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I'm tempted to say this is a false dilemma. An opening chapter that is more mundane doesn't mean it can't have a lot of dramatic tension. A skilled writer can have the guy's life feel like an awful inescapable prison; if the office line-manager is irredemably repulsive, the failing relationship...

Any time where fantastic writing gets switched out for mediocre writing midway through, but the story has enough of a hook in you that you feel compelled to see it out despite no longer being worth your time. Obvious example is late Game of Thrones, but happens suprisingly often.

I've made myself cry a couple of times while writing. I suppose the ultimate ideal is to become so effective at conveying that emotion through our writing that we can make our readers cry as well. Also the death of Toad in 'The Animals of Farthing Wood', my god that was horrible!

He stared at the grotesque thing, unwilling to look away as that single moment stretched out into aeons, until at last it wept no more.

The problem I have is reading and writing in parallel. I got halfway through Les Mis last year and dropped it cos I had a new story idea.

Maybe they're better when they fade into the background a bit. Aragorn and Rand al'Thor are well and good but they either are, or quickly become, pretty unknowable. Frodo and the Aes Sedai girls serve much better as main protagonists since they are relatable and the consumer can more easily...

My god, this baby has the strength of two babies!

A necromancer baby with a pair of undead snake minions... :unsure:

No invisibility? TBH a necromancer baby sounds badass as hell, but I'm not sure they'd have enough world experience to even know there were loads of potential playmates buried 6 feet under.

I like to have my main story pretty set before I start. Then, when writing, I try to keep my mind spinning to ideas for subplots, character beats, thematic motiffs and stuff like that, the better to create a sense of depth and complexity.

Carlson and Peeters!

Well the sort-of-good-news is that you only have ten views on your first page, would seem to indicate its not that everyone's dropping your novel because its bad, rather they aren't picking it up at all. Couple of things you might perhaps tweak: - I personally wouldn't click on the cover art...

What would it take to convince you to die on a hill? :P

For 1, I always heard you are meant to keep dialogue tags minimal, without extra details. Personally thats one I struggle to keep to, I can't help but let my little peeps have a sip of coffee while they chat! :)

So let me apologise in advance, I might be nosing a bit too far into your worldbuilding here, but if you want them to come off as underdogs, how about not giving them a proper name at all? Suppose the guild only allows teams that have achieved a considerable fame and notoriety to choose a custom...

The Challenge Runners?

My all-time favourite book is probably Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Such a perfect feature-length dark fairy tale, and a real shame the author's not done anything meaty since. Least favourite - and I wouldn't call him bad, more just that I find him frustrating - is Brandon Sanderson. I did...

I suppose if you conceive of your class as a single 'choice', D&D's answer is just to provide lots more dependent choices. You want to be a fighter, ok do you want to be a battlemaster, or eldritch knight, or horse-riding cavalier? What weapons do you want to be expert in? What feats will you...

I suppose I'd be rather unsettled, especially given the number of kitsune slavegirl harems that seem to be knocking about this place :unsure: