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765 Public Reviews Given
968 Total Reviews Given
Review Style
When I review an item, the criticism offered aims to address the main problems I personally feel the writer has at the moment. So, if I critique a story that is full of typos, lacks a clear plot and a sympathetic character, I'll tend to ignore the typos and focus on how the writer can craft a better plot and protagonist, while if the story is near perfect yet full of typos, I'll focus on the typos. I don't enjoy reviewing poetry. This isn't because I don't enjoy poetry, but because poetry is a very personal statement of feelings, and it's difficult to comment on such without upsetting the author.
I'm good at...
Critiquing opening chapters and offering advice on hook, character development, plot development and initial setting. In real life, I love to read novels, so I particularly enjoy reviewing opening chapters.
Favorite Genres
Fantasy, sci-fi, speculative and historical fiction — I especially love time travel and YA fantasy/sci-fi
Least Favorite Genres
Poetry, erotica, romance, crime, thrillers, horror
Favorite Item Types
opening chapters and short stories
Least Favorite Item Types
poetry, lyrics, interactive stories
I will not review...
Your shopping list. Anything else goes. *Bigsmile*
Public Reviews
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126
126
Review of Affection?  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello BBK!

I'm here to review your short story "Affection? as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

Approaching this story, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

Hook — does your opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

You provided a good set up for a relationship style story. There's a "match", so let's see where it leads us. The initial conflict (she needs a lover) is clear and enough to prompt the reader to turn the page.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Prerna and Saumit both have their good points, and Prerna in particular is a sympathetic character who will appeal to readers. However, you don't really get inside who either of them are. Appart from the fact that Prerna is graduating from university, I know nothing of her career or interests. What was she studdying? What does she like to do? You mention theatre at one point and that they like the same things, yet it appears she's never been to the theatre. What kind of music/films/sports are they so mutually interested in? Do they have siblings or parents alive? Any friends beyond each other? You see, for a relationship story, they're not really well developed as people.

When you do develop their physical characteristics, try to "show" them rather than "tell" them as a list of attributes, and keep within Prerna's viewpoint.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The conflict is good throughout. I love the emotions you describe. However, the resolution at the end is a little disappointing. It doesn't really resolve all the isssues at hand. Prerna is still alone and without prospects of another attachment in spite of the new, more positive attitude she has adopted. If there was a stronger hint that the improvements to her mind were filtering through to her actually meeting new people with a few to forming a specific attachment, the ending would be much stronger. Put simply, I didn't feel you ended Prerna's story at a particularly interesting point. If this is based on a true story, I get that you might not want to alter the ending. However, creative writers take real life and then apply hyperbolle to make the story a more interesting and satisfying ride for readers.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

The pace is a little slow through the core part of the story and then too fast at the end. You've spent 80 % of the story setting up the main conflict of her split from Saumit, but then rush through all the improvements to her as she recovers within the last 10%.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

Your language is clear and easy to understand and you have a strong grasp of grammar. However, you need to look into the concept of viewpoint a bit more, ie. third person limited narrative.

as she gently brushed away a dark strand of hair from her round, yet attractive face.
- the first part of this is great (except for the adverb "gently" which you don't need because it's implied in the verb "brush") because it 'shows' she has long, dark hair. However, the second part is out of the viewpoint narrator's vision and so a breach of narrative viewpoint, if you catch my drift. You really only want to show what the viewpoint character sees, and stating something like 'attractive face' while in her viewpoint makes her sound shallow and vain, which I suspect isn't what you want.

made her look younger than her actual age of 32
- small numbers in narrative should be presented in words, not numerals. Numerals are reserved for things like names, eg. R2D2, serial numbers, telephone numbers or really big or complex numbers that would look silly written in words.

but wasn’t able to connect with others like she had with Saumit.
- rather than "telling" us this, can you "show" it through an example of their conversation before this?

Due to Prerna’s post graduation exams, the meeting was postponed.
- this threw me a little when introduced here. At thirty-two, I would have expected her education to have finished a decade before and so never imagined her as a student. Maybe show that she's a student before this.

Forty five minutes later, they shook hands and went on their respective ways.
- I got confused at this point. From their earlier conversation, I thought that they were planning to meet to go to the theatre together. When did that arrangement change? Did I miss something?

Prerna started writing down her feelings. It took her whole day to pour her heart out. A sudden realization struck her that she hadn't missed Saumit even once that day. Instead, she had actually unlocked an unexplored talent
- you might like to include the word/concept of "cathartic" here with respect to the relief she found through expressing her feelings in writing.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/catha...

Prerna thought with a gentle smile spread across her face,
- Prerna thought as a (gentle) smile spread across her face. - not liking the "gentle" because it's kinda difficult to visualise and also impossible for her to see from her viewpoint.

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star*

You never really "show" the locations where the actions in this story take place. Showing these places would help to better develop your characters, their various surroundings, furnishings and decorations allowing the readers an insight into what their careers and interests are. Sensory information, like the heat outside or the cool air conditioned interiors, after shave when they meet etc, would better immerse readers in the story.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The actual theme of virtual love and match making is really topical and interesting right now.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

You can write, and you can write well. However, I feel that you need to learn a little more about how to "show" a story from a limited viewpoint and engage readers with vivid settings and through making your characters more three dimensional with a life beyond the plot.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature



*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
127
127
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello FuryStrife!

