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51
51
Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (3.0)
Review: The Quest to the Olcorum- Chap 1
By: A.C. Aurora
Reviewed by:Lon



My Opinion: This seemed to be fairly well written, but I felt lacked a certain sort of ‘umph’ to really pull the reader in. You have lots of places where you use weak verbs rather than strong ones – by this I mean you say ….was xxxx-ing (ex: was pounding) rather than just using the straight ‘ed’ form of the verb which comes across stronger for the reader.

You also seemed to have a problem with dialogue and dialogue tags – by that I mean that they don’t always flow smoothly or follow the rules correctly. Normally when you have dialogue and you follow it with ‘he said/she said’ or some form of it, this is then considered a dialogue tag. When using a dialogue tag, you end the dialogue with a comma and need not capitalize the start of the tag. The only time you don’t use comma’s in this form is when you need use ?/!

You have lots of description which is good, but I think in some places you give too much description, thus pulling away from the actual story you’re trying to create and keeping the reader from actually getting to know the characters, which is what you want to have happen.

All that said, I’ve tried to point out a few things that might allow you to improve this piece. Note I didn’t go through and mark all the weak verbs only a few of them, and I didn’t mark all the dialogue tags, only the ones that really jumped out at me. Hopefully these will be of help…



Personal Thoughts/suggestions for improvement:(original text excerpts are in black – corrections/suggestions in blue)



*Snow3* general grammar suggestions & sentence fragments:

*Bullet* Rain was pounding pounded on the roof and windowsills as thunder roared and lightening flashed.

*Bullet* “Might we continue this in the morning? The storm is growing quite fierce.*comma*

*Bullet* Fenten walked up the stairs to the landing where King Lucio waited, holding a the flickering candlestick.

*Bullet* True to the promise he had made, Fenten had kept the letter he had gotten the night before his birthday locked in a drawer and had not opened it, but with each passing day*comma* his curiosity grew.

*Bullet* A moment later*comma* the grounds were ringing with the sound of pounding hooves.

*Bullet* “It is your father, I’m afraid.*comma*The the rider said as his feet hit the ground with a thud.

*Bullet* The man took a deep breathe and looked directly at Fenten,*period*

*Bullet* “How... how could this happen?” Fenten staggered as the news hit him hard. *Paragraph*[you have a change here in POV from Fenten to Will speaking so you should change paragraphs] Will looked over at his best friend to make sure he was okay, and then took a deep breath. He directed his attention to the man and began questioning him, “was he found in a city?”

*Bullet* He moved his tongue around his teeth, *period*

*Bullet* “Hold on.*comma*” Fenten answered vaguely.

*Bullet* The floor was carpeted with red and gold*comma* and suits of armor were posed on each landing.

*Bullet* Fenten paid this no notice, *period*

*Bullet* Servants were in the process of dusting *period* and They bowed as Will and Fenten passed through.

*Bullet* “Yes.*comma*” Fenten started pacing up and down his room.



*Snow2* passive voice: I’ve highlighted the passive voice in violet

*Bullet* The walls were lined with books almost all the way up to the high ceiling, but none of that was visible in the darkness.

*Bullet* Two months ago, Priscilla and her family had been invited to the prince’s eighteenth birthday party, but they had failed to attend and no one knew why.

*Bullet* He was thrown off balance for a moment and he wobbled.

*Bullet* His floor was wooden, but was mostly covered by a rug from the East.



*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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52
52
Review by Lon
Rated: ASR | (4.0)


Review: PIECES OF A SHATTERED HEART
By: {suser: kokori141}
Reviewed by: Lon

My Opinion: I thought this was a wonderfully well written piece that did a great job of grabbing the reader's emotions. You had lots of discription and seemed to handle things very well over all.

Below I’ve tried to highlight some things that I thought were in need of improvement. Hopefully these will be of help…



Personal Thoughts/suggestions for improvement:(original text excerpts are in black – corrections/suggestions in blue)


*Snow3* general grammar suggestions & sentence fragments:


Seeing to her guest, who had finally left for a while, all morning, she decided to take a long walk in the woods behind her house.[this part that I crossed out really doesn’t make sense in the flow of things. If you’re trying to use it to show the time of day, there are much better ways to integrate it into the flow of the story.]

They walked in silence for a while,*remove comma* through the brightly colored forest.


He hugger hugged her again, pressing his lips so close to her ear that she could feel his hot, moist breath on her neck.

He cast his eyes downward,*remove comma* as he replied gloomily,

“Don’t cry, my love. I died fighting for my country… for you.*comma*He he whispered as she buried her face into his medaled chest, his new purple heart gleaming in the sun.

Then,*remove comma* he pulled away, cupped her chin in his hand, and kissed her goodbye.



*Snow2* passive voice: I’ve highlighted the passive voice in violet

“I know. I was a little taken off guard.

The mountains that hovered over the Susquehanna River were already covered with snow a fourth of the way down, suggesting an early winter.

The article had been written below a picture of what Kori now recognized was Ty’s barracks.

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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53
53
Review by Lon
Rated: E | (5.0)
My Opinion: This is a wonderful piece that you’ve written here. It’s subtle yet heart felt and in just around three pages you do a great job with it. Though we don’t really get a description of Hope, we get wonderful detail about things that she sees, how she sees them, and what she learns.

It’s not often that I feel a piece truly deserves a rating of 5, but this is one of those times. There’s not really that much that I feel needs changed with this piece, but here are a few things that I did notice.





*Snow3* general grammar suggestions & sentence fragments:

*Bullet* He never talked to anyone,*remove comma* it seemed, until lunchtime.

*Bullet* Though they talked, Hope realized none of them really cared;

*Bullet* Hope found herself wishing she was were rid of the man, that he’d never speak to her again.

*Bullet* Every single one. [fragment]



*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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54
54
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (3.0)
ch12 Train me
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: this chapter actually isn’t that bad considering how much the previous chapter didn’t seem to fit. I think that if you rework the previous chapter and then just tweak this one, it should fit together fine.

*Bullet* you have a few places in this chapter that you mention things from the prev. chapter that I don’t ever remember reading. I think if you could clean that up it would work well to bridge the two together.

*Bullet*I liked the banter you tried to build between Trisha and Ryan in the beginning of this chapter but I think it could still use a little work. It’s a little weak, maybe just tweak it a little, add in a little more facial or body actions with what you have, to help complete the picture.
*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.


comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TRAIN ME!


It was still dark out when Ryan knocked on the bedroom door. “Trisha, are you up yet?”

The door to the bedroom opened and Trisha walked out already dressed.

“Are you coming, Sergeant Major?”

“Yeah, let me know how you feel in a couple of days!”

They moved the coffee table and started stretching, moving from neck stretches to calf stretches; they stretched out for about forty-five minutes holding each stretch for thirty seconds each. Then Ryan led her on a three- mile run on a course that had straight-aways and hills. They sprinted the last hundred yards up a steep hill; both stopped to catch their breath. [this paragraph is a bit choppy and awkward. It needs the sentences blended together better. ]

“I almost had you!”

