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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...
TL;DR: First-person protagonists are never all-knowing, but if they're telling the story after the fact, they can know things they haven't been told yet. First-person narratives come in two flavou...
As Pat Rothfuss said on Writing Excuses, there are things that can happen to characters that are "worse than death". The "existential threats", especially because they are such a cliché, are also j...
While it's okay to gender your robots if you really feel the need, it's not necessary. The first version with "it" instead of "he" read just fine. It's a bit awkward writing it, as we're trained ...
Building from @Jontia's, Personally, while I'm comfortable with she/her (and I'm also not a robot), I always like the X or Z options, and I had hoped they would catch on with people who wanted an ...
If your MC is some kind of detective or police officer or whatever, somebody that addresses crime, and Matt is seeking help from them, then you probably have to have Matt explain and prove he is a ...
The best way to improve as a writer is to write. Just write. Then write some more. Then look at what you've written critically, ask others to read and comment, then rewrite and write some more. Co...