I'm here to review your short story "Gurlock Study Mishaps-C and B series #4 as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

Approaching this story, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

Hook — does your opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Fantastic opening. You've introduced your protagonist, set the scene, and given us the best hook ever!

The only issue I had was that with the "she must look really dumb with the clumps of fur stuck together and sticking" I was left wondering what kind of creature the protagonist is. Not knowing what species the protagonist is or what she looks like kinda distracts from the story.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

I really like the protagonist's personality, and her friend's, but there's a big issue of them not being human and yet also not being adequately described somehow to the reader. We've no idea if they look like monkeys, cats or kangaroos.

Ideally, to engage your reader, they should be able to visualise the scene, what's happening. There's a notion in creative writing of a learning curve. Whenever a reader begins reading a story, there's a learning curve they must climb. What they must learn are the characters (name, age, gender, species, culture, religion, interests, wants) the setting (future, past, foreign, home, fantasy, sci-fi, mountains, oceans etc etc) and the initial plot set up. The more different from their home experiences the setting and characters are, the steeper the learning curve. In a short story, you don't have much time to introduce your readers to things. So, here, I'd strongly recommend you make the protagonists human. This is because when the readers begin your story, they'll automatically assume that the protagonist is human unless told otherwise. When you mentioned fur, I began to suspect that the protagonist wasn't human, but it wasn't clear. This distracted me from the story, prevented me getting immersed. CAn you follow my logic?

That's why a lot of YA fantasy is set in high schools - readers can easily visualise that setting so there's a very low learning curve at the beginning of the story.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Although your plot gets a bit fuzzy in the centre when the bombs are being thrown around, overall it's good. I especially liked your humerous resolution. Nice!

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Most of the story is nicely paced. However, it gets a bit too fast toward the end when they're running out of the 'caves', imho.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

You have a strong and clear voice, which is great. Here are a few notes for your consideration:

she was about to be sacrificed to some lizard god in some god forsaken cave in the middle of nowhere. - fantastic line, but godforsaken is a compound word, believe it or not *Laugh*

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/godfors...

“Let’s go study the Gurlocks, she said. It’ll be fun, she said.”
- when you have speech within speech, you must put the inner speech into alternative speech marks, ie. if you follow the British convention of 'speech' for speech, then inner speech is punctuated, "speech", but if you follow US style, then "speech" will have inner speech punctuated 'speech'. Using your sentence: “'Let’s go study the Gurlocks,' she said. 'It’ll be fun,' she said.”

I’m never going on another of Cynthia’s stupid experiments.”
- expeditions might be a better word.

Many of the Gurlocks made a ring around the fire and began flailing around
- try to avoid using general terms like 'many' because it's quite abstract and doesn't create a concrete image in the reader's mind. Be more precise, like "A dozen Gurlocks". Also, watch out for use of 'began' or 'started to'. These are stall words that don't add much to narrative other than increased word count.

It was Cynthia…riding one of the Gurlocks? -> Was that Cynthia…riding one of the Gurlocks?

and roared before bolting over to where Bec was in the center of the cave. - up until this point, in the centre of the story, I had NO IDEA they were inside a cave, lol.

…and Bec shielded her eyes against the blinding sun as they burst into the open.
- there's a notion that it's better to present narrative in strict chronological order as that creates better temporal flow adding to the suspension of disbelief you're attempting to create, ie. better engaging the reader. Avoid stating anything that forces the reader mentally backward in time, even just within a sentence. So, here, for example: …and as they burst into the open, Bec shielded her eyes against the blinding sun. - see how that's better chronological flow?

I hear the Creones like to bite all their victim’s fingers off first.
- victims' - when a plural noun is possessive, the apostrophe comes after the s. However, it's also considered okay to write - victims's. Personally, I don't like the second option, but don't tell anybody they're wrong when they opt to use it.

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

You have a really interesting setting, but you leave things a bit late to ground the reader. If there's an element of your setting that's important to your story plot development then it needs to be foreshadowed before it becomes important. 90% of this story is set within a "cave", but I didn't even know they were inside a cave until halfway through. Then suddenly there's tunnels, but we knew nothing about them until the protagonist needed them. Then there's horses waiting, and we didn't know until they were needed by the protagonist. Ground the reader as early as possible.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

I loved the joke that is your core premise, and also the cross cultural ideas.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

I really like your story, but you really need to bring in setting details before they become important and also to reassess how you present your protagonist and her friend to the reader. At the moment, I simply cannot visualise what she is.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature



*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
128
128
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: 18+ | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Poeros!

I'm here to review your short story "The Unchosen (draft) as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

Approaching this story, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

Hook — does your opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Your opening was well crafted, and the initial hook about a past life reading fantastic. You introduced a character and the setting during "action". Okay, the action wasn't exciting, but it had the dual effect of clarifying the setting and showing what they were doing. The only slightly negative thing I'd say is that "us" fails to communicate the idea that there are only two of them there at that table, so you might like to say "the two of us" or something like that to clarify that in the opening. Great stuff. *BigSmile*

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Brice is a solid, proactive and sympathetic character. He feels real, which is great. You should bring his name in earlier because he's the main guy in the story and at first I thought his friend was. Readers find it easier to care about someone if they know their name, you see.