“No, you didn’t! I was holding back.”

“Big liar!”

“Come on, we stretch out for another twenty minutes and I will make you a nice breakfast.”

“You can cook, too?”

They stretched out for twenty minutes then Ryan made a breakfast of steak and eggs, fruit, toast, juice, and milk while Trisha took a shower. She walked out of the steamy bathroom dressed in U.S. Army sweats; Ryan already had the table set.

“Today I get a much cooler workout outfit! Hey, damn… I can’t eat all of that, do you eat like this everyday?”

“Sometimes I like to have bacon or sausage.”

“This is going straight to my hips.”

“I doubt it, you probably won’t have a single calorie left by lunchtime. You can’t do this type of training on a cup of yogurt, trust me. When you’re done, take an hour break!” Ryan said as he laid out the map of the city’s sewer system.

Trisha ate most of her breakfast, then turned on the computer, logging in.

“You’re supposed to be on break.”

“You too.”

“I don’t need a break, I’ve been doing this a long time.”

“We do everything together, that was the deal.”

“I just said I would show you everything. I think you’re adding deals.”

“Am not, I just think we should do everything together, you know, to get to know one another.”

“Alright, come here, we can watch some news, but I draw the line at soap operas.”

Ryan turned on the Television. “Breaking news in the missing children epidemic. Early this morning, gunfire erupted at this warehouse behind me, where Police found the remains of fifteen young girls and recovered twelve children locked up in cages.” Trisha grabbed the remote and turned off the television.

“You went back out last night?”

“Trisha, I had to, you said there were more girls, I had to get them out of there.” [mmm. Like I said – I don’t remember that from the last chapter….]

“I get that, but if you have a…what do you call it. A mission and you say I can’t go, then fine, but you don’t go on missions without letting me know about it.”

“Hey, who gives the orders around here?”

“What if you were hurt or…” Trisha put her face in her hands and started to cry.

“Hey…hey, shhhh what’s this all about?”

“I just don’t want to lose you, your all I’ve got and I think I…”

“Alright, I’m sorry! I should have let you know. Trisha, it’s just that I don’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why I didn’t tell you, I knew you would want to go. Trisha, I’m sorry, but until your trained I can’t let you come with me, I would be too worried.” [she would want to go ??? okay like I said – I didn’t like the last chapter – it needs reworked completely and I think if you did that – and worked these details in correctly then this would probably fit fine then]

“Alright, I didn’t mean to be a big spaz.” Trisha wiped her eyes, “so let’s do some training.”

“Here, I bought this for you. It’s a karate uniform, it’s called a GI.”

Trisha went to change then came out of the back bedroom wearing dressed in the all black karate uniform.

“Stand here beside me,*period* this is how you tie the belt,” Ryan instructed. “Now sit down,*remove comma* Indian style,*remove comma – add straighten out your back. Close your eyes and relax, breathe in through your nose, deeply, bring in the air to the very lowest part of your abdomen. The Chinese believe that this is the seat of your power. Contract your abdomen to expel the air back out through your mouth. Each time you breathe out I want you to count, focus. Block out all internal and external interruptions, focus only on the count.”

They meditated for about twenty minutes, and then Ryan went back through the stretching exercises they did before the run.

“All right, very good! Now line up and bow at the waist, this is to symbolize your respect for the sport and your respect for your teacher, that’s me.”

“I think you made that up!”

“No, I didn’t! See, I bow to you, too. Alright, now stand and face me, I want you to turn to your side, your strongest arm in the rear. You see your entire vital target areas are turned away from me.”

********

Book, who was the second in command of the Cleveland Devil's Seraphim, rounded up all of his commanders.

“I want him dead, I want this human fly found and tacked on that wall so I can slice him open every time I walk by. Now call that police chief, you know, the one we pay all that cash to, and tell him we will eat his family if he doesn’t back off,” Books told his lieutenants. “We lost a valuable shipment, and Sonny’s coming here personally from Seattle to take over operations. Now, if you don’t find this bastard who attacked us by the time Sonny gets here, you will all be kissing daylight.”
**********[this section would work better I think at the very end of the chapter rather than smushed here in the middle. You wouldn’t be switching back and forth with POV then.]

“Trisha, a lot of people have no idea how to throw a proper punch. We will start with the jab, that’s a straight punch thrown from the arm closest from your opponent.”

“Like this?”

“Yes, but roll your fingers from the tips to a fist tucking your thumb in. Keep it loose until you make contact with your target then tighten your fist making contact with your largest two knuckles only and drive through your target at least four inches. Good, now recover back to your fighting stance. Alright, let’s try ten, shoot your jab out fast, like a cobra’s strike,” Ryan instructed.

Trisha threw ten jabs from her left side as Ryan watched her close

“That’s right, just like that, drive through your target, good. Now let’s see the other side, you should be as good equally on your left side as you are your right.”

Ryan went through each of the basic arm techniques: jab, cross, hook, ridge hand. He then instructed her in all of the basic kicks: front kick, side kick, round house, back kick, and hook kick.

After martial arts training Trisha and Ryan moved all of the exercise equipment from the second bedroom to the living room and anywhere else there was room.

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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55
55
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (1.5)
ch11 Take Me
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: this chapter is – how can I say it – ugh. I’m not going to do my normal type of review because I don’t think it would help you for this chapter. Instead I’ll try to tell you what I think is wrong with it and try to give you suggestions on how to fix it. The reason for this being, I think it would work out better and you’ll probably end up reworking the entire thing so that it won’t even look like same beast. So why take the time to do an extended review when it won’t be beneficial for this piece.

*Bullet* first of all – you have to make this chapter realistic. At the moment, it’s so far from realistic, that it drops the reader out of the story base and throws them for a loop. The problems here are many fold… and I don’t think that you tackled them the right way. You have a middle aged military man, and a fifteen year old girl thrown together. The girl has seen her family killed, and herself attacked. Now granted you don’t actually have anything happen to her other than her getting roughed up a bit, but her actions that follow in this chapter – along with Ryan’s responses don’t fit into the scheme that you’ve presented us with.

I understand the point you’re coming at with Ryan. He sees her as someone in need of protection – but his reactions to her position/proposition don’t fit in the image you’re trying to build. It’s about ½ way there – but his words aren’t believable.

Trisha’s actions are totally out there and not fitting within the basis that you’ve given. If you want her to ‘offer’ herself as repayment for his actions, you have to give us some basis for this that comes out somehow from her past. I mean, I don’t think most 15 year olds who have been forced into her situation would turn around and offer themselves to the man who rescued them. At least not so blatantly, perhaps in a more subtle manner but not as you have it. The current actions you have would come from someone who was a runaway/hooker or something. – Does that make sense?

*Bullet* you have to make the actions of the characters believable or the reader won’t want to continue. It breaks the reader out of the world you’re building.

*Bullet* you rushed things towards the end… I’m not sure if that was because you felt lost or what… but try slowing it down, you change to telling rather than showing.

