Nathan Bransford - The Forums

It's snowed 38 of the last 46 days. We have at the very least 3 feet of snow on the ground with 6 foot snow banks. It's supposed to be a high of 3, yes 3 degrees with a low of -30. Yet, I still wear a spring jacket year round. Born and raised Minnesotan, ya can't beat em.

I have one in my cube and use it from time to time. It's still sitting, which really sucks after a while so i have resorted to standing, screw it.

Thanks for responding Sierra, Nicole, and Polymath again. I find it really difficult to show feeling in my writing. I certainly lack experience when it comes to showing, versus telling, as many new writers' do, but it may be the most difficult aspect of writing for me to get a hold of.

Thanks for posting Steph. I think this should be moved to the All things writing section as that's where most of us spend our time. This needs to get out, I would just die if someone from our board entered the contest and then posted about it.

Watcher55 wrote: You can rake the leaves cluttering up my yard; that's relaxing. >:}

Leaves, what are leaves?

Fenris, It was just a long shot hoping for the magic pill "just take this" type of thing. I tend to want to know the ins and outs of writing and make everything perfect or at the very least workable when I write. It actually causes me not to write. I'm working on it though. When I think of...

I understand the concept, and it's probably accurate. However, can I just sit down and write about my day in a journal, or some made up thing with no plot, climax, or denouement? Or do I need to write a "real" story for the words to count? That's what I want to know.

Yea, I see it, I think, but I still don't get it, and will have to scratch out some time to study that aspect of writing as well as the rest of what I have planned for this year. I'm thinking this one can wait for a bit.

Thank you again for the clarity. I appreciate every bit of it.

Polymath, I could use some more help here if you have time. Would you mind re-writing a couple of those sentences to a closer narrative distance? As an editor I know you don't like to impose your creative vision, but this is just over my head. I just don't understand how to get this any closer, or f...

I received a critique outside of the board on a short story I had done for a class. I know this isn't the critique page, but this isn't a critque, but the result of the critique, and I wanted to see what people thought about the changes. Does it make the story better? If so, why? My writing: Command...

I'm a member. There is quite a bit on that site to learn from. I can't say I've pulled anything from it recently but I read online and the magazine often.

I've been interested in the American Mafia since I was a young boy. I guess I find their lifestyle intriguing or something. Anyway, I've read all the stories fiction and non-fiction, watched all the movies, documentaries, and mini series. I've even met quite a few around the states. My father lives ...

The evolution of craft may have been a better title when I think about it. I'd like to study craft as it has evolved, allowing me to get a better idea of it's growth, and changes through time. I chose in a broad sense character, plot, point of view, and theme, to try and narrow craft down however re...

I was talking to a local author and asked him if he could recommend a book or two where character, plot, dialogue, pov, or theme, play an important role and would be examples to learn from. He recommended Henry James "The Turn of the Screw" as a good pov book to learn from. Any other recom...

I struggle with some level of perfectionism I think. I dissect everything and rarely move forward until I feel I understand it completely. Theme is one of those things I feel like I don’t understand well enough so I thought I would write a short story focusing mainly on theme. With that said, I’ve c...