You might like to round him a bit more with some interests beyond the plot, but if this is an introductory chapter then I suppose that could come later.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

I'm liking this plot very muchly, especially how you end off the chapter. You have very clear conflict and a very interesting end hook, which was nicely foreshadowed when Brice talked to that kid. Overall, fantastic. *BigSmile*

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The pace started well, especially with the initial hook, but then somewhere around Brice leaving the library it became a bit too brisk, so I didn't feel immersed at all either in his bedchamber or in the place where he met with a god, which — realistically — should have been the focal point of your narrative.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Generally clear and easy to follow, but with a few issues, for example:

as she placed a book back in its proper place on the self. - watch out for typos in your opening sentence. It kinda throws the reader *Smile*

Casey was a classmate of mine that had attended school the same time I had
- it's generally considered better style to use "who" rather than "that" as a pronoun in a clause like this, though "that" is permissible. Beware using the pluperfect tense when you don't have to. Here, it would be far preferable to say something like: Casey and I attended school together - much more succinct. However, to be honest, the fact that they're studying in a library together SHOWS this information anyway, so the whole sentence is pretty much redundant.

Casey belonged to the Discipline of Brigid with her talents
- if you're going to introduce fantasy elements, you need to set them in a context that makes sense to the reader. I have NO IDEA what this means, lol. *Wink*

She also had a lovely set of tits.
- if you're going to be coarse, go the whole hog. I mean, use a simile/metaphor or coloquialism that shows the reader something about the person speaking, eg. "a great rack", "fantastic jugs" or "whopping great melons".

She rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed me and I smiled.
- most people don't seem to bother with this punctuation rule around here, but since you're generally good at stuff I'll point it out. When you have a sentence containing two independent clauses, ie. with different grammatical subjects, unless both are very short, it's mandatory to place a comma before the conjunction that joins the clauses, ie. before your second "and" in this sentence. It's simply an aid to the reader's eye, to allow them to easily note the change of subject from "she" to "I".

“Did you hear what happened yesterday?” She asked as
- tags are usually in the same sentence as the speech, so here you should have a low case "s" in "she". The exceptions are where the tag doesn't actually describe how the spoken sentence has been spoken. So, for example, tags containing whispered, shouted, said, spoke, uttered, hissed, screamed, mumbled etc would be considered in the same sentence as the speech, but tags that have verbs unrelated to speech are usually separate sentences, eg. "Be quiet!" He stared at the naughty boy. "Come here." She crooked her finger. - also, watch out for two many sentences containing the "as" construction. Personally, I use that construction too much. Just try to vary sentence construction.

To which event does thou speak of not related to an educator sleeping with students?”
- if you're going to slip into Early Modern English, I'd recommend you at least inflect the verb that way, too, ie. "Of what event dost thou speak? Forsooth, canst it be that a teacher with a student sleepeth?" or you could end with "student sleeps" because though less correct on the inflection, it's kinda more poetic.

“I dunno, Brice.”
- better if you'd brought his name in earlier so that the reader can better engage with him.

Casey stuck her tongue at me and walked back down between the row of books and back to our empty cart of returns. She pushed it back to the
- tongue out - watch out for using the same word too many times in a paragraph.

I shrugged a shoulder,
- watch out for redundant bits. I mean, what else would you shrug except a shoulder? A simple "I shrugged" says the same.

My heart started to race a hundred times a minute and I nearly forgot that I had been asked a question.
- beware 'started' or 'began' as they're stall words, ie. they add little to meaning and just add to word count. Consider: My heart raced, and I almost forgot I'd been asked a question - or - My heartrate accelerated to a hundred beats a minute, and…

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The library settings were well chosen. A nice, familiar place for your readers to ease them into your fantasy universe. However, the chamber later, and Brice's bed chamber, were inadequately sketched, imho. Sensory information was a tad lacking. Though you could have made the god chamber chilly, the library dusty, his friend rose scented, you didn't bother. Sensory information helps both ground and engage readers. In terms of cultural setting, ensure that you introduce any "clans" etc in a manner that the reader can understand.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

I did like the idea of the gods returning to Earth to save mankind etc. Nice premise.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

I actually quite liked this opening, especially the end hook. However, there are lots of small issues to deal with, especially with setting, imho.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature



*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
129
129
Review of Lost!  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello SilverRaven!

I'm here to review your short story "Lost! as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

Approaching this story, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

Hook — does your opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The opening hook is good because Aleeya is faced with very clear conflict from the very beginning, questions are raised in the reader's mind, and the setting is clear. We know exactly where we are and why.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Aleeya is an excellent sympathetic character, as is her mother. However, there's a big issue which prevents the reader from fully engaging with this story and "enjoying" it. You see, neither of them are "proactive".

