Nathan Bransford - The Forums

There is an updated version of the query about 6 or 7 posts down. Let me know what you think about the changes Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you have to offer! Dear ---, It’s called the fight or flight instinct, but in reality it is a probability analysis made from thousands of piec...

I agree with katiemac in that you need to make it more proactive - jump right into the story and try to catch the agent's attention. Maybe in the last paragraph is where you could mention that it is your debut novel - i.e., Defender of the Crown is a young adult fantasy novel that is 81,000 words lo...

Your pitch really had me interested in the first paragraph, but in the middle of the second paragraph (right after, he is then kidnapped), you lost me. Who is Jo? Why does she suspect her grandpa? Why did she kidnap the policeman instead of just asking him for help? The last sentence is okay, but tr...

Regarding contests; one good thing to do is check with Predators and Editors http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ They have an extensive list of the good, bad and ugly things to do with writing. Two good contests I am entered in - YouWriteOn.com and Authonomy.com Both have no time limit, but bot...

Hi Nathan, Just wondering if this http://www.authonomy.com/about.aspx is the future of publishing. It looks like a great way to "beat the slush" but at the same time I wounder if it is a very elaborate scam? Is this actually by HarperCollins? I think it looks promising, but I've not taken...

Lamb by Chris Moore
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
Man the Machine, and essay by Mark Twain

Three of the best I have ever read for completely different reasons.

I've been looking for an online support group (has to be online - I live in Cairo) so I can get help fine tuning and refining a novel I have written. However, I've not been able to find anything. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm willing to read/proof other people's work in return, but I just ne...

I read something by Cormac McCarthy the other day and he said that he used to have 3 or 4 projects going at a time... so it's definitely possible to write great novels in batches. However, I'm not the type of person that makes outlines, so I generally stick to writing one thing at a time. I can't ke...

I know that Stanford University has non-degree online only creative writing classes... they are about $750-1000 each, and last for about 10-12 weeks. Mediabistro also has a number of writing classes that are ran by authors, agents, and editors that are between $100-600 and last between 2-10 weeks, a...