*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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56
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (2.5)
ch10 Damsil
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: this chapter was a different, but I think it’s missing a lot. It has the potential to be a very strong chapter but at the moment it’s missing any of that. It doesn’t have any feel, any pull for the characters in it. If you added that in, expanding the chapter it could have lots of potential. I’m assuming that Trisha will eventually join him/help him, so you have the basis here to build and make this much better.


*Bullet* were ****ing verb combinations aren’t strong. It’s past tense but it’s weak – to make it stronger, remove the were/was verb and change the -ing ver to past tense if possible. It will make the sentence stronger. I’ve tried to code them all in orange for you as I came across them.
*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.


Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.

weak was/were + verb –ing combinations – try changing to past tense by dropping were/was and changing –ing to -ed.

comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DAMSIL



Thunder was the leader of the Cleveland chapter of the Devil’s Seraphim, a Vampire Biker gang that deals dealt in drugs, kidnapping, prostitution, rape, and white slavery. He sat in a large chair at the east wall of one of his warehouses. Dressed in leather pants, tee shirt and black jacket, the vampire’s jet-black hair was hanging over the rim of his sunglasses; at his feet was a young girl, *remove comma* around sixteen, a dog collar and choker chain around her neck. She whimpered and cried*comma* lying on the floor,*remove comma* wearing nothing but lingerie.

“Books, get in here!” Thunder yelled as he reached down and grabbed the young girl up from the floor. She screamed as he bared his teeth and bit down hard on her neck; he drained her and tossed her limp body to the side.

“Yeah, Boss!” Books ran into the inner chamber.

“Bring me that blonde we brought in last night, get her cleaned up, I want her in that pink lingerie I picked out.”

“You going to keep her, Thunder?”

“Yeah, she’s too old, our customers want only twelve and thirteen year olds, she’s pretty,*period* I’ll keep her as my slave,*period* she can warm my bed, until I decide to eat her.*comma*” Thunder said to his aide with a roar of laughter.*Paragraph*[you need a break here –your switching POV from the biker to Ryan]
Ryan low crawled down the alley, keeping to the shadows. He spotted about eleven Harley’s Harleys parked outside. He climbed up a drainpipe to gain access to the roof. Ryan pulled out a small drill and drilled a hole into the roof. He reached into his recon bag and pulled out a small fiber optic camera, then inserted it into the hole and looked through the eyepiece. Ryan scanned the inside of the warehouse where he made out the leader giving orders to a second on the far end of it.[this is really vague – you need to explain it better. The reader can understand it – but it’s not as clear as it could be.] Two female seraphim’s were dragging dragged a young girl by a chain. They were ripping off her clothes; *period* she started screaming screamed as one of the female vamps shocked her with a cattle prod. They beat her and made her put on a pink teddy, and panties. She was forced to wash up and put on makeup, and then they dragged her screaming and crying to the leader in the chair.

Ryan moved silently across the roof heading to the East End, as the sun started to peak above the horizon. He quickly pulled out a two hundred-foot rappelling rope, hooked in and rappelled half way down the roof and locked in; pulling out a ring charge, he pressed it to the wall and hooked in a detonator.

The two female vamps chained the girl to the heavy chair and left*comma* closing the door behind them. [this is just a side note – but you keep switching POV here – between the bikers, Ryan and the girl… for some this may be confusing. When I came to this sentence, I wondered how Ryan would see/know this when we were just at his POV. Don’t worry – we’re all guilty of this. I have this problem littered throughout my own works. Just try and be aware of it and keep it to a minimum]

She lay on the floor shaking with fear. Thunder stood up and pulled the young girl to her feet, he smiled and stroked her hair, then pushed her down to her knees. Thunder he reached down and unzipped his leather pants, *period* the girl had a horrified look on her face, and then there was a terrible explosion as the wall behind them disappeared. Thunder turned around to see someone crash through the hole in the wall followed by sunlight. Thunder went up in flames, one hand holding his eyes, the other holding his pride. *Paragraph*The girl jumped to her feet as the a man in black stepped through the thick smoke, and wrapped a cargo strap around her waist. She held him around the neck.[*Left*this sentence is out of place – it doesn’t exactly fit in with all that’s going on.] He pulled up ten feet of slack from the rope, took out his Desert Eagle, fired at the chain, grabbed the young girl, and dove out the window.

Ryan unhooked at the bottom,*period* “The advantage of making your exit at sunrise is that vampires won’t follow you,” Ryan thought to himself as he carried the young girl to the truck. Ryan pulled a blanket from the back and wrapped her up, attaching her seat belt.

Ryan ran to the other side, he threw his gear in the back, and got in.[this prev. sentence would actually fit fine in the previous paragraph] *Paragraph*The girl still in shock, staring at him and as she laid her head against the window,and Ryan removed the night vision goggles.
“Who…who are you?” She questioned.

“My name is Ryan, I’m here to take you home.”

“I don’t have a home, anymore…they burned it down.”

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Trisha, thank you.[if she’s in shock – I can’t see her saying thank you.]

“How old are you, Trisha?”

“I’m fifteen.”

“Those Bastards,” Ryan thought to himself.

“Trisha, is there anywhere I can take you? Are you injured…do you have someone…like family?”

“There is no one, my mom, my dad, my baby brother…they killed them all…the bastards killed them all, they said that I was pretty, that’s why they let me live. Ryan, you saved me…he was going to rape me, and then you were there, out of no where.” [again, this is a really long statement for someone in shock. Try condensing it some, and taking some of the continuity out of it.]

“Shhhh…I’ll take you to my place, you’ll be safe there,*period* we can talk later.”

Ryan drove west on Interstate four-eighty, and took the south ramp to State Rd. heading back to his apartment, *period*carrying Trisha wrapped in a wool blanket.[this needs blended better to fit smoothly into the paragraph – also need to change it to past tense] He opened the door, carried her to the back bedroom and gently laid her in the bed, covering her with a couple of blankets.[change to past tense – also you could break this into two sentences if you wished.] Ryan ran out and grabbed his gear,*remove comma* before his neighbors started to get up and go to work.
*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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57
57
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (2.5)
ch 9 Night Mission
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: Again this chapter feels like it’s missing something. I think the problem may be that your cutting the chapters short and not completing the ideas all at once. If you’re worried about readability for others, try marking the chapter as part I – part II, it will allow the thought flow to be more continuous I think. I’ve found myself doing the same things at different times, when I want to know what people think of something – and then I find myself going back and trying to fix things later because they don’t really flow correctly from the story’s viewpoint.

*Bullet* be careful of tenses. You switch back and forth several times here in this chapter in different paragraphs. You want it to flow smoothly so try to keep the tense consistent.

*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.

comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NIGHT MISSION


Ryan put on an all black military uniform, black jungle boots, and a camouflage kit in his breast pocket. He packed all of his gear and weapons into an all black mountain rucksack,*period* after dropping in a Police scanner.{c;red}*comma* He carried the gear out to his truck,*period* He and took a last look at the map, rolling rolled it up and placing placed it into a plastic bag, which he put in his cargo pocket.