A well developed story should have a protagonist who does things: makes choices, goes places, does things. In your story, Mom is static. She can't do anything. Aleeya is your main protagonist, but she's also kinda static. She has no choices to make and does nothing. Essentially, she's just an observer. Yes, she gets upset by what happens, and the reader emphasises with her. However, nothing that Aleeya either does or potentially could do changes the outcome of the story. She could be in another country, or on the moon, and the same events would occur with respect to her mother and the medical treatment.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Picking up from above, Aleeya doesn't have any choices, doesn't do anything, so it's not really a story. Now, if, for example, Aleeya was faced with a choice of whether to allow her mother to undergo a very tricky operation that she may or may not survive, or if Aleeya's Mom were on a life support system and the doctors asked Aleeya for permission to switch off the system and allow her mom to die… now, that would be a story. Do you get what the difference is? I know it's a difficult concept to grasp, but basically that's why your main character is called a protagonist — they're the proactive one who does stuff, faces conflicts, overcomes them (or dies/fails facing them), and that's what makes a story.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

You have a fast pace, which is good, but you might like to slow it down a bit to allow for emotional impact where big events occur, like Mom's death.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star*

Your narrative is clear and easy to understand, but there are a few significant issues that may prevent readers from becoming engaged in your story:

It has been a long 6 weeks, but she won't leave her mother's side until she is released from the hospital and ready to go home.
- small numbers should be written out in narrative instead of using numerals. Numerals should only be used for very long numbers, telephone numbers, serial numbers or names, eg. C3P0. - you began the story in past tense but then switched to present tense in this sentence. Be consistent.

She was in the bathroom, getting sick - I believe you mean "being sick" but "vomiting" would be a stronger verb to use

her mother was being moved to Hospice,
- a hospice. If it's an actual place called Hospice, then this is fine, but that's unusual. Usually it would be called something else, something more, like Saint Luke Hospice, Mohandas Gandhi Hospice or Lei Feng Hospice rather than simply Hospice.

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The hospital setting was clear, but you might have described the room in a bit more detail, especially with respect to any machines attached to Mom. Also, don't forget sensory information, such as the chemical smells of a hospital.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Your actual theme of the daughter's emotion over her Mom's death is great. Wonderful premise.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The emotion in this story is wonderful, and you have a great opening hook. However, you really need to get the protagonist to do something. It's not much of a story if she just observes what happens to Mom. To be a true protagonist, she must have choices and take action, even if it's reaction.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature



*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
130
130
Review of The Date  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: 18+ | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello ladyverdandi!

I'm here to review your poem "The Date as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

What I liked

I loved the flow of emotion in your poem and the "twin bookends" effect of beginning and ending with similar themed stanzas about coming into your life in the beginning and leaving at the end. Some of your lines were very poignant. I particularly liked: "Though just a little less tighter. Though a little less longer."

What might need work

A few notes to consider:

Be careful to make every word in your poem do something, to carry its weight. For example, in the line "Unmarred by the turmoil of your new arrival that first day." the words "new" and "first" do exactly the same thing, both telling the reader that this is the first time you met him. And, you've already established this same fact in the preceding lines, so both words are kinda redundant in this line, if you catch my drift.

Showing yourself to me as a flame to a moth. - it's strong, but it's also cliché. try to create fresh and arresting images.

Your pride only enhance my excitement of you. - always ensure you use the correct inflection in tenses and remain consistent, ie. here "enhanced"

Our time together rolled in to years
- "into" is a compound word.

I regretted having spout off at times," How about a Vacation this time".
- be careful about punctuation. If you're going to use it, then do it according to the standard style guide, ie. …times. "How about a vacation this time?" - a question needs a question mark, and end punctuation comes inside speech marks.

Ill see you on our next... - I'll

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your poem.

You have an emotionally strong poem with good flow, but you need to work on strengthening your lines with more powerful words and fresher images. Also, watch out for mistakes and punctuation consistency.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature


*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
131
131
Review of True perfection  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello AdrianThePirate!

I'm here to review your poem "True perfection as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

What I liked

I do like the title. It's very strong and apt, and with poetry, titles are important to set the mood. The structure, flow and rhymes are strong. I like the core concept of true perfection coming from our imperfections.

What might need work

The diamonds reference in the opening line is good, but it's also a little cliché. The pearl refernence is inaccurate, since they're not made under pressure. It's unclear in the second line what this 'lecture' is, whether it's a past, common experience or this poem now.

human's -> either, a human's, or, humans' - dependining on whether you mean one human or many.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your poem.

I like the core idea and the structure, but feel you need to choose a more fresh and arresting metaphor to form your opening. The second part of the poem is spot on.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of So When  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello drgn_kpr!

I'm here to review your poem "So When as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

What I liked

There were some very clever thoughts injected into this poem, like how "space" is conquerable but "time" isn't, and it can't be saved and earns no interest. I loved "This instant! Now, becomes then!" Great stuff. The rhythm and flow were also nice.

What might need work

I wasn't sure about the hard end of each line, ie. ending each line with a period or other punctuation to make it a separate sentence. I'm guessing that was deliberate to give the impression of time moving fast, like the tick and tock of a clock. I wondered about your spelling of tic and toc, too. Unusual, but I suspect you had your reasons.

Here's the question my friend - when someone is addressed, place a comma between their name or title and what's said to them, ie. "Here's the question, my friend."

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your poem.

There are many interesting ideas in your poem and no significant faults to distract the reader.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

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Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature


*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
133
133
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Peter Simmonds!

I'm here to review your poem {item: as an official judge for "Invalid Item. Thank you for entering!

