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I'll give it a go, too, Ryan, although I can't promise I will be able to keep up if you want all the reviews in by the end of July. It sounds like an interesting premise. I have two completed novels on here (both fantasy, although one is sci-fi/fantasy), so there's lots of my stuff you can read for points.

Cheers,
Don

I think you can definitely have the protagonist be different than the narrator. I know of several examples like this -- Moby Dick, the Great Gatsby come to mind. All are older literature, though, so it has fallen out of vogue. I can't think of anything published in the last fifty years that has done it. Still, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it.

The one limitation I think is that you need to keep the narrator the same throughout the book, so you will not be able to switch POV. First person would seem the best POV in this case.

I personally would like to see you try it!

I figured I wasn't alone when I saw this. Luckily I use an iPad , so should be safe. Hope Sol can get it resolved soon and put in better protections.

Hi Janet,

Bad reviews suck, but it's the price we pay for making our works available on Amazon. They allow reviews from anyone with a purchase history and sometimes their robot will throw out good reviews because their algorithm deems it is from someone who knows the author, or there are too many good reviews. Whatever. I just try to ignore the reviews and not worry about them

A review on one of my books was:
"Yes it is fiction but it is so unrealistic that it is ridiculous. ... This book is stupid down to the last scene"

yet the same person said on another book:
"Good book, nice plot, the first of John and Liz collier mysteries and a lot better than book number two."

Don't know if he ever read Book 3 and don't care. Just remember, one bad review won't affect the overall rating unless it's the only one.

Sounds like a major bug. I checked and I can't see your portfolio, either. Hopefully, everything is still there and Sol can help you get it sorted out. One thing you might try is clearing the cache of your browser, logging out of the site, then logging back in.

Hi Tom,

I'm with Jack and Corra -- I prefer the simplicity of #1. I feel like #2 and #3 have too many competing elements, which distract too much.

Good luck.

Welcome to the site. I've tried several of the "competitors" and I can understand why you might be concerned, but TNBW is NOT those other sites. As njc said, there's not a lot of "social media" aspects here --  it's mainly about the writing. You can spend all your time here publishing your writing, getting helpful and constructive comments and helping others, and just work with a small cadre of like-minded contacts. Or you can do that and interact with more people on the forums. It's your choice and it's a great place to grow as a writer. 

It's a little scary to post that first story or give that first critique, but as Nike says, "Just Do It!" That's really the best way to connect. Look forward to seeing more from you.

I would think not, because like you said, it would be unlikely they would have seen anything and it would be a tremendous waste of time with a low probability of return. Plus, it would let all the patrons know there had been a murder, which is probably the last thing the police would want to get out at that stage. They'd probably limit interviews to the staff.

To hedge your bets, though, you could have a new detective or regular police officer ask about it, and have the senior detective say it was a waste of time.

Cheers,
Don

And in both cases, it was at the login page.

It doesn't HAVE to be present, but I have found that present tense really pulls the first person narrative into the immediacy of the action that is happening, rather than feeling like a narrative told later.

I also disagree with Rhiannon a little regarding adding the voice of a "mystery person" in a novel written from alternating first person POV. In some respects, it's cheating, and weakens the story a little IMO. The strength of first person POV is that the reader is totally in that character's head -- they cannot see the conspiracy around them, for instance, until they interact with it. Yes, this is limiting, and the temptation is to do as Rhiannon suggests and write a short snippet here or there from the "mystery" persons POV to let the reader know a little more. But it takes us out of experiencing the story as a character, into more of a perspective of watching it on TV or the movies. Most of the time, you can remove those snippets and just have the MCs interact with the mystery or find a clue that gets the same point across.

If such a scene is vital to the story, then I think third person is better, because that allows you to flit from character to character as if watching a movie. This is an especially good technique in thrillers.

Of course, all of this is my opinion, and one can do whatever they want. A story I'm reading on the site has alternated between first person, third, and even second person, using four characters. Although it's extremely well written, I'm not entirely sure it works, and it is not something I would recommend for a novice writer. It is an interesting experiment, though, which is why this site is so cool.