He loaded the truck up, pulled out the handheld police scanner, turned it on and placed it on the seat next to him. He drove out of his apartment complex and took a left, going north on State Rd. He turned left and drove west on W. Pleasant Valley Rd. for about five miles, then took a left on Engle Rd. After a mile and a half, he pulled over in a wooded area south of Woodvale Cemetery.

Ryan walked into the woods;*comma* away from any visible light from the surrounding area,*period* he sat down in a thicket where he would to wait for a half hour to allow his eyes to adjust to the dark, and his ears to adjust to the sounds of his environment. He applied black camouflage in a tiger striped pattern, and pulled out a set of modified AN-PVS 14’s a six power, dual eye night vision scope,*remove comma* with a thermal reader, which he needed because Vampires have no body heat, they read outside temp whereas a Human would read ninety eight degrees plus. [this last sentence is really awkward. It has too many things combined in it and it just doesn’t flow together well]

The Sgt. Maj. stood up, re-checked his gear and walked north until he reached a stone wall that outlined the cemetery. He scaled the six-foot wall and dropped to the ground on the other side, he scanned the area to his front, and dropped his backpack so he would be faster; Ryan would use this corner of the cemetery as his base of operations until sunup.

Then the Sgt. Maj. moved behind a mausoleum; dropping to a knee, he visually swept the area, fanning out, overlapping each sweep as he moved out in distance. He spotted movement, and switched to thermal; the digital readout displayed in green lettering read sixty-two degrees at three hundred meters. Ryan took off at a run, as he clicked the night vision goggles to the up position, as they tend to give one tunnel vision if one looks through them for extended periods of time.[this sentence doesn’t fit together well – it needs reworded.]

Ryan approached the newly risen vamp; he was brushing off dirt and grass sod from his suit, and took a step backwards as he saw Ryan. The vamp bared its teeth, the canines, about three quarters of an inch longer than a human’s, his blazing yellow eyes, staring under the thick extended brow. The Sgt. Maj. leapt into action; tucked into the forearm of his right hand, he had his stake and in his left hand was a set of brass knuckles; he jabbed the riser twice in the jaw, stunning him as he twisted one hundred and eighty degrees; he spin kicked him across the neck, dropping the riser. [this paragraph is really awkward in the sense of all the compound sentences. Break it apart, and it will speed up the action. It’s better to have a series of short sentences in this instance rather than combining them with a semicolon]

Ryan let him get back to his feet, and as the vamp rose his head Ryan straightened him up with a rear arm uppercut followed by a front snap kick that caught him in the throat. The riser rocked one way and then the other as Ryan stepped forward closing the distance and spun in a clockwise direction using a backfist back fist strike; he buried the stake to the hilt in the vamp’s chest, dusting him. [Reword this paragraph so it flows smoothly – at the moment it’s rather choppy to read.]

Ryan made his way across Woodvale cemetery, stopping occasionally to scan his field of view. Ryan took a knee next to a large concrete cross, and slowly scanned his front; he saw some movement down a small glade to a lower part of the cemetery. He approached cautiously, watching the two bikers who had the colors of the Devil’s Seraphim embroidered on the back of their leather jackets, across the shoulders, in yellow and red. Sgt. Maj. switched to thermal as the two bikers pulled a third from the ground.

With the firepower he had, Ryan was confident that he could take out all three, but finding the nest was top priority. Ryan low crawled toward two Harley Davidson’s parked thirty meters from the gravesite. He pulled out a tracker, an eight hundred-megahertz continuous transmitter attached to a powerful magnet, and he activated it by turning the top cover clockwise. He placed it under the chassis, and slowly, quietly faded into the shadows.

Ryan ran at a double-time, retrieved his rucksack, cleared the stonewall, and headed towards the truck to turn on the GPS receiver and find their nest. Ryan opened the door and reached down under the console; he flipped a power switch, plugged the power cable to a laptop into the dash, and plugged a universal serial port cable to a small satellite dish. Ryan stowed his gear while the computer went through its boot up process, and pulled out a container of babywipes to clean the camouflage from his face, *period* It would be a hard thing to explain to the Cleveland City police.

He used the internal mouse to activate the GPS software program; after he punched in the frequency and tracking code, a single bleep was superimposed on a computerized map of Cleveland. He switched on the police scanner and a radar detector, he didn’t need any problems. Ryan drove north on Interstate Seventy-one and got off on the east Interstate four-eighty exit, he followed the bikes into an industrial complex, with rows of abandoned warehouses, shadowed by a high rise apartment complex. Ryan parked his truck on the other side of Hinlkley Ave. in a small abandoned lot, next to some junked cars.

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (2.5)
ch8 Training
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: My main thought for this chapter is that it needs reworked and divided out differently. You have things combined together in sentences in such a manner that makes it very difficult to understand for the reader. It’s choppy and awkward to read. You want it to be smooth and flowing – to push the reader onward. I think a lot of the problem is in the sentence structure that you’ve used. If you stopped and slowed things down, doing things step by step, it would flow better and pull the reader along much better.
*Bullet*
*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.

comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TRAINING

Ryan unlocked the door to his two-bedroom apartment, walked in, and set down the box. He walked into the kitchen and started to brown some ground beef,*period* he cut up an onion and let it simmer in a separate pan. He planned to make his favorite dish, homemade spaghetti. Ryan walked into the bedroom and grabbed his Karate GI,*period* He took taking off the light blue button down shirt now covered in dry blood, and checking checked the wound;*remove semicolon* before he changed the bandage and got dressed.

He turned on his DVD player and picked Iron Maiden “Live in Japan” to stretch-out to. He turned the volume up slightly and checked his ground beef, it was brown enough, so he added the onions, *period* After draining the pot, he opened the cabinet and pulledpulling out a can of tomato sauce, a can of mushrooms, a can of crushed tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste. He opened the cans dumping and dumped them into a large pot before adding water, salt, pepper, garlic, and three packets of spatina spaghetti spice.[this sentence still has tense problems even with what I’ve fixed. But I’ve tried to give you the general idea, don’t combine multiple things unless it makes sense to and try to keep everything in past tense.] He put the lid on the pot and set the temperature to simmer. He could workout for the two hours he needed for all of the flavors to combine.

Ryan started to stretch out his stiff and sore body from the night before. He completed all of the stretching exercises that he had learned while taking martial arts in the military.


Sgt. Maj. Ryan Douglas had finished his career with the U.S. Army Rangers, The the Army’s Commandoes, during which he had mostly been a paratrooper in the Eighty Second Airborne Division, as an Infantry Platoon Sergeant. He had never dreamed that the skills he learned in service would help him fight his war against demons or that Demons demons even existed.