** Image ID #1936832 Unavailable **

What I liked

I like the scene setting and how you craft the mystical from the mundane with images like "rays that poured [d]own like honey." The flow of the story is smooth, the emotions nicely shown, and the voice strong.

What might need work

I wasn't entirely sure what "The tree of death" was. Is this simply a deciduous tree that has yet to show any spring buds, or a more sinister symbol within The Plaza?

I've heard "slid off the mind like rain from rooftops" before but can't put my finger on where. Beware that it might not be a particularly fresh simile. However, it does work well in the context where you use it. *Smile*

One to the friend with who this day was shared,
- you may have done this intentially for "voice" in your poem, but it should be "with whom this day was shared" if you want it to be grammatically correct.

That dared me to capture it in words.
- as a style issue, rather than "voice" or "accent", it's generally considered better style to use "who" rather than "that" as the pronoun to refer to a person, ie. it's better to write "Who dared me…" rather than "That dared me…" when speaking about a person you respect. However, it is absolutely permissible to use "That", it just doesn't sound as nice.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your poem.

This is a good example of contemporary, free verse with a strong voice, though you might like to consider some small style changes, particularly the "roof" simile.

Thank you for entering this round of the contest. If you're still within your first six months of membership, I hope you'll enter this month's round, too!

If you haven't already joined a reviewing group, please consider becoming a member of Simply Positive.

FORUM
Simply Positive Review Forum   (E)
A group dedicated to spreading honesty and positivity.
#1384147 by Simply Positive


Good luck with the contest.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature


*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
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In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: 13+ | (5.0)
Hello 🌕 HuntersMoon!

I hope that this review proves helpful to you. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. My critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will be useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.

When approaching your story, I'm searching for specific elements, and each will be addressed under a different header.



Hook — does your opening have something that stops this reader putting down your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Your big hook really comes with the line "Here I am, thousands of miles from home, wandering the streets of a strange city looking for a shop that doesn’t exist … and talking to myself!” But by the time we get here, we're already three paragraphs in. Why can't you have this in the opening paragraph?

Kris pulled up the collar of her tweed jacket, trying to protect her neck from the frigid wind that whistled down North 9th Street. Besides being cold, it smelled of fish as it cascaded over the East River and was funneled between warehouses and tenements. She passed a collection of locals gathered at the corner warming their hands over a fire sputtering in an old barrel. “Here I am, thousands of miles from home, wandering the streets of a strange city looking for a shop that doesn’t exist … and talking to myself!”


See! It fits fine just there, and immediately provides a hook as the reader wonders why she's miles from home. *Smile* (I mean, why would anyone EVER want to leave Yorkshire?!) *Laugh*

Characters — are they well rounded?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Ms. Robertson is a good choice of name as it's common around here. Never met a girl called Kris, though. Christine is fairly common in older generations but not popular now. The most common girls names for a 20-35 year old in Leeds are, I would say, Amy, Sarah, Rachel, Emily, Charlotte, Anne, Danielle, Mel (Melanie or Melissa both), Elysha, Hayley, and Ellie.

However, you don't really develop her character that much. We don't know how old she is, really. We have no idea what her job was before the obsession. We haven't a clue what she likes other than searching for this pit of souls thing. Because of this, her ability to read Russian script came completely out of the blue. It actually distracted from the story a little because it completely changed the way I imagined her. Why not a few thoughts about what she's left behind, eg. My fiancee won't ever talk to me again after this, and I'm sure somebody else now has my job in the Russian section of the British Library Document Supply Centre (Based in Boston Spa, a village just north-east of Leeds).

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution, or hook if it's a chapter or serial?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Loving the plot, especially the resolution. If you can sort out your narrative, this is a winner, imho! *BigSmile*


Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Pacing is all good.

Language and voice — does this reader 'feel' the story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

Obviously your first draft. Lots of tightening up to do, which will leave more room for the character building I feel you require.

Some specific notes:

Now that’s something you wouldn’t see at home. - I'd tend to say "back home". But wouldn't it get your character's background in earlier if she simply thought "back in Leeds" or maybe better (because easier for readers to understand) "back in Yorkshire"? Also, I don't think you need "a village east of Leeds". Leeds is sufficiently provincial to make your character seem from the back of beyond. If you check out the film Mischief Night online, it was set there. Now, a weird thing here. Although our country is called The United Kingdom, we rarely use that name except in official documents or articles. In real life, it's just England, if you live in England, or Britain sometimes. Same for Irish, Scottish and Welsh people. Northern people tend to be proud, so they'd useually say they came from the north of England, and Scottish people would say they came from Scotland.

in particular, the cave that existed under it: - be succinct, eg. in particular, the cave beneath it:

The Well of Souls. The name Well of Souls derived from a medieval Islamic legend
- and again: The Well of Souls. That name derived from a medieval Islamic legend. Also, the end of the paragraph you have "The name "Well of Souls" had also been applied " but you could just write "The same name had also…"

the first mention of it in 333 A.D. through the present
- through to the present - may be a British English thing

It was during her research that she started to note cryptic references to a book store that contained manuscripts that exposed the hidden secrets of many of the ancient legends.
- three "that" in one sentence. Perhaps revise a little

A book store and an owner that’s seventeen-hundred years old?
- though it's true that folks from Leeds do have appalling grammar, for the sake of the story you might like to use "who's" rather than "that's" *Laugh*

“It’s just another urban legend,”
- I'd say "urban myth", but that's just me.

