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I love this approach, don't change it! I once read a mystery book with an approach similar to yours, it ended on a cliffhanger but was nevertheless, satisfying. Try describing him like "the adjec...
I think it's a good approach! As a reader, I would enjoy the sense of mystery, and I don't think you should change it at all. As for what he should be called before he's introduced, what about his ...
yes, it's fine. It's obvious which is which in context. Separately, if you want to emphasize something in internal monologue which is already italics, the usual convention is that the word is in ...
If you're writing a research report, then yes, you should have "here is the thing we are studying" or "this is the question we are trying to answer" in the introduction of the report. Otherwise the...
A lot of literary journals manage submissions via Submittable. I've never used it as an admin, but I know you can assign stories to particular readers and it keeps track of correspondence between y...
There are various ways to handle this, depending on how you want the scene to come across. Vague. That is to say, the reader knows they had sex by reasonable inferrence. You end one scene with the...
I think it may be okay if the writing about making love is euphemistic -- but don't let the emotions around it be vague. It should be a big event for your characters and that is what is more import...
In general, YA books have become fairly permissive. You can get away with a lot, if it works within the context of your story. The important question you need to ask here is: What purpose is the se...
As long as you make sure the POV transitions are smooth and clearly let the reader know that the POV has changed, (Have you had any trouble with that?) I think it will make for an interesting, intr...
If you are worried that it is too complicated, it is probably too complicated. Not there there is not a place for narrative innovation in literature, but the basics are the readers want to be immer...
My feeling is that you should hint at it, so that it doesn't feel like a deus ex machina, but write your story and show it to some beta readers asking about that in particular. If you hint too stro...
Describing a psychedelic experience is inherently difficult. You might try weaving in some behavioral changes seeming out of place as your hints something is amiss. If you wait to the reveal, you'l...
As a habit I read some educational General Literature and Factual/Referance on Google Books (previews are free) booksgoogle.com www.writersdigest.com
Writers read. We read lots of things in order to learn from our betters how they do what they do. Read the instructional blogs and books, but being a reader who picks apart stories and sentences to...
This is a pretty complicated question, no matter how realistic your writing is you'll have people who can find faults and people who think you should have been more adventurous. It's probably worth...
You evaluate yourself as a professional writer by submitting writing to respected publications and seeing if they offer you money for it. The beauty of writing is that there is no other criteria, n...
What mbakeranalecta wrote in his answer is spot on but it is, as he already wrote, a very broad topic so I want to add some things. This should really go without saying but since I've seen it in s...
I've found that creative writing including a horror deserves to come from inspiration. Inspiration can come from many places. What inspires you? What would make your imagination take wing? Mayb...
I should think that alternating paragraphs should be enough, as long as the tone/ voice that each character uses has been sufficiently different. It's not too dissimilar to two different people ha...
From the way you describe it and the fact that you're asking I'd have to say third person omniscient would achieve what you're trying to accomplish. I also think it makes a difference if it's a sh...
If you would like to immediately disprove your friend about the fact that female readers prefer a protagonist that is an ordinary person, I'll refer you to the works of Jane Austen, which are favor...
So if I understand correctly, the claim is "men want admirable characters" and "women want (normal) relatable characters"? Short answer: I can't speak for men, but women definitely want both. I'm...
Your question mixes two different perspectives. The IMDB stats are aggregates, not only of a population but also of a movie. Two people can give the same movie the same score for completely differ...
I wouldn't put too much stock into this. In the 2000s, the best selling children's book series were (in order from best to worst) Harry Potter, Animorphs, and Goosebumps. All three are book seri...
This is a variant of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Adolescent characters are hardly new, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Jason of the Argonauts, Theseus (of minotaur slaying fame), and more recently...
