FROM SAM
I often wonder why writers get so bogged down in needless over-thinking and generic "Can this be done?" questions. From chapter length, to multiple characters, and everything in between, their queries are often pointless in the grand scheme of things. How can I be so controversial? Because they simply are pointless, to the degree that they don't matter. Yes, you heard me. They don't matter. Let me regale you with an anecdote: I had a novel traditionally published (military thriller) at 150,000 words, with six main characters and six point-of-view characters, and a market niche that had ended some ten years previously when novels about the Cold War were usurped by those of the War on Terror. The ceiling for first-time authors is around 100,000 words. Mine was 50,000 more and it was accepted. It had more characters than most publishers appreciate and was accepted. It catered to a niche that was largely non-existent at the time and was accepted. In point of fact, it broke nearly every 'rule' thrown at first-time and aspiring authors and was accepted.
There is nothing you 'cannot' do. In fact, the word 'cannot' should be stricken from your vocabulary. The person who says something cannot be done is usually interrupted by the person who's done it. I'm not saying I know for a fact that if you write a story called Parry Hotter and the Prisoner of Banazka it will be accepted. What I'm saying is to forget all the questions and just write. When the Internet didn't exist for writers thirty and forty years ago, where do you think they learned their craft? From reading the works of others. From studying the masters and observing how they did it. Asking questions is okay, but when you become so paralysed that you have to ask one forevery little thing, that's a problem. We can all tell you the answers until the cows come home, but if you have to figure them out for yourself, they'll stay with you for much longer.
Just write. Everything else will sort itself out along the way. I know this from experience.
RESPONSE
I agree that you need to write if you want to call yourself a writer. But I also think there's no such thing as a stupid question from a beginner. I disagree with you that the answers to these questions don't matter.
I suppose I view those kind of questions differently. I never think people ask those questions simply to learn answers. I think they also ask them to connect with and learn about other writers. I know I did. When I was very young, I looked up the answers to several fairly mundane writing questions, then asked those questions of people who ostensibly knew something about writing. In doing this, I discovered whether these people actually knew what they were talking about, whether they were patient and kind or curt and bristly, whether they liked talking with young people, whether they expressed themselves in a way I understood, whether they were really interested in writing and helping me improve, etc. This is how I found one of my first mentors. While most are probably not as deliberate and analytical as me, I can't help but think that most people embrace the relational aspect of asking questions far more than they realize. I know of no faster way to connect with people than to ask a question.