Three weeks before, she started having dreams - by this point, you've already used "started" and "began" several times. Consider rephrasing a few.

she answered, pulling back from the man and his torrent of unrecognizable words - you might like to go for "slurred, unintelligible words" or something like that. I assure you, my kids and younger people in general would have no problem understanding what the guy just said. In fact, my kids speak with a kinda American accent and often pronounce rarer words in the American rather than British style. They are products of the YouTube generation. *Laugh*

“Hey!” she yelled, startled - "yelped" might be a better verb

She glanced up and down the street but Old Joe had vanished
. - I channelling my inner Jody here. Comma after "street" because the conjunction "but" joins two independent clauses.

She felt a chill run down her spine.
- don't filter. Simply: A chill slivered down her spine.

There’s no time for cowardice,” she muttered as - it's obvious who's speaking and kinda implied by what she says that she's muttering to herself, so by the time we get to "she muttered", the phrase is redundant.

She quickly grabbed the edge, saving the table from tipping. - Do you mean to stop the stack of books from tipping? I doubt the table would tip if it can carry so much weight.

a short, portly bearded man with steel rimmed eyeglasses. - Hey! I resemble that description! But, on the serious side, note that you have three adjectives in a row. Can you spread them out a bit and show a bit more here? I mean, you did a fantastic job introducing the tramp, but less so here. For example: A squat, bearded man appeared and doffed his steel rimmed spectacles to rub his bulbous eyes.

Kris could see a large leather-bound book with the name - you've just said "thick book" above this, so maybe write this without those, eg. Kris saw it was leather-bound and titled: "…

Follow me,” he requested, and led her down - you have a tendency to use "telling" speech tags when it's obvious both who's speaking and the manner of speech. So, here, perhaps just write: Follow me.” He led her down

what you came for,” he said, pulling out - and again - what you came for." He pulled out

a large volume and handing it to her. - I try to avoid directional components like "to her" when it's obvious, so here for example I'd say: a large volume and handing it over.

Jacob said, noticing her slight recoil - this is a shift of pov to Jacob. Perhaps, Jacob said, appearing to notice her slight recoil.

the ink on the pages begin to flow. The ink itself seemed to change
- you've used both "begin" and "seemed" a few too many times in narrative before this point. Try to weed some of it out.

The ink seemed to liquefy, - and again!

Settings — is this reader grounded in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Setting is great. North 9th Street did distract me at first because I know that in standard US layouts Avenues run north-south while streets run east-west, but a quick Google of the scene showed that the street in question did have a north 9th street address, so it's all good. Great use of sensory information, and her sinking into the book is especially cool. I loved the "skin turns to parchment over years" bit at the very end. Uber awesome!

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The premise of this knocked my socks off. Really great.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

I think you need to get to work on some serious edits because your narrative is all over the place, my friend, and your protagonit's character is as shallow as me when I'm trying to pick up drunk girls in a bar (with zero effect because it's humanly impossible for girls to get that drunk). However, with such an awesome plot and setting, you should be able to edit this into a winner, imho.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. Good luck with your writing.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of Form  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Blake !

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your poem.


What I liked.

You make good use of the villanelle form to express what you want to, though what is expressed is vague. The vocabulary choices are good, as are the masculine end rhymes with one exception. The imagery is interesting.

What I feel may need improvement.

Although you follow the general structure of the villanelle, there's one place where you don't bother with the rhyme, and I don't see why you've singled out that line for non-compliance: "The weak require the formless medicine,"

Traditionally, the villanelle uses iambic pentameter, but you use varies line lengths and no obvious meter. I'm okay with variation, but this pushes it a bit far, imho.

If I'm right, the "white tops" are waves coming to crash on the beech and rake the sand/small beach pebbles, refreshing them with the tide in an eternal cycle. Of course, "white tops" is often used to refer to small yachts, but I think here you mean waves. If you do mean waves on a beach, I'd suggest that a "rock wall" would be a clearer image than "earthly wall".

However, you obviously are using the waves as a metaphor for something, and I'm guessing that they symbolise the passage of a life which inevitably comes to an end with the passage of time, but that some use "medicine" to ease their journey through life, weaker people taking meaningless drugs for recreational use, but stronger people only taking it when they really need it so they don't die etc.

Conclusion.

An interesting poem, though rather vague and not exactly to set form in spite of its name.

Thank you for sharing your poem with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


Simply Positive Signature


*Gold* My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!.
136
136
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello lizey

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


Hook — does your story opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

This starts good with two cute wombats and one magpie watching over them like a surrogate mother. Good initial setting in the safe burrow surrounded by blackberry bushes. However, there's no hint of conflict in the first few paragraphs, which you really need to engage your readers. Since Elliot is the real protagonist of this story, the one who wants the adventure, I feel we should get hints in paragraphs one and two that he's not happy, that he's got itchy feet, rather than just showing how happy he is here.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Elliot and Victor are great protagonists for a children's story, and Kenslee the magpie is a wonderful maternal figure. However, as this is a children's book I feel you have too many other characters introduced alongside these core three. After chapter one, the only characters that the reader will meet again are the two wombats. Kenslee is an essential "mentor" character to teach them about the world and give them a reason to go look, but all the other characters are not needed to establish the adventure and simply delay the pace.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

It's a great premise to have two wombats who travel around Australia and show kids what's out there. Also, the initial conflict of Elliot wanting to go and Victor not and also Kenslee not wanting them to go is wonderful. However, you've got too much going on for the first chapter, I feel.

