Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hi Nathan. Welcome back.

I've been thinking a lot about the excerpts and the 250 word limit.

It seems that some stories hit the road running in the first words,
but others warm up a reader first, need more time (words) to develop a first mood or character
or setting.

You are already so generous that I hesitate to ask, but here goes:

If once in awhile, we could look at 450-1200 word excerpts, for your critique, even if was a contest or rare event,
I know I would love to hear more about a slower burning start.

Thanks.

bcomet wrote:Hi Nathan. Welcome back.

I've been thinking a lot about the excerpts and the 250 word limit.

It seems that some stories hit the road running in the first words,
but others warm up a reader first, need more time (words) to develop a first mood or character
or setting.

You are already so generous that I hesitate to ask, but here goes:

If once in awhile, we could look at 450-1200 word excerpts, for your critique, even if was a contest or rare event,
I know I would love to hear more about a slower burning start.

Thanks.

I'll definitely consider that - part of the reason I do the 250 words is that I actually want to show that everything doesn't have to happen right off the bat. I think there's been so much advice out there on the Internet about how you have to try and grab the reader right away that people started trying to cram their entire plot into the opening. That's not really necessary. All you have to do with 250 words is just write.

But it would be good to see how some things evolve. Maybe at some point on the blog!

Thanks Nathan.

I will look to read more about that in the shorter excerpts too.

Hi Nathan,

Can you increase the number of responses that appear per page per topic to either 15 or 20? Some of these threads are getting good and long, and displaying only 10 responses per page makes for a lot of clicking. My hands get sore.

Also FYI; the http://nathanbransford.com/ main page of your site still says you are a literary agent. You might want to update it. Unless you ARE still an agent!

Thanks,
Steve

steve wrote:Hi Nathan,

Can you increase the number of responses that appear per page per topic to either 15 or 20? Some of these threads are getting good and long, and displaying only 10 responses per page makes for a lot of clicking. My hands get sore.

Also FYI; the http://nathanbransford.com/ main page of your site still says you are a literary agent. You might want to update it. Unless you ARE still an agent!

Thanks,
Steve

Ok, adjusted to 15!

And yeah, I know about the issue with the bio. Waiting on some design work.

Nathan Bransford wrote:

steve wrote:Hi Nathan,

Can you increase the number of responses that appear per page per topic to either 15 or 20? Some of these threads are getting good and long, and displaying only 10 responses per page makes for a lot of clicking. My hands get sore.

Also FYI; the http://nathanbransford.com/ main page of your site still says you are a literary agent. You might want to update it. Unless you ARE still an agent!

Thanks,
Steve

Ok, adjusted to 15!

And yeah, I know about the issue with the bio. Waiting on some design work.

Thanks! I was totally lying about sore hands!

Considering the 19 or so spam posts the guy above has made in the last 24 hours, I'd suggest better forum moderation and spam watching :-)

Collectonian wrote:Considering the 19 or so spam posts the guy above has made in the last 24 hours, I'd suggest better forum moderation and spam watching :-)

It looks like most of them went unreported to the admins. Tagging all of the unreported ones as spam right now.

I reported the first two that hit, including one last night. I figured the admins would just ban the account, but looks like he's still at it and now using some automated script to keep going :-(

oh gosh I know its so annoying, I've reported a couple of times, might go through some more!

I wonder if Bransforums would from benefit from having a clearer slot for threads on self-publishing/e-publishing. Currently we have a forum described as Publishing News, which seems to be for industry news (although it has gathered a few personal pubbing threads). And so some of the self-publishing posts currently end up in Writing forum (and in Books forum), which doesn't seem quite the place for them.

Perhaps the Publishing News forum should be renamed or re-described to invite inclusion of self-pubbing (or to clarify that it is welcome there). Or Perhaps this subject would be better in its own, new forum. I'd tend to the first idea, since that's one of the slowest forums currently, and the combination would seem to be a natural one.

Quill wrote:I wonder if Bransforums would from benefit from having a clearer slot for threads on self-publishing/e-publishing. Currently we have a forum described as Publishing News, which seems to be for industry news (although it has gathered a few personal pubbing threads). And so some of the self-publishing posts currently end up in Writing forum (and in Books forum), which doesn't seem quite the place for them.

Perhaps the Publishing News forum should be renamed or re-described to invite inclusion of self-pubbing (or to clarify that it is welcome there). Or Perhaps this subject would be better in its own, new forum. I'd tend to the first idea, since that's one of the slowest forums currently, and the combination would seem to be a natural one.

I second that.

I third that.

I like the idea of combining the forums rather than adding a new one, but either way. I'd really love for there to be a space here devoted to self-publishing topics.

Also, on a different note, I continue to have an ungranted request. I would like to renew my request for emoticon availability, Nathan.

My posts just don't feel complete unless I can add a bunch of smiley faces, stars and rainbows to them.

I feel deprived. I hope you will see it in your heart to allow me to add little pictures of birds and flowers to my messages soon, Nathan.

Thank you.

Thanks for the idea! I changed the title of the Publishing News forum accordingly.

And Mira:

Nathan!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I can make every post like a little work of art. Thank you so much!!

You're wonderful!! Thank you! This is you, very cool:

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!