Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

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Legislation introduced for a new Federal Writers’ Project (This week in books)

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This week! Books!

A brief scheduling note that I am going on a post-vaccination blog holiday for a couple of weeks, and I’ll be back with fresh content on May 24. Hope everyone who has access to a vaccine gets one and please consider donating to countries in need if you have the means.

I’ll be checking email while I’m away, so please reach out to me if you need help with your manuscript or query letter or if you need some coaching!

Now then, on to the links.

Representatives Ted Lieu and Teresa Leger introduced legislation that would invest $60 million ($ link) inspired by the Depression-era Federal Writers Project. The bill would address unemployment among writers by hiring them to chronicle stories that help archive American history.

Writing at Jane Friedman’s blog, John B. Thompson discusses the current holy grail among publishers in the new online bookselling-oriented world: establishing direct relationships with readers.

At Writer Unboxed, agent Donald Maass has a great post on why fictional characters often act in ways that would make real life friends worry a great deal about them, and how it’s so important to create a sense of inevitability for their actions.

Anne R. Allen dives into unsympathetic characters and how to retain a reader’s interest.

And agent Janet Reid has a reminder that often when an agent passes it’s not even about whether the book is good or bad and it’s not something you can fix.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

  1. Sooley by John Grisham
  2. Finding Ashley by Danielle Steel
  3. A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
  4. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
  5. The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

  1. What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey
  2. The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell
  3. You Are Your Best Thing edited by Tarana Burke and Brené Brown
  4. How Y’all Doing? by Leslie Jordan
  5. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Young adult hardcover:

  1. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
  2. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
  3. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  4. One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
  5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Middle grade hardcover:

  1. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  2. The Ickabog by J.K. Rowling
  3. The One and Only Bob by Katherine Applegate
  4. Refugee by Alan Gratz
  5. When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

And finally, you must enjoy this wonderful interview with renowned tree scientist Suzanne Simard, who researches the interconnectedness between trees, something she recognizes that indigenous cultures had already long known.

Have a great weekend! See you in a few weeks!

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and coaching!

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Photo: Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Follow me on Instagram!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Wendy says

    Thanks for this wealth of info and links, Nathan. Must have taken ages to compile and write up. Gorgeous photo.

    I resonated with the article, Finding the Mother Tree. Loved Suzanne’s catch-phrase, the ‘wood-wide web’, indicating the dependence of trees upon each other through their network of roots which gives stability against the storms. Also liked how she describes how all the facets of a forest work together to enhance the life and health of each other.

    Although trees don’t need people, we need the trees. Decades ago, when writing a novel about a legendary race, I entered the pov of a child from the Theena Shee called Runiah. This opened me up to the value and possible personality of a tree. None of the legendary Shee would dare cut one down or even remove a limb. Before returning to her own world, Runiah helped to regenerate the bushland near where her human friend lived. Runiah would serenade her tree friends, and her human friend to help him understand some of the value and wisdom of a tree:

    “Trees grow tall from saplings small.
    Trees grow very strong and full of secrets.
    Though they seem asleep,
    beneath their wood they keep
    more ancient power than you could ever know.
    They all have gifts to bring:
    some add colour to fall and spring,
    so many fruits they gladly give,
    and call down the water for everything.
    They provide a place for furries and featheries,
    branch boys and moss maidens to live.
    The trees on this earth are the most,
    are the most, beautiful things.”

    Of course, they do much more than these lyrics indicate. One article eloquently described trees as ‘the lungs of the planet.’