What you're writing essentially falls into the "hero's journey" archetype, where you have a protagonist from the back of beyond who is inspired by a mentor figure to go out on a joourney quest of discovery. Typically, there's some kind of call to action, and the mentor is always left behind so that the protagonist can become more proactive and drive the story themselves.

To make the hero's journey work, you really need just the initial conflict of Elliot wanting to travel, but Victor not. Then when Elliot decides he's going by himself anyway, Victor can decide to go along to "protect him", keep him out of trouble or whatever.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

This draft has better pace than the last one, but you really need a bit more conflict in your opening paragraphs, and less other characters confusing the main conflict.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

The narrative is easy to understand and has its own character, but unfortunately it is rather riddled with basic errors. After about half a page, you gave up on speech punctuation completely, which was rather strange. Although there are some literary classics that don't use speech marks at all, I'd advise you to use speech marks in a children's book to avoid confusion. I can't imagine a book that lacked speech punctuation being adopted as a standard text by schools or taken up by school libraries, which is what you really need with a book of this kind.

Here are a few specific notes, though they only scratch the surface I'm afraid:

Two Little Wombat's - in your title, no need for an apostrophe, ie. Two Little Wombats

It was a beautiful summers evening when two little brother wombats - summer's - possessive apostrophe

but could never get in as there was blackberries growing - were blackberries, plural. However, this is what's called gramatically passive because the subject is after the verb. It's generally considered better writing to use the active voice in narrative, ie. but could never get in as blackberries grew

around the wombats little borrow - wombat's - possessive apostrophe

that they looked like Victors friend William the Echidna. - Victor's

He wanted his brother Victor too also come with him, but didn't think he would wont to leave and he knew that Kenslee would not be happy about it either.
- "to" not "too" in opening clause. "want" not "wont" in second clause. Because the second clause and third clause are both independent clauses, you need a comma before the "and"

and wondered how to best approach is brother. - his brother

and said with a sigh "I think we need a holiday!" - needs a comma after "sigh"

"A holiday! Why would we need a holiday? he said - missing end speech marks on this speech, and missing opening speech marks on the next segment of speech.

What is a cane toad? Cut in Victor a little bit more interested. - It's good that you're now using a new paragraph for a new speaker, but you must also remember speech marks when somebody is speaking.

Victor looked at Reggie and wondered how he knew all these things. - don't tell the reader a piece of information if you're about to show it. Here, you "tell" the reader what Victor is wondering, but when Victor asks Reggie the question a few paragraphs later it "shows" that he wonders this.

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Settings are awesome. Love the location and description of their burrow. BTW, if "borrow" is some kind of specific term for a wombat's burrow, then that's great. But otherwise, you keep on typing "borrow" when you mean "burrow".

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

I really like the premise of this book. It's the kind of book schools use to teach children English and geography simultaneously, as long as the grammar and punctuation is spot on (which it is not at all right now, I'm afraid).

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

You've got the essential elements of a great children's book, but you have two big problems:
1) the initial chapter is overcomplicated by too many characters, and
2) there are a lot of basic grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of Despair  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.0)
Hello Robert Di Piero!

I hope that this review proves helpful to you. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. My critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will be useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements.

Your protagonist is a sympathetic character, and his conflict is clear in that he faces melancholy. The theme is a universally understood one about the need for love and acceptance. So far so good. Your narration is easy to follow and does follow a chronological path, which is cool. However, you've got to learn where to begin your story, and also how to show not tell. Your story uses four paragraphs of telling — a huge info dump of information you feel the reader needs to know — followed by only one of showing.

I can't tell you how to write your story. That's something you have to do for yourself. However, for illustration, I'll tell you how I'd write it.

I'd begin when Max walks into the tavern. I'd show him meeting the girl, and then their conversation begins. Then all that information you put into your first three paragraphs, Max's history and his emotions, I'd express in dialogue while talking to the girl. In that way, the information about his divorce, his current unemployment etc, would all be presented to the reader in a much more interesting and natural way.

When you set a scene and immerse the reader in a specific moment, they get a feeling of suspension of disbelief and feel that they're actually there in the story with Max. They can't get that in the first three paragraphs because they're too abstract, too general. You need to be more specific and in the moment to create that powerful effect.

Here's a few specific notes:

when the fight meets it's nearful end. - possessive pronouns do not use apostrophes, ie. its rather than it's

Max had a chance meeting with a spectacular person that sat next to him
- although it's permissible to use "that" as a pronoun, it's often considered better style to use "who", ie. …person who sat next to him.

He had asked her what her name was as "Here Comes the Sun" played on the jukebox.
- an interesting use of the song, but consider showing this more than telling and using dialogue, eg.

