Nathan Bransford - The Forums

<<<<*I'll go with me first trunk novel cos that's the largest and the one I probably know best*>>>> OK - well I guess this constitues "epic" as it's 195K at last revision. 2 POV characters (Yep, that's all. I've yet to top 4 in any novel, and I don't write small) Now I'd constitute a major...

It's like magic. Only wizards have this skill. It kind of is - Stephen King called it telepathy, but magic is just as close. You're basically designing a vast tree-shaped (dendriformic?) structure, but you're only drawing the very tips of the leaves and a tiny part of the trunk. THEN you've got to ...

With thousands of new authors hoping against hope to make it to the top, will we all need to find other avenues to reach a potential audience? Short answer: Kind of Long answer: Not all authors will need to change tactics. Problem is the ratio of success to failure will drop as more people enter th...

Tips n tricks, tips n tricks, tips n tricks....hmmmm Ok well I've kinda had to do something like this before - One of my novels has a chapter in a dimension where scale is removed. So drawing on that. What did I do.....lemme think.... 1) What is it? Sounds obvious but its actually pretty important. ...

There may yet be a reason to make this a serial, but why can't a reader just do that on their own? For the same reason TV series don't just realease an 18 hour TV program and ask viewers to just pause it whenever they want, rather than breaking it into 24 x 45 min episodes. Why? it's nothing to do ...

Only fair, I guess, that I help out the Bransforumers.... The submission portal is now open: http://harpervoyagerbooks.com/2012/10/01/the-submission-portal-is-now-open/ Make sure you read the FAQs.....Though there does seen to be some issue on the length of the synopsis and what that means, so might...

The fact the wordcount moves into 7 figures isn't really an issue. There's plenty of completed series that top that figure, some many times over (I've just started re-reading the Wheel of Time in preparation for the final book in January). My issue would be: an a novel of that size that isn't split ...

On Amazon, for example, you can only choose two categories. Common strategy on this is to choose two fairly narrow categories, in the hopes of rising to the top. Choosing a category that doesn't actually apply to you book is counterproductive, because you're giving up one that does. The majority of...

******Warning - this post contains a rant. This is largely an outpouring of annoyed, frustrated thoughts and is not designed to be a fully coherent, well constructed argument. If you wish to take up any of these points please remember that the opinions within are put down in the full knowledge they...

There's 2 points at work here and I think you're not considering both of them: 1) Reader searches 2) Self-Pub writers wanting a way to signify that they are professionals Point 1) is what you're talking about (I'll come to it later). However, Point 2 is the interesting thing because judging by many ...

My impression is that Americans (and maybe others) generally are either ignorant or apathetic about writing quality, at least in genre fiction. They read to be entertained. They'll even deal with a poorly-constructed story is fine as long as it's entertaining. My personal guess is that maybe 10-15%...

Because of the mass volume, I don't think there's any one system that will ever keep up with it, though I think at some point in the future we are going to see a site or a series of sites dedicated to various genres that will become the next gen gatekeepers, except these will be made up of readers,...

A name popped up on a blog I follow, M.R.Mathias, and I recalled the Mathias Meltdown I'd read about before. If you don't know the controversy - plug in either "mathais meltdown" or "the man who thought he was king" into google and have a read...don't worry, I'll wait. Anyway, I ...

Hi Guys Just in case this hasn't appeared on your radar - Harper Voyager are taking unagented Manuscripts for a 2 week period in October (1st to 14th)..... I know alerting you all has diminished my own chances somewhat - but we keep getting told this isn't a competition, right? PS: their submissions...

Context: He's showing disappointment while in conversation while walking in a cave..... Interesting that you all put (in this instance) the job of understanding in the reader's lap - (albeit after the writer has constructed something that can be understood). You're right that in context I don't thin...