u/RareOpening7995

Can you use history as simply the setting for your novel (the main genre is different) with casual historical inaccuracies? Instead of trying to be time accurate and stick to the exact facts and language of the time?

I am talking about things like using modern slang in a novel set in rococo or Victorian period, or letting some modern church customs related to marriage etc, nothing too jarring or futuristic.

So I am learning how to prepare a query letter for my novel, it's a historical romance with a mystery subplot that basically guides the plot while the protagonists are in love and kiss and like full on romance while solving it so they can end up together.

So in my query letter's hook do I write it as historical romance novel set against the backdrop of (the time period) moving back and forth between (like the setting) to solve a murder mystery.

It's a first person pov novel, where in the climax the main character baits the egoistic killer to reveal what they did in the climax, like an entire chapter or so detailing how they did what they did. Would you like it? Or is it too ameture and kills the vibe? There are no recording devices because it's set in the past.

I need a non AI tool to help me check my grammer and punctuation for the piece I am writing. I am a non native speaker so there is a possibility there there might be some very fine details that I might miss, and I don't want that. I tried prowriting aid, turns out it's AI, then I tried grammerly turns out it's now AI as well, so I am at a loss. Docs doesn't capture the punctuation issues, only typos and it gets frustrating.

Like someone just wanted you to have frail health not die, and they (with a gloved hand laced with poison) touched your arm. And the only symptoms that appear are nausea, weakness, dizziness and fainting spells. But the person is able to function properly. And there are no modern medicines because it's 1900s.

Plz tell me the name of a poison that fits these categories. I am going crazy over this pothole. I have written how the poisoning will happen, who does it, and the symptoms but don't know the poison, if it even exists.

What are your thoughts on the protagonist getting pregnant unexpectedly near the end of the novel? Is it bad? Is it the thing that kills your entire book? And is it cliche?