Nathan Bransford - The Forums

My main character speaks French and spends some of the manuscript in a French-speaking country. If she's just saying a few words I'll put them in French. If she's having an in-depth conversation with someone I'll note that she said it in French but have it in English in the manuscript. I think as lo...

I tend not to like chapter titles because sometimes they can be a bit spoilery. Nothing major. I've never seen a chapter titled, "When the sidekick died and the hero nearly did but was saved". But let's say your characters had found a mysterious map at the end of one chapter. Then the next...

I was very disappointed when I heard the iPad wasn't going to be backlit. But I, and I suspect most people here, are thinking about the iPad in terms of an e-reader. A lot of people I know don't read that often. They wouldn't even consider buying an e-reader, at least not at today's prices, but they...

CharleeVale is right. You need distance. I try to leave my manuscripts for two months between drafts. That way the work isn't as embedded in my head and I can look at it with something approaching fresh eyes. I also print out my drafts and edit on paper. I hate using pen and paper, but I find if I e...

I'm an Australian, but I too have been writing American dialogue for my WIP. One thing I've noticed about Americans is that they tend to drop words out of their sentences. eg. "Two thousand ten" instead of "Two thousand and ten" or "couple years" instead of "couple...

REVISED QUERY BELOW...I'd very much appreciate your feedback, thanks! Dear Agent, (Personalised sentence) NIGHT BUTTERFLY is a 65,000 word gritty suspense novel with romantic elements. When Valentina Lebedeva’s 14-year-old sister Anya goes missing, she must leave her home in Russia to find her. The...

The best advice I ever got was to leave something alone for a few weeks and come back to it with fresh eyes. Its amazing what jumps out at you when you take another look. I think this is the key to knowing if your writing is good enough or not. I just left my MS for two months. I've come back to it...

If I got this kind of deal, I'd be singing from the rooftops. Yes, it comes with a lot of pressure and expectation. But it also means I could quit my job and focus on writing full-time. And if the publisher has invested that much money in you, they're going to want to make sure they get a return, an...

Firstly, congrats on being brave and posting your excerpt! Overall I thought it was interesting and I'd keep reading. It sounds to me as though Angel is in an asylum for people with superhuman powers, which is an intriguing concept. There were two things that caused me to stumble. The first was the ...

Both, depending on which scene I'm editing. Sometimes I'll come back and realise the action is taking place in a void, so I add details about the surroundings. Other times, there is too much unnecessary detail, or action that doesn't contribute to the story that can be summed up in a sentence or two...

I can't imagine writing a draft by hand, but I've found when it comes to structural editing it's better to print it out. Even though I have a decent-sized monitor, it still limits how much text you can see at one time, and I would find myself line editing. By printing out my draft, I can spread out ...