Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Holly wrote:Game 6, 2002, Lakers-Kings. It will never die.

No, it won't. It still hurts.

My Suns are up 62-47 on your Kings right now. Are you ready to surrender? p.s. how do you beat the Lakers and Celtics and lose to the Grizzlies and Warriors over a stretch of four games? Oh man. Tough game. Nash is ridiculously clutch. But watch out for the Kings in the next few years. Evans and Ca...

If I've revised a query that I've already sent out, should I wait for a reply from the agent before I resend the query? Should I resend even after rejection? You should not re-send a query to an agent, even if you've revised it. Please see my previous answers regarding requerying after a rejection ...

KarenK wrote:How much merit should be placed on a review that I received from a Head Children’s Librarian after she read my manuscript?

I address this topic here: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2008/08 ... oh-my.html

Re-querying: I know in general that re-querying is a bad idea, but let's say that as a young and inexperienced author I queried about a 274 agents with a manuscript that got rejected 193 times (with 81 no replies - er... yet to be replies). Then, I went and learned a bunch of things (like how to wr...

Personally I have to have it all quiet. Maybe classical music if I need to block out other noise, but I get distracted with music.

The only way to tell is if they blog or have given an interview and have stated their opinions. I don't really think there are many agents with insta-rejections based on any set criteria (provided it's in a genre they represent). But otherwise I wouldn't sweat it too much and just go ahead and query.

Moses, I love your list! I would add Donald Maass' new book, Fire in Fiction . For a more experienced writer, I think it's even better than the Breakout Novel book. Thanks Katrina, I'll check it out. The night after I finished my first draft, I had an amazing dream in which I talked to Donald Maass...

Ok, I looked in the FAQ's and didn't see this...so here goes. If you're writing a modern day novel, and you want it literally, would there be copyright issues with using actual locations or stores? I had a great idea for a scene that involved my characters in IKEA...would that be alright? Just wond...

Nick wrote:Totally not serious question so feel free to ignore it but,

In light of your most recent re-posted blog post, I am forced to inquire: Does Jacob Wonderbar end with "MATSUTAKE!"?

Ha! It should! But I'm afraid it doesn't.

I actually wonder if being consistent is more important than mixing it up. One thing I learned from a writer who went to creative writing school is that the reason most writing instructors advise against using non-"said" dialogue tags is that your brain really doesn't even notice the word ...

Just finished Hush, Hush (loved it) and am reading The Heretic's Daughter. Next up is Wake. No way! I just finished Hush, Hush yesterday! (I also loved it) That's funny. CV Ok, so this may already be common knowledge, but... did you know... that Nathan and Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush Hush) share the sa...

Hi Nathan, I have a question - I know you don't answer all questions, and you may not want to answer this one, which is cool. But I'm curious about your vision for the forums. What made you start them and what are you hoping they will become? Thanks - hope you had a great holiday! :) I started them...

Hey Nathan, You, erm, skipped my question (end of page 13). You didn't even give a form response! :) An important aspect about my manuscript is the setting. It's something that's not explicitly stated but the reader is supposed to figure out and go "Oh, that's where we are! I see! I love!"...

Hi Nathan and virtuals... Any new information about the popularity of Trade Paperback deals? I read what you wrote a while back on your blog, about it being reasonable for genre fiction to go directly to trade paperback, but do you think publishers are making more of these deals because of ebooks a...