Ryan squared off in front of a large mirror, turning his body to the side so that his right hand held slightly off the jaw was in the rear, his power hand. He shot his left fist in a straight jab out to an imaginary target, tightening his fist at impact and driving through the target. He did this ten times and changed his fighting stance to a right hand forward position, to train both sides equally. Ryan completed each punch and kick using an orthodox and unorthodox fighting stance, completing each movement flawlessly, first slow, then medium, fast, and redline.[this seems very repetitive for the reader because of your choice of words. Rework it slightly] Ryan practiced martial arts for two hours, feeling his body start to loosen up, then he turned the meat sauce to a warm setting and went into the second bedroom and punched and kicked his heavy weight bag for another hour. He ate dinner in a full split position on the floor lifting the curtain aside to judge how much time he has until sundown. [again you have multiple things strung together in this chapter that could really be split apart to have better effect. Also be careful of tenses. You switch back and forth between present (ing) and past. If you read this aloud slowly, I think you’ll see the parts that don’t sound quiet right. Ex. He ate dinner in a full position…lifting the curtain…. – tense changes and it doesn’t flow right when you read it, it’s all jumbled together.]

Ryan rested after dinner for about an hour, then laid out equipment on his living room floor and unfolded a map of Cleveland on the dining room table. He mentally checked off his equipment as it passed his cursory inspection: two wooden stakes, made from a dogwood tree he grew himself on his balcony, fed only Holy water and Miracle grow. [order of things there is off. You having him laying things out and unfolding a map, then go back and say what he laid out. Also the part about the tree – the wording doesn’t fit together well.] The Dogwood was said to be the type of tree Jesus Christ was crucified on. God made the tree so that for all time it would never grow to the size that it was when Jesus died on it, its petals would forever grow in the shape of a cross, with bloodstains on them.

He turned the wood using a lathe set up in a walk-in closet, in the back bedroom, where he kept his weapons.[again this doesn’t fit together well. Lathe is used as a noun – meaning: A machine for shaping a piece of material, such as wood or metal, by rotating it rapidly along its axis while pressing against a fixed cutting or abrading tool. Yet your talking about a completed item…. It just doesn’t fit the flow right.] Ryan in-laid the stakes with pure silver*comma* it doubled as a werewolf killer. He kept one in a sheath at his waist and placed the other high between his shoulder blades under his Tac vest, using masking tape. The Sgt. Maj. oiled and pulled back the slide on his matching fifty caliber Desert Eagles, replacing the lead with hardened dogwood bullets that were encased with silver nitrate at its core, encased a silver nitrate core sealed by wax. He placed a silver cross around his neck; besides the religious purpose, he figured that he could tape it to a frag grenade and throw it in a werewolf den. He taped a Gerber Mark II fighting knife to his right leg above the ankle in a boot sheath.

Around his waist he had extra magazines, thermite, frag, and flash grenades, a redlense red-lens flashlight, first-aid kit, and canteens. The one on his left had Holy water and in the one on his right he kept spring water. Ryan slung a cutoff Mossberg Viking pump shotgun, with three-inch magnum shells, lead removed, and reloaded with silver and dogwood shot. He was ready. [this ends rather abruptly – but I think that might just be because this last paragraph seems choppy and should probably be reworked/reworded or whatever you’d like to call it. Again you have ideas/thoughts combined that should probably be separate and the sentences don’t flow together very well.]

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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Review of CHAPTER 7: LET GO  
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (3.0)
ch7 Let Go
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: Again, another short chapter that I think could be played out better if we were to see more of a picture. Ie, we see just this one incident and then the statement that he’s being let go because there have been numerous incidents. I realize you don’t want to go through and show them all… but perhaps have his boss ask him about different ones, listing them off. The emotions you’re trying to make the boss have just don’t come across as believable at the moment. Try interjecting something about her having asked him about things before and his refusal to still give answers, this may play it off better.

Doing any of these suggestions above would help full out the chapter and give better depth to it. I don’t think that you could easily combine it with the previous chapter so I would suggest filling in that chapter as well with other background information to make the story shift logical. At the moment it’s missing that logic jump from the war to ‘werewolves’.
*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.

comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LET GO



Ryan Douglas sat at his terminal, reading job requests for the day. He went through the list picking the older requests first. He picked chose one, mirror hard drive room 312 Ext. 3620, Mr. Adamson. He gingerly moved around his desk holding onto his side. Good, the bandage held, “That was close last night; I almost got turned into a kibble and bit, note to self no hand to hand with more than one werewolf.”

Ryan reached down and very carefully picked up his tool bag and headed for the door. As he reached for the door handle*comma* the phone in his office rang.

“Hello, IT, Ryan here.”

“Hello, Mr. Douglas, this is Mrs. Kaufman. Could you come by my office?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m on my way.”

Ryan hung up the phone, shrugged his shoulders and headed to his boss’s office. He approached a separate office, and knocked. [this reads really awkward and choppy. You say he’s going to see his boss then go on to say he approached a separate office – well of course he did! His boss phoned him, so they weren’t in the same room.]

“Come In,” a female voice from within said.

Ryan walked in and she motioned him to a chair. Mrs. Kaufman had a single file on her desk, his.

“Ryan, how are you today,*period* I wanted to take the time to see how you have been doing.”

“I guess I’m doing fine, Mrs. Kaufman.”

“Are you really? I’ve noticed a slight downside to your performance, and some of the people you work with tell me that you have come in with injuries on more than one occasion.” Mrs. Kaufman looked at him closely, “What exactly have you been doing at night?”

“Mrs. Kaufman, with all due respect, what I do on my free time is my own business.”

“Ryan, we all care about you, and just for the record, your safety, performance, and the safety of the other personal within this office is my business. Are you in some kind of fight club or something?”

“What makes you ask that?”

“Mainly, Ryan, the fact that you’re bleeding all over my office. Do you want me to call you an ambulance?”

“No, ma’am. I’ll take care of it?”

“Ryan, I am going to be straight with you, we all sympathize with you, for the loss of your wife and child, their death was tragic.”

“Mrs. Kaufman, my wife and fifteen year old daughter were murdered, ripped apart less then a year ago.”

“I’m sorry, but if you can’t give me even the smallest explanation, I’m going to have to let you go.”

“I got cut,” Ryan responded.

“That’s not nearly good enough and you know it.”

“Mrs. Kaufman, short of trying to hand you a number of lies, I just can’t say.”

“Ryan, you leave me with little choice. I have prepared you a separate severance package,*semicolon* it’s very generous, even though you have only worked here for two years, since you retired your retirement from the military. I do suggest keeping your medical benefits under cobra, you need some help.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Kaufman for all of your concern, but I don’t think that will be necessary.

“Ryan, I am truly sorry!”

“I know, Mrs. Kaufman. You are a good Boss, but my private life is my own, it just has to be that way.”

Ryan left the office, dropped by shipping, and picked up a box to take his personal items home. He said nothing to his fellow employees, ignoring the stares.


He made his way to the parking garage to and his forest green 1998 Dodge Dakota. After the death of his family, ripped apart by werewolves, Ryan had sold his house and Dodge Ram to acquire money for his private war against the city’s werewolf and vampire population.

