"Growl”

By: Bestseller.

Reviewer: Gtoprenaissance.

1-Title: “Growl” is definitely an interesting title, it bespeaks of a metaphorical intimacy between romance and fiction, though I have seen this title being used multiple times on this platform, your story makes it somewhat special. However, the majority of the audience will most likely judge a story based on the title itself, and your story carries along within its person such an outlandish brilliance and virtuous authenticity; so why not choose something that’s a little on the exuberantly mythological side? “Growl” isn’t far from such a corner, but it is not original or authentic, which I simply think it’s a shame for it to be used as a label for such magnificent story. I usually advise authors who’re hesitant to switch titles into adding a sub-title, this way your story won’t sound too unfamiliar to your readers while maintaining an authentic appeal.

Rating: [8/10].

2-Description/Foreword: Right, so the prime purpose of the description is to serve as a portion for readers to help them navigate more efficiently while obtaining a general outlook regarding the plot-line of your story, but it’s a common misconception to directly quote a portion off of your story and use it in the description, you can use it the foreword section to avoid confusing the readers. Here’s where it gets tricky, writers of fictional novels (and Horror, under certain occasions) must not indulge in constructing a description that follows the habitual form of any other literary genre, for the sole purpose of maintaining the readers’ interest without inflicting any possible confusion. It must be direct but not strictly detailed. If you do plan on using nouns such as deities and whatnot, assist your audience with specifying the polytheistic origin and physical/metaphysical shapes of these beings, it’ll help your readers capture a vague glimpse of said character vaguely, without straying too far off the genre. The foreword section is unnecessarily long; you could easily shorten it and perhaps replace it with one of those contemporary Characters Guide tables, considering you have too many characters introduced in a short amount of time. 

Rating: [7/10].

3-Plot: The beginning is actually perfect; it’s always wise to supply your readers with a background of any main character, providing that it’s functional and not overly detailed. The first chapter is too detailed with many unnecessary scenes that are neither fruitful to the plot-line nor support the fundamental structure of a fictional novel involving supernatural elements. When writing a fictional novel of such sorts, diction is of utmost importance. Try and go for a more literature-appropriate vocabulary in order to support the spine of your story. The word choice is not bad in your story, but it can improve if you wish for the plot and conversations to appear significantly profound (especially when there are Gods involved!).

Can I make a slight suggestion? Why choose Korea as the initial setting? Most readers will quit the story if the initial settings aren’t satisfactory. Your storyline is purely supernatural and fictional so by suppressing the element of time and place to a worldly capacity, it diminishes the literary value of your story in some sense. Have you considered constructing an authentic, supernatural world where you can express complete control over your characters and their connection to said local? This method will most likely break off any sorts of restriction upon your characters and thus can be shaped liberally. If you happen to think this step might reflect drastically on your story and its general layout then at least choose a location where deities frequent Earth (Greece and Rome are exhausted locations in literature) just as much as wolf-related creatures are heavily mentioned, for example, Norse mythology, Baltic-Slavic mythology, or even Native American mythology. Wolves don’t overtake East-Asian mythology and folklore normally. You may think “It’s just an AU, that’s the point of Supernaturalism.” But your story claims to be supernatural; what makes supernatural stories so lovable and freaky is the realistic underlining to the slightest elements related to this sub-genre. Don’t worry over the character’s nationalities being unrelated to this location, just because a character is of a certain nationality doesn’t mean they can’t travel, they’re not on parole! Take Shakespeare’s one and only Emilia (of Othello), she’s of Spanish-Italian origins and is set in Venice, Sydney Carton (of Tale of Two Cities) is English but spends the majority of the novel in France and Cyril Fielding (of A Passage to India) is an Englishman who spends the entire novel in India.

I think the idea of a “designated mate” so to speak, is fascinating for the sake of developing the lead female character because it –initially- encourages the audience to think of Nalla as a character with a fatal flaw, born under celestial oppression and directed towards a chosen path that’s beyond her government, this is perfect for developing her strength in motion. I’ll discuss this in depth in the Character Development.

Avoid bluntly verbalising the timeframe on any chronological alteration, writing “12 years later” is not literature-appropriate. You’re using the Third-Person point of view, meaning you’re in full control over time lapses so, put that to good use and avoid the “12 years later” thing because it exhibits the author as incompetent and lazy. Here’s how to fix this issue, use your powers as a narrator of omniscient direction to convert any chronological change into the proper monologue. For example, vaguely dictate how this character is progressing into early adulthood, you don’t have to put an exact age on any character. It’s the fourth chapter and the other main character hasn’t even been introduced yet, this is not build-up, it’s stalling and your readers might become impatient and