Nathan Bransford - The Forums

I have no idea what I am. Whenever I outline something, it tends to be very vague - rough guidelines so that I have a sense of direction for my manuscript. I find that if I make a really detailed outline, I almost always deviate from it when I actually start writing. But still, I need some sort of a...

Charlee's points are solid. I definitely agree with the point that, when you're done for the day, you should stop in the middle of a sentence, or even a paragraph. One time I finished writing for the day at the end of a paragraph. When I came back to it the next day, I had no idea how to continue. I...

I've also had these questions, so I was happy to see some good answers! Additionally, though, I'm wondering how time consuming people find blogging to be--the whole process I mean: conceiving posts, following other blogs, self promotion, etc. I don't think I'm quite ready for a blog, but I've noted...

I have a B&N Nook Colour that I got while I was in the States last Christmas. I liked its interface and how you were able to make annotations, as well as look up words quite easily with its built-in dictionary. People think that the Nook Colour's LCD screen (vs. an e-ink screen like the Kindle's...

A balance of both is usually the best, but do what the story calls for. My WIP is strange in the sense that dialogue is non-existent until the very end (though there's a logical reason for it). It's actually good practice for me. I've always struggled at making description seem interesting, so my WI...

Woah, you guys write fast. I tend to write in short "bursts" - three to five hundred words per day, then I'm done. It also depends on what I'm writing. I find that I'm able to write parts with dialogue faster than parts without, simply because I always try to coat my dialogue with a few la...

Your point about Hemingway rings true. Not only do new styles and theories emerge, but the audience changes as well. Different generations want different things from what they read. Slow beginnings, black-and-white scenarios and paragraphs upon paragraphs of description would all receive a thumbs do...

Thanks Holly, polymath and Patrick! This is something that's always been annoying me - it's good that you guys helped clarify it a bit. In Grade 10, I was taught to always do ... this. But whenever I tried doing that at the end of a sentence, it always seemed so weird. Example: "Well, really, I...

I tend to fluctuate. I write a bit in the morning, a bit at night. My schedule is different each day, so I adjust accordingly. I find that I write more substantially at night, though (but I've never done it at 2 a.m.).

But as I've been writing, years later, I find it's not what I thought it was at first. It's totally different. It's an age group, not a genre. And it's just as varied as the readers it caters to. So once again, saying the books are lower than 'adult' books are saying that the kids are dumb, and tha...

These links are great - thanks everyone! Just for clarification - are freely usable images different from Creative Commons ones (where the latter would need an attribution)? For example, pictures taken from Wikipedia Commons won't need an attribution, while pictures from Flickr Creative Commons req...

These links are great - thanks everyone! Just for clarification - are freely usable images different from Creative Commons ones (where the latter would need an attribution)? For example, pictures taken from Wikipedia Commons won't need an attribution, while pictures from Flickr Creative Commons requ...

A writer should definitely be reading. I actually only started writing seriously about a year ago, and my writing sucked then. Since then, I've read as much as time would allow and I've written things here and there. I look at the stuff I'm writing now, and it's so much better that it actually amaze...

I agree with Polymath - assuming one does not overuse them, adverbs (or other words and phrases that are deemed unecessary) can do wonders for the voice. In Kazuo Ichiguro's The Remains of the Day , there were quite a few words and phrases that added nothing in terms of the sentence's meaning. But t...

Usually lying on my bed (on my side or on my front). If not that, then I'm sitting down with the bottom edge of the book against my lap. I have yet to read standing up. The only thing I can't do is read on my back. It always seems weird, and holding up a book (or a somewhat heavier Nook Colour) for ...