He pulled out of the parking garage,and slipped in a cassette tape,: Queensryche’s greatest hits. He drove through the city, heading west on Detroit Ave. and picked picking up west Sixty-sixth Street; then he took a left on I-90 and continued west-leaving Cleveland, until tonight. [I don’t understand the ‘until tonight’, so crossed them off. They don’t seem to fit into the sentence at all.]

Ryan pulled into his apartment complex just outside of the city, *period* he wasn’t worried;*comma* between the life insurance and retiring with twenty three years in the U.S. Army, his monthly checks were more then enough to get by; plus, it left him more time to train.


*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (3.0)
ch6 I’m Sorry
Author: Kevin82abn
Book: A Walk In The Shadows
Reviewer: Lon

My own personal opinion: This chapter seemed really short, you may want to think of combining it with the next chapter depending on the exact theme of the next chapter (I haven’t gotten there yet so I can’t really tell you for sure).

*Bullet* I saw a few things that stuck out at me – repetition that can and probably should be removed…and a few things that seemed odd in wording that you may wish to look at.

Other than that – the chapter was short and sweet. You may wish to try and play more into the reader’s emotions. At the moment, it seems somewhat disjointed. We see Ryan go to a cemetery, and then is suddenly attacked. The reasoning behind it is somewhat lost on the reader. If you expanded upon it – it could be used to fill the chapter out.

*Snow1*As always, take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I’m only trying to point out things that I myself find confusing or think could use some rework to make them more connective for the reader.

Please see the text below based on these color codings. I hope that they will in some way be helpful for you.

Punctuation and grammar problems/ typo – correction errors are crossed out .

sentence fragments – they need to be fixed either by rewriting or joining with a neighboring sentence.

comments & suggestions.

passive voice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’M SORRY


A gentle breeze blew in, from a north to south direction, bringing in the cool air off of Lake Erie; moonlight from a full moon bathed the well-manicured landscape of the All Saints Cemetery, shining on the smooth polished granite tombstones and mammoth mausoleums. The fragrance of azaleas hung in the air. The cemetery was five miles southeast of Cleveland, OH. A lone figure, sticking to the shadows, scaled a low stone wall and landed on the other side. Taking a knee, he scanned the area to his front, searching for the slightest movement. The shadow figure stepped out into the moonlight, dressed all in black,*remove comma* and wearing night vision goggles.

The shadow took a one last scan of the area around him. The silent figure wore a double shoulder holster under a Tac vest; a wooden stake was visible underneath. The figure readjusted a sawed off shotgun slung over his right shoulder, then reached up and removed the night vision goggles. Blazing blue eyes stared forward from under a lock of slightly graying blonde hair. He faked a smile under a mask of tiger striped camouflage face paint. The man breathed in a short gasp of the salt air, trying to stifle the wave of emotions creeping into the chiseled exterior of his face.[I would try reworking some of this. The parts underlined above come across as a bit repetitive to the reader. You state it’s a man, and before that you use ‘him’ so why not use some pronouns instead of always reworking the ‘figure’ that is present…?]

“I’m sorry for not coming to see you lately! Victoria…Christina, I’ve missed you both so much.” A silent tear ran down his cheek. “I’m sorry, I could not protect you, Victoria I…”

The wind changed directions, blowing in from the west. “Wet Dog…”

He spun around, the shotgun off his shoulder and in his hands. He fired as he faded to his left. Red eyes set in a huge head with a long snout, the beast bolted out of the shadows into the light.[this is rather choppy and doesn’t read very well – you should try reworking it to smooth it out a little] The beast was huge, with muscles and tendons that looked like steel cords shoved under the skin of the three hundred plus pounds of death. The werewolf took the full blast into its leather and steel breastplate. The twelve-gauge hardwood and silver pellets ripped through organs and tissue, the silver moving through the bloodstream as he leapt, battleaxe in hand. The man pumped and fired again, the blast caught the beast in the side as it went by, dead, crashing to the ground in a great heap.

The man rolled right as he heard bushes move, the second beast was on him in an instant, slashing him through the Tac vest. He winced as he fired the shotgun, and spun clockwise dropping it and burying a wooden stake, embedded with pure silver, into the heaving chest of the creature. The man crescent[??] kicked the werewolf, catching him in the jaw as it snapped at empty air. A fifty caliber Desert Eagle gripped in his right hand. The man fired twice, hardwood bullets filled with silver nitrate hit the beast in the neck and chest knocking him back into a hedgerow hedge of azalea bushes,*period* a leg stuck out*comma* it twitched once and stopped.

The shadow holstered his sidearm as he reached down and picked up his shotgun, then went into the bushes and retrieved his stake as the werewolf started to change into human form. He walked over to the gravesite he was visiting; a blood streak swathed across the face of the grave, two names still visible.

Victoria Douglas Christina Douglas
Born: April 8th, 1967 Born: March 24th, 1987
Died: June 23rd, 2002 Died: June 23rd, 2002

"Beloved wife and Cherished Daughter
You will be missed, always”

Sergeant Major Ryan Douglas reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a plastic cylinder; twisting off the cap he produced two long stem red roses, his set of dogtags,[I thought this was 2 words not one] and a Congressional Medal of Honor. The Sgt. Maj. gently placed the items in front of two pictures set in plastic at the base of the grave. The blood from his wound trickled down his jungle boot and pooled at his right foot.

Ryan touched his wife’s picture, her long, brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, high cheekbones, and the full lips; he remembered how soft she was to hold. He then gently touched the image of his daughter. She had long blonde curly hair, deep blue eyes; she always brought love and kindness to a man who has seen so much death. Ryan stood up, turned and reloaded his weapons, placed the night vision goggles back on a wet face, and as he steeped off, he left a puddle of blood where he stood; he then disappeared over the stone wall. {c;blue}[you have an awful lot going on in this underlined compound sentence. Break it apart and it will have better impact on the reader as well as flow better.]

* * *

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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61
Review of Heavens of Glory  
Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (3.5)
This seems to be an interesting and well thought out story from what you have here at the start. It’s complex enough to make a reader want to find out more – though I’m not so sure how complex the plot is at this point since most of this chapter was used to give background information. But definitely a nice start… below I’ve tried to point out some things that I found that you might want to fix: spelling mistakes, confusions and miswordings…

Suggestions, spelling problems, ect:

*Bullet* Just before he passed out, the young mind discerned vague shapes appear through the intensely yellow haze, and was enveloped by blackness.
This is really choppy and doesn’t make 100% sense at the end. The start of the sentence already infers that he will black out. Try rewording it – something like: The young mind discerned vague shapes appearing through the intense yellow haze before being enveloped by blackness. this still leaves you with passive voice but is not as choppy.

*Bullet* The lenothias motioned pointedly with his strong tail to Orion’s mug and specifically to the caffeine within it.

*Bullet* Orion rubbed his temples in exhuastion exhaustion as he looked at the small pinpoints of light on the trimensional radar. should this be tri-dimensional radar?

