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Does the character call him "G" or "Mr. G?" I'm thinking of in Buffy the Vampire Slayer how Faith refers to everyone, so she calls Buffy "B". And The Fonz in Happy Days calls everyone "Mrs. C...
Imagine the Nurse is a lesbian. In WW2 and in the military she wouldn't be "out", but it isn't like lesbians did not exist back then. Her fiancé is a ruse; I know single lesbians that still wear a ...
You are letting the characters develop naturally, according to what feels right for them, rather than forcing them to conform to an abstract plot point. This is good, of course. Now, if you really ...
Every reader comes at a work with a different perspective. One reader may not even notice the elements that are central for another. The only way to find out if your two beta readers were focusin...
Just note that there is an underlying value judgement that inevitably biases your view on the matter. Compare the following: "How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching ...
I would say no. The phobias are more in the realm of irrational fears, not rational ones. So she might develop coulrophobia, but she doesn't have it just because she got raped by somebody dressed a...
I don't know Murakami, so I think it depends on how "trademark" his style is. If it is particularly unique, I wouldn't want to be seen as an obvious imitation. But if it is just good writing, I'd...
Go ahead and copy his style. Murakami is a brilliant writer who draws heavily on other writers (as does every writer, whether they realize it or not). Honestly, if you can manage to write so well...
I think this is an opinion piece, but IMO the protagonist is a hero, and the scientist is a villain, and the ending is a mixed bag. For starters, anybody trying to coerce everybody against their w...
Congratulations! Seems that you have a story with a vary conflicting, gray scale of morals. That's usually a good sign. Coming to your question, I'd say your hero is an anti-hero, or rather a re...
Both seem fine to me. My only hesitation would be if the 2nd example is a single sentence, then you probably wouldn't need to in-line cite again at the end. Other than the APA manual, I typically ...
Writing to friends and family, you can dispose with formality. You don't need a "structure". "Stream of consciousness" is how such letters were written before computers, before you could rearrange ...
A short story has limited space, you have to limit yourself to a few characters and one conflict. A novel is not like that. In a novel you can have plots and subplots, a multitude of characters, yo...
No, it is not too much (I agree with Galastel). If you are feeling it is too much, I suspect your story is underdeveloped, or under-imagined. You need more scenes to illustrate the transitions smo...
If removing the frame does not affect the story, then remove it. If the story lacks, then harness the frame. Case I. There is a disconnect between frame and story The epic tale of wars is a fr...
I will disagree with everyone! The best way to improve as a writer is to analyze how writers you really like, of books you really like, accomplished what they did. Don't just read them, that quic...
Presuming maiden is Jacobs, married is Williams: Mary Williams née Jacobs Mary Williams (Jacobs) Mary Jacobs Williams It isn't like space is limited on the cover or copyright pages; I'd use the...
I think you need either a more general title for your book, or a more specific title for your first chapter. The main thing I see wrong with that is it will make it seem like the whole story is ab...
Focus on the character's experience. Your narrator feels distant from your character and that's why you're struggling with word choice (and I realize you are only giving us short bits from your na...
This is how Tolkien solves a similar problem in The Lord of the Rings: ENT. When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough; When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is...
One generally doesn't read lyrics like poetry. Sure, you can, but it's not as common. One reads lyrics to understand a song. If you're reading to understand how to sing a song, punctuation is pa...
Building on Amadeus's answer, what you want to avoid is your character monologuing his backstory. Sometimes, a monologue can be done. If that story is gripping, and the scene is such that it makes...
If you show excerpts and cited the book, it is obvious you are crediting the book, and it is not plagiarism. You are not claiming the passages from the book are your own writing, and it is "fair us...
You're running into problems because you're putting too much focus on the details of the transition, instead of just marking it as a transition and moving into the next scene. Try using a single r...
How do you handle, the introduction of a concept and its use? There are many ways to do this. Generally, you don't introduce it at all, you just have a character (or, say, a sign or something...
