Sep 23, 2022
Well ... it seems like this really was it. You've done it and completed your first novel. And even though this seems trivial this is the most important part of it - to finish the novel. It gets hard and sometimes even a drag about two thirds in, but you made it anyways ๐๐
The way you wrote about borrowing from other fictional works sounded a bit like you wanted to excuse yourself for it, but I really don't think there is a need. A lot of the (from my personal experience mostly female) authors start out with writing fan fictions. It's a good starting point because you can use existing things and start expanding on them to get acquainted with plotting and writing fiction in general. You surely learned a lot during the process. Nonetheless, if you keep going forward, in a few years you will look back on this novel and see a sheer infinite amount of flaws - I'm talking out of experience there. But this here was a first step, and a really enjoyable one in that.
I still want to give you some advice and the main one would be to keep pushing forward. Scrutinize your own storytelling, try out all sorts of writing styles, find out if you are more of a gardener or an architect. With this you will get better and always try to be our harshest critic. With a trained eye you will see the possible weak points and be able to experiment to fix them.
For my part, I really enjoyed your story! Still, the cuteness was a bit too much for me at times. A bit like the feeling after eating too much candy at once - suddenly you feel numb to the sweetness. But I'm guilty of making my very first novel a pure wish-fulfillment orgy, so no offenses there ๐๐
I also felt like after the gang was taken out, the whole urgency of the previous chapters was suddenly gone and it felt like that was the end already. For a really great plot structure that applies to essentially all stories I can recommend you Joseph Campbells "The Hero's Journey". There are dozens of YouTube Videos touching on this, so maybe take a look into that.
And everything else boils down to writing more. You already have a really great foundation and it lies in your hands to build upon that. Don't get too attached to this one work though (since this story is "to be continued"). if you are writing just to have fun, this is definitely the easier road, but if you want to really improve, learn plotting and learn characterization and learn world building in different stories and environments ๐๐
Thanks for the mention and I am always happy to be of service ๐๐
Hope to read you soon! ๐โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
