Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing
Helping authors achieve their dreams
If you’re pursuing traditional publication, brace yourself, because you’re gonna get rejection letters. Even when a project ends up finding a literary agent and eventually a publisher, the “nos” almost always arrive before the “yeses.” Every single bestselling author you’ve ever heard of has received rejection letters at some point, and some received a mountain’s […]
Life. It’s deep, right? I mean, just look at the word. Life. Wow, man. Just, wow. But here’s the thing. Real life is very often extremely boring. That’s one of the main reasons we read and write books in the first place. Want to know one of the absolute worst ways you can defend yourself […]
I get quite a lot of questions about prologues. Are they necessary? Do agents like them? Should they be included with partial manuscript requests? Consider this a post on all things prologue. I’m going to cover: What’s a prologue? Typically, a prologue is 3-5 pages of introductory material that is written while the author is […]
This image from the Telegraph inadvertently illustrates one of the most important writing concepts every write should master: The reversal. Storytelling is all about reversals, and readers are drawn to them like crazies to the Bachelor house. Still, as with many concepts in writing, I don’t believe there is a universal definition of what exactly […]
One of my favorite jokes on The Office is when Dwight Schrute boasts, “I know everything about film. I’ve seen over 240 of them.” It’s funny because it sounds reasonable at first, but then you realize 240 is a pittance. You’ve surely seen thousands of movies, not to mention thousands of hours of scripted TV shows. […]
I’ve dished out plenty of edits as a former literary agent and current freelance book editor, and been on the receiving end as the author of a middle grade trilogy and several guides to writing and publishing. When I receive an edit, I know that the (usually brilliant) suggestions my editors make are nothing personal. […]
Helping authors achieve their dreams