*Bullet* …he mused, then to the monte at the communications display,…
I assume monte is a race of creature – so it should be capitalized; as should lenothias, Races should always be capitalized, it’s like saying someone is American, Greek,ect…

*Bullet* The Rear Admiral's small felonion Felonion head appeared before Orion in a three-dimensional hologram, with its four eyes, supported by thin muscular extentions extensions, hovering gracefully over the empty flesh of his forehead.

*Bullet* For its entire existence, the Alliance has had been at war. It was created at the beginning of the fight, and has continued to endure through centuries, now almost amillenium, millennium of battle.

*Bullet* the felons Felons, exiled from their home*space*world Sela by the tonorian Tonorian Union,

*Bullet* scythers should be capitalized, again it’s a race.

*Bullet* Their bodies seemed design for aggresssion, aggression yet their usually peaceful society belied such a belief.

*Bullet* Underneath each of their two, incredibly strong arms were two more even stronger apendages, appendages, ending with fierce-looking bone protusions, protrusions sporting sharp edges and acting in every way like built-in knives.

*Bullet* Although almost exclusively herbivores, their mouths were sharp and dangerous beaks capable of cracking through rock. [this is a sentence fragment]

*Bullet* …constantly persued pursued by the Union…

*Bullet*. Within two more centuries, the combined population of the Alliance had boomed to half a trillian, trillion,

*Bullet* Something went wrong in our hyper-speed jump, as doubtless you have doubtlessly already figured out…


Hopefully these suggestions will help you to improve this piece even more.
*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*

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Review of Rates & Reviews  
Review by Lon
Rated: ASR | (4.5)
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I think you’ve hit it in a nutshell. Some people insist that their work is the best because they’ve followed all the rules and done everything perfectly. But if what they’ve written doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t invoke anything in the reader – what good is what they wrote? As for your writing – well this piece definitely found me in agreement with you *Smile*


*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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63
Review of Heaven and hell  
Review by Lon
Rated: E | (4.0)
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I liked this piece. It wasn’t that it was fancy or answered any questions. It was just that it was, insightful and kept you thinking. Made you wonder about things that you might not always think about and for that it was good, and well crafted. I could find only one thing that was a problem – one spelling mistake.

A place were we lie around and have all our
wants whipe away by another's hand?

-- I’m not so sure if it’s supposed to be wiped or not, but that’s how I interpreted it.

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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Review of Prehistory  
Review by Lon
Rated: E | (3.0)
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Although I would have changed around the stanzas or quatrains or whatever you wish to call them. I found most out of place the last line. You seemed to be doing so well at painting a picture of someone who was in need – or was presented with ‘juncture’ (in this place, death) that when you get to the end and you just have:

What saved me then
was His own voice
calling out my name
in forms.


--- it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Not really in words or in imagery. Unfortunately I can not think of any way to help you try and fix it.


*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (3.5)
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I liked this piece despite the fact that it ends so abruptly. I found myself wanting to know about Meg Anne and why she was in this predicament. And then later wanting to know why she had a fairy with her if the first place.

The piece was riddled with sentence fragments but the majority of them were when people spoke, which depending on how you look at it – should or should not be fixed.

The last sentence of the entire piece is also a sentence fragment and must have something missing from it because taken as it is, it doesn’t make much sense.


*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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Review by Lon
Rated: E | (3.5)
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I found this interesting not really because of the content but because of what it says. Not many people will step up and say – this is ‘why’ I reviewed your work. And you will find people who will just step up and review anything and everything regardless of anything – be it values, likes, dislikes, or whatnot. It’s just as interesting and nice as those people who will sit down and tell how they review – and by that I mean, what they look for and how they determine their ratings. And so for that I give you a star *Star* just for stepping up and naming your spot. *Smile*

*Snow2* *Snow3* Lon *Snow3**Snow2*
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Review of Revenge  
Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (3.5)
The story or this much of it as a whole is very nicely done. The lack of knowing who or what exactly these people/creatures are or where they are does not really matter once there reader gets pulled into the story. The only drawback I saw was that the first paragraph doesn’t really jump out a grab the reader. It’s more ordinary without anything to draw the reader on into the second. But once you hit the second paragraph – your story begins to flow and develop every nicely. I find it interesting enough that it would make me want to read more – just to find out if Vall really does die – and if he does – who is to carry on ‘his’ revenge that has been told of only slightly.
*Star* I liked the ending of this part – the finality of it and yet we were left with the unknown as well. Very nice.

With all this said – let me point out a few things that could be corrected and things you could work on to tighten up the story and make it better


*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*
Despite the cold, it was a peaceful place, far from the capital. On an ordinary day, the grasses of the plain would be waving wave in the breezes, undulating like ocean waves.
*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*
Vall wiped a lock of hair from his forehead, unmindful of the dirt and blood that came off his leather glove and streaked across his face. He sighed, closed his eyes and bowed his head a moment, trying to picture the soothing sensations of a fire and a warm bed. The chill bit through armor, gambison and flesh, and after three days of solid fighting, the dirt and sweat was were beginning to chafe, especially in the crotch and the armpits. A bath right now would be as intoxicating as a strong wine. He opened his eyes again, remove comma slowly, reluctantly, to look at the forces gathered below.
*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*
His father's body slumping to the floor, a pool of blood spreading beneath him like a scarlet carpet. A ragged scream, probably his own. Fumbling, hand touching wood. A chair sails through the air. A soldier grunting in pain and anger. Another chair goes flying. A crash of glass. this whole section is full of sentence fragments (in pink) and I think the tenses are all wrong or something because it’s supposed to be a memory but doesn’t feel that way when you read it.

Running towards the gaping hole in the window and leaping.??? [This previous sentence doesn’t make any sense.] Landing hard on his shoulder on the rocky ground outside. Struggling to his feet, he ran with a strength he hadn't known existed in his young limbs. The sounds of men in pursuit followed him for a while, but without his knowledge of the woods around his home, they soon faded away.
---this entire sequence of ‘memory’ needs to be reworked. Disjointed in part is fine, but it should probably make more sense than it does, and you should attempt to remove the sentence fragments.
*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*
He watched as the first volley was loosened. The black cloud rose up and over the walls of the keep, and at the last moment Vall lifted his aegis above his head and crouched.
*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*
The blow was so powerful that Vall was slammed into the ground.
*Bullet**Bullet**Bullet*


Hope this was helpful. You’ve been reviewed by a Fantasy Room Reviewer…*Snow1**Snow2* Lon

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Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (4.0)


Lying there recalling the details of the dream a shiver worked its way through her body. Counting tonight, this was the third time this week that her sleep had been haunted by the same dream. The distant rumbling of a gathering storm echoed the troubled state of her mind.

*Bullet* Adding the word ‘same’ here (above) makes the dream for forceful and memorable for the reader. Or perhaps based on the next paragraph you want it to be the ‘same basic’ dream… (each time getting more detailed.) – for me its just a point that I think is better made from the beginning rather than in the following paragraph where you tell that it’s becomes more detailed each time.


