Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Oh, I so wish I had something intelligent and exciting to talk about on this thread, but mostly I'm just bumping it up. I was a rural kid (yeah, non-Milwaukee, Wisconsin, come on, we're all rural) but that did nothing for me. Here's my brushes: 1. My great-grandmother dated the dad from the show My ...

Beth, this is the first time I've read any of your queries. I think you might be rushing through this and your missing some really easy errors that need polishing. Here's what I picked up on my first read through: "Her life is good, until a letter arrives on her birthday that includes her senio...

Emily had great insight here! With the suggestions you've gotten and the changes you've made, this looks great. Just a couple nit-pick, isn't gonna' kill ya', but maybe could hurt ya' issues. As usual, use what you can, trash the rest. Oh, and - yeah, you might be rushing things. If you're trying to...

I am now deeply disturbed (you have to look at my name to get the joke ;) Here's my two cents: "Plagued by inexplicable blackouts, she begins losing hours, even days, with no memory of what transpired in the intervening time" (I still haven't figured out how to do the fancy quote thing) is...

I'm not sure about sending to small publishers and expecting to get feedback without getting an offer. If you do get an offer, would you then say "Never mind, I really want to go with an agent and a bigger house."? Also, if it did work and the feedback was negative, would you be able to us...

Gol darn it, Mary McDonald, I thought for sure I'd be the only one to post Clan of the Cave Bear. Reading it makes me remember how inadequate I am as a researcher and how much work it takes to weave a really great story. Although I love the first more than the others, I reread the entire series ever...

I'd go to agentquery.com and search for agents who represent your genre. Then click on them to see if they blog, which is a good starting point. Many have contests and even if you don't enter, you get a feel for what goes and what doesn't by reading submissions and comments. I pretty regularly watch...

I haven't read the comments since I was on here last, but thought I'd pop in and take a look at the revision. I see that you're still struggling with the story line here. I also have 2 main characters and the second doesn't appear until the end of the third chapter. I wouldn't want to send a query, ...

One sentence: Why is your book important?

Or, one sentence: Why should I buy your book?

Dear Mr/Ms Agent Man/Woman, I understand if you don't have time to read this. Just tuck it away for later and call me when you can. I totally understand. But when you have time, I wanted to tell you that I wrote a story. It's about a girl who meets a cute guy and they kiss and stuff. Nothing too gro...

From 4th place to 48th in one night? Really? Good bye first page. . . It was lovely while it lasted. . .

I bought a new laptop a few months ago with Windows 7 and the current MS Word. Sends and receives .docx. My older desktop does not open them whatever I do! I'll try these tips and hope something happens (just taking the x off did nothing for me). One thing I do just to switch between computers is to...

I read through the first time and was confused by whether Miss Trey and "the girl" were the same person. Maybe it's just all the first-person I've been reading and writing lately, but the constant use of the girl and the magician, rather than their names, seemed to disconnect me from the s...

Cheeseheads are not crazy. Pay no attention to their freezers full of deer, cow, pig, rabbit, and squirrel. They also eat lettuce and stuff - and the freezer just proves their resourcefulness. Just because their bedside tables contain a turkey call and binoculars does not make them odd. Toyboxes ful...

I'm taking this opportunity to point out once again that my purely Midwestern-state (with the exception of UNI, oops) picks have paid off (with the exception of Kansas, oops). I'm taking this opportunity before Wisconsin plays, since I picked them to take it. If you don't hear from me from now on, i...