want to get involved in the conflict. Wouldn't it be more interesting if she DIDN'T know why he did what he did? Because then you have the mystery of why he didn't want to get involved (whi...