Fading Spotlight

By reindolfwrites

Very short review but there aren't a lot of chapters posted yet.

What impressive craftsmanship for a writer of your age. I wish I were writing at this level when I was a teenager. If your writing is this strong already, I can't wait to see how far you go if you decide to stick with it.

Fading Spotlight is about Isabella, an actress at the height of her success but who struggles with the pressures of fame. At first, I thought this story would be about the challenges of becoming famous at a young age, and it is, but the story surprises the reader by introducing a completely new plot involving a murder. I thought I was going to read a story about how having wealth and success doesn't always mean you get to live a happy life (like HBO's Succession) and while those themes are definitely present, this story "flips the script" and becomes a thrilling murder mystery when you least expect it.

And I have to commend your pacing because that's what makes this story so good. You really take your time with this plot, and it works extremely well. You take your time to set up all the characters, allow the reader to get to know them, and then you wait a little to write the inciting event (the phone call). Some might say that the pacing is too slow and that the inciting event should happen way earlier. But in some instances like this story, for example, the slow build-up works really well.

You are also very clever about introducing Isabella to the reader, and you show a lot of her character through her interactions with Edward. You have a surprisingly high level of mastery over show vs. tell at such an early stage in your writing journey, and many writers who have been at this game for a lot longer could stand to take a few notes from you.

You only have a few chapters posted so far, but I was thoroughly impressed with all of them. I don't want to be too picky about your prose because I want you to keep doing what you're doing and discovering your voice. Your storytelling abilities are very strong. Really, this is such an impressive work for a teenage writer, and I can't wait to see what you do with it. Please, keep writing.

Thank you for applying for a review.

See you, space cowboy