Keep in mind that opinions are like a particular orifice, in both frequency and odor.
I have been dealing with the same feelings and doubts lately. I have a few real life friends who love reading and are always eager to give me feedback. My relationship with these people goes much deeper...
Did you avoid virtual media did it just happen that way?
Devor, I gather from your excellent comment that with an existing audience spending time on social media might be a waste. Would you mind explaining that with a little more depth?
How would you know why a writer is breaking a rule unless they told you? I cant speak for the rest of the forum, obviously, but right now I am more of an aspiring author than professional author.
And again, writing is ART. There are no rules in art beyond creating something people like.
The article has some really good points but I think a lot of them are just as applicable to male characters. Personally, I don’t care at all if the character is a male, female, human, elf or lobster as long as they have depth and personality.
I hate flying as well. You are lucky that you can read while flying, I always get too sick to do anything but suffer.
My suggestions:
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, easy read, fantasy, 2009
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin, easy read, fantasy, 1968
No Easy Day by Mark Owen...
When is the last time you heard someone say, “I love this book, it is so standard!” or “I would have liked that book more, had it been more standard.” Never let yourself forget that writing is, before it is anything else, ART. Standard practice is a fickle trend, good art can last forever...
Maybe not the first priority, but one of the first certainly. Another of the most important priorities in my writing is making my reader unsure if any given character will be alive or dead at the end of the chapter, but ensuring that they have a passionate desire for one outcome of the other.
Don’t let one reader, reading outside their preferred genre, affect you that much. Get some beta readers who are as passionate about fantasy as you are to read your draft. I know that if I was asked to beta read chick-lit, even a mere 90k words of chick-lit, it would have a very hard time...
I had my wife read it and she said it could be clearer. If someone was unfamiliar with the symptoms of arterial bleeding it could be confusing. Maybe an explanation of what pulsing blood flow would mean for Winter and why it was important to check for it would be helpful.