Well, if that was the case, then her subconscious better learn how to talk, for she had no idea what it was trying so hard to tell her. Nothing that she experienced in the dream had any relation to what was happening in real life. The only problem she had was finding a way to get more sleep without a repeat performance like tonight.

{c:green]*Bullet* this part is good but it seems just a bit choppy and not really smooth flowing, perhaps it’s just the way it’s worded because I can understand what it is you’re trying to say. Try reworking it slightly but keeping the general idea and see if you like it better or not.

Chapter 2

Then three months ago, on the verge of admitting defeat and walking away from a king's ransom in gold, he received a small glimmer of hope. The break came in the form of information received from a close source to the Duchess. An hour later he was on a plane heading for the mainland and hopefully the completion of this assignment.

*Bullet* this paragraph above could really use with a rewrite. It just doesn’t flow well at all with the story. You say ‘Then three months ago,’ when perhaps it would read better as: Three months ago, on the verge of admitting defeat and willing to walk away from a king’s ransom in gold, he was given a small glimmer of hope. – can you see the difference just switching one or two little words does??

*Star*Try working with it and see what you can do both in this chapter and in chapter 1. Both are well done and you have a great knack for description and giving it just that right touch.. but you have other places where the wording is just slightly off, like where I pointed out. I’m sure if you go through it again slowly and just make minuet changes it will make a world of difference.

But over all it’s very well written and intriguing, drawing the reader in and getting them to want to know more. This chapter does give a much better feel for the type of story it is than the prologue and perhaps you may just want to try and work some of that into the prologue to draw the reader in more in the beginning… but over all very nice and promising start. Keep up the good work.


** Lon

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Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (3.0)
I liked this and thought it was interesting, a nice start for a prologue - but I did have a few things that I would have liked to have been clearer...
*Bullet* can't really tell when the story takes place from this - ie fantasy, more contemporary, S/F... so it give me a kind of fuzzy feel for it is all.

*Star* other than that you have lots of discription which is good and didn't really see anything that jumps out as bad or wrong. - Keep going... I'll try and get a chance to look at your next part as well so you can have a better more complete feel for it.
** Lon

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Review of If I Had an Angel  
Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (3.5)

*Right* *Star* I really like the images shown in the very beginning(Jan 4 – 1st block). Very nicely done. *Star*

By the end of this ‘entry’ it’s somewhat lost. I don’t know if you went over it too much or if it’s from you describing more of what you’ve already described excellently…but it just fizzles for me at the end of this block

Suggestion:

Sometimes at night I glimpse twin orbs of red luminescence - eyes out there in the darkness, but always they are gone when I turn to see more clearly. [missing words in blue]

*Right* Next block (Jan 18) is nice and concise…it carries the imagery created in the first block nicely. *Smile*


*Right* (Feb 1)

You do a nice job of getting across his plight….even if it is a bit lengthly….

Suggestion:

Neither is my hunger. My stomach feels as if I have been dining on broken glass. This gnawing pain inside of me is an ever-present reminder that starvation is a very real possibility. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning. Or was it two days ago? Or was it the day before that? The scrawny portions that I have been calling meals lately don't seem to have any effect on my weakness or my stabbing stomach pains.
I think changing it to what I have in red here would give a better feel….{./c}

*Right* Last block (Feb 8)

At the start of this block you say ‘I did it – I got through…’ well how does the person know this?? I mean, they know they got through but don’t know if there will be help?? So how do they know then that they got through?? Does that make sense? I can’t seem to think of another way to word it.

Suggestion:

They're still out there and already their anger angry at losing me, when I seemed almost in their jaws, is turning back into the inhumanly patient hungering of their eternal quest. Even with the suggested fix of anger to angry – it’s still all just worded oddly for me…. Try smoothing it out some because the second half of the sentence just doesn’t fit together at all.




Well – This is definitely an interesting piece… I like the way its put together. Hope my suggestions are helpful as well….
** Lon


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Review of The Magic Cure  
Review by Lon
Rated: 18+ | (3.0)
This was rather disjointed in places. Some of this was from awkward wording of things. Another thing that lead to this was inconsistencies that if ironed out would probably make it really good. Let me point out a few things to give you an idea of what you could work on….

When Bill goes into the woman’s house – your description of what he sees is rather disjointed. Try smoothing it out a bit. The description of the ‘book shelves’ really needs worked on because it’s hard to read.

Kathy asks if it’s okay that they eat Chinese and tells him it will be ready in 15 minutes… but then when they actually eat – they’re eating stew with cornbread….

She gives him a beer instead of hot chocolate and then brings him tea – I realize there’s a point to it – but it just seems awkward.

Towards the end when Bill’s friend picks him up, it sounds like he had gone home (from the way you talk/describe things) and yet a little later on you have him state that he didn’t go home.

Also be careful you - have a few places where you switch back and forth tense wise.

You take a long time getting to the heart of the story, try removing some of the other parts before, and lengthen the main part of the story – I think it would make it stronger. It also is just a little bit of a stretch idea wise, but you sort of point that out in the story. How to fix that part exactly I really don’t know. But I think if you worried about everything else – it would become so much better that it wouldn’t matter.

All in all it’s not a bad read but could still use some work.

*** Lon

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Review of One last job  
Review by Lon
Rated: E | (2.0)
*Question* If the man knows that telling Ashi that he’s leaving and where he might go is a ‘no-no’ then why does he do it? It just seemed out of place because he seems like someone who is careful – course you do say that he’s become sloppy this past year but still… it seems out of character for what you’ve tried to build up until now.

You go through all the time of giving notice to things around him and what not, and yet --- the entire story seems tied to just the last few paragraphs… it seems… awkward. I don’t know if that’s the right word for it but there’s just something odd with it all. I don’t know if it’s that the end has been rushed after all that’s before it – or if you tired to put too much in the beginning and then just lost sight of what you were trying to go for.


** Lon

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Review by Lon
Rated: E | (4.5)
I loved the flow of this story even though it’s written for children. It makes you feel like Busan is sitting next to you recounting the tale. True it spans a lifetime of events so you can’t treat it as you would a normal story, but still it’s handled very well. I am one of these people who likes to be able to ‘see’ the main character within the story and although this is done more as a recounting it is done so well that you feel like the cat is there with you and you are looking over their shoulder.
** Lon
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Review of Cuinn and Eavyn  
Review by Lon
Rated: 13+ | (4.0)
I really like what you have written so far - it draws the reader in from the beginning. There are a few places that the writing could be tightened up but really it's good. There are a few typo's but nothing outlandish.

One of the biggest things that sticks out for me is the fact that by the end we have a description of Cuinn but never have one of Eavyn.

I think it's great the way you discribe Eavyn's reaction to the spider and how Cuinn reacts when he discovers her problem. It's very realistic - believe me -I hate spiders with a passion so I know for a fact that the imagery is good. The only thing you may wish to add is something to do with her brushing at her clothes. But otherwise I loved this part of it - it was 'jump off the page' real.

Honestly I think you have a great start here and should continue on...

**Lon
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