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I, too, remember enjoying the thrills of The Andromeda Strain. It's available to rent on the Amazon Prime channel. Doesn't seem so exciting these days.

Try this: The 68 Best Pandemic Movies to Binge In Quarantine. https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/best-pa … -more.html

There are also Westerns, Feel-Good Movies, Zombie Movies and on, and on. People with time on their hands can come up with a lot of lists!

Well, not to get too fired up about it, but the whack-o who called a comma merely 'a lower apostrophe' is an excellent illustration of the state of today's writing. The comma is just as misused as the poor apostrophe. It gets jammed in where it doesn't belong and left out when it is sorely needed.

You'd think at least somebody would have been paying attention in English class, but alas! the disregard of English grammar has been going on for so long, even today's teachers don't know what's what. (Much like the teachers who can't write in cursive, yet are called upon to teach it.)

Anyone who tells you it doesn't matter what the rules are, because rules were made to be broken by creative thinkers, is just wrong. The rules of grammar are what standardize language, enabling us to communicate with one another.

But it's the care the writer takes in conveying his/her message that determines the ease with which the reader understands and enjoys the story. Why make it hard to plow through your writing when, with a little care, your work can be a joy to read?

(Sorry, not sorry to believe that readers would rather relax into the flow of a story than have to take notes in order to keep up. We left that 'required reading' thing in the schoolroom. Unless, of course, you write textbooks.)

Whose POV? That is the question.

If you're writing from Father Romano's POV and he sees Connor's eyes close and his brows furrow, then the first example is a POV slip, because it's not possible for Father Romano to know if Connor is concentrating, or praying for the event to be over, or whatever. In that case, removing the words, 'in concentration', would correct the error.

If, in another case (say, in another chapter), you were writing from Connor's POV, there would be no POV slip in this example, because of course Connor knows what he's thinking.

JUST REMEMBER you can't zoom back and forth from the POV of one character to that of another, paragraph to paragraph. That's called head-hopping, which becomes disorienting to the reader. Bad form.

Hope you had a great day, Ray!  JP

Marilyn--
Hope you feel better soon. Don't forget to drink plenty of hot tea with generous doses of lemon and brandy. Or just brandy. Let us know when you're back to normal. You've got a Thanksgiving to celebrate!  JP

I agree.  Both work.

I don't know about masculine/ feminine. I'm just visualizing Mad Magazine-style illustrations... "Blonde vs Blond," etc.

As for Rachel, you're damned right!

Since it takes a while to get to the 'meat' of your story, I would say you're justified in using a prologue to set the stage.

I admire the writers of fantasy, for their determination to create a complete world, with its own laws of nature and living beings. It's a difficult job. The only thing I have noticed is that some writers try to give the reader all the background information at the outset, which can result in TMI--an information dump. Even if it is clever and funny, it's still a delay in getting to the real story.

What research has shown that readers require or expect an extensive set-up in fantasy fiction, or is that your experience? I ask because I just had an epiphany of sorts. I left a book unfinished a few years ago because I wasn't satisfied with it. I just realized today that the episodes with which I opened had no real part in the hero's story, even though he was featured in them. I had just tried to open with some exciting action. Duh. It's taken me a while, but now I know what to do with the rewrite. Cut, cut, cut!

Good luck.  JP

BTW, 'conflictual' is not a word. Neither is 'instinctual', which is rampant in the current penny-ante self-published works. Where is this coming from? Try 'conflicted', or better yet, 'a conflict'. Best of all, since all literature is supposed to revolve around conflict, making it a given, try another word to express your meaning. Maybe uncertain, ambivalent, disordered--whatever you meant to say.

1.  Woody Allen (Not sure I understand this one, but you know Woody.)
2a. “It is better to love wisely, no doubt, but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.”
2b. “Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all.”

Even the greats copy each other, but adding to the word count doesn't seem to improve an idea.