Here Comes the Sun blared from the jukebox.

"What's your name?" he asked.


Note how I used four less words and yet showed rather than told the scene. Also, use italics rather than quotation marks for titles. Names of pubs don't need either quotation marks or italics.

…serendipity, she said "I knew you were going to say that". - Revise punctuation in dialogue. This should be: …serendipity, she said, "I knew you were going to say that." - speech end punctuation belongs inside quotation marks.


Thank you for sharing your story with me. I do hope my comments help. Good luck with your writing.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of Dear Me, 2017  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello, Jay O'Toole!

What an awesome letter, Jay! I can see why you placed in the contest. It's interesting to see you many familiar people among those whom you've found reason to thank and goes to show how wonderful those individuals are.

I'm impressed that you're already thinking ahead to NaNoWriMo! You have a great theme at work there and I look forward to seeing what you write.

Good luck with completing the Rising Stars project. Sounds gruelling!

Thank you for sharing!

Best wishes,

Bob *BigSmile*

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Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello karlben!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your story.


What I liked.

Nice use of colour for impact and great premise. Very imaginative.

What I feel may need improvement.

You might like to look at slowing down your narrative a bit and separating stuff out into paragraphs and smaller sentences by theme. At the moment, you've got the whole story of creation in one paragraph, and several sentences step over two subjects, eg. the sentence "They made this promise since Mother Earth was born and was ready for the formation of billions of beautiful life forms to inhabit her that were also created by their ultimate wizard creator's heart" contains three distinct and vast ideas about creation: 1) that there was a 'promise' made by the wizards, 2) that Earth was formed ready for animals to populate, and 3) these animals/creatures were created by the same wizard who created the plannet. With such wide sweeping statements and concepts, you need a bit more space and detail to explore the idea, imho.

Also, think about the natural, chronological flow of your story. In Genesis, the story begins from 'in the beginning' and then goes through the verious elements of creation over a seven day period in order. In your story, you begin with 'the beginning' but then flip to the 'blue sapphire wizards' but then flip back to the earlier 'Mother Earth was born' and then 'billions of beautiful lifeforms' (presumably after the sapphire wizards). You basically have a ping-pong where you go back and forward, back and forward. Try to simply start at the beginning and then work forward slowly, step by step, in order of creation.

and came from the heaven's to serve as guardian's and protectors,
- when you have a plural noun, like heavens or guardians and later kingdoms, you do NOT need a possessive apostrophe. With "nature's kingdoms", you need a possessive 's on nature's.

The Watchers mentioned at the end came out of nowhere. If they're similar to the wizards then surely they were created at the same time as the wizard and Adam and Eve in your universe and so should be introduced at that stage rather than casually mentioned at the end as if they've always been there.

Conclusion.

You have an interesting Creation Story, but personally I feel it would be better if chronological and spread out, with more detail offered for each event within the process of creation.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of Talbata's Tavern  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: 13+ | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Rovera!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your introduction.


What I liked.

I do like the stone gollums mentioned at the end, and it would have been nice to see them in action at some point in your introduction to the scene. Talbata is an interesting character with a unique view as an outsider from the countryside in a big city.

What I feel may need improvement.

A few notes I took while reading through:

It would be nice to see Talbata in action during the story, how she stepped in to separate the orc from the minotaur and so nearly lost her head when the minotaur lost his, and to see her order the restroom door kicked down, then maybe drag the evil necromancer off the poor girl herself. Make her more proactive and involved in what's going on and show the scene as she cuts a path through the crowds at her busy inn.

The squeaky wooden sign in front of the three-tier house was adorned with flamboyant purple letters that read “Talbata’s Tavern”.
- this is a gramatically passive sentence. The active equivalent would be: Famboyant purple letters that read “Talbata’s Tavern” adorned the squeaky wooden sign in front of the three-tier house. Active sentences are usually considered more engaging than passive. Think also about your vocabulary selectionos. For example, is 'house' the best word, or would 'inn' communicate more information and be more accurate?

Talbata, the middle aged female halfling, owned the place.
- this is a 'telling' sentence that adds little to your narrative. Try to work her age and race into other, more showing sentences. For example, 'When grey had made its first appearance in Talbata's lushious locks, she'd abandonned the halfling village of her youth to come to the big city and live among the other races of the Nine Kingdoms (or whatever your place is called).'

But it seems that Chaos is the only really omnipresent God after all.
- with this sentence, you slip into present tense. I'd recommend you keep your narrative in past tense to be consistent.

In Talbata’s homeland, a regular halfling could match a professional cook of any other race in the kitchen.
- it's irrelevant where they are; the fact remains the same.

And soon her tavern turned into a gold spring that flooded her stashes. - 'coffers' might be a better word choice than 'stashes'

with sweat springing from the bandana that she would always wear
. - the bandana she always wore - more active.

“All we gotta do is to keep the balcony clean and the fire burning!”
- I'm not clear what the balcony has to do with anything. It's not a significant part of a building.

balcony to compensate for the furniture that was crushed during the fight.
- furniture crushed during the fight - more active.

There was also the incident of the fire mage that was given for dead and abandoned by his group.
- though it's technically okay to use 'that' as a pronoun in place of 'who', it's generally considered bad style. Watch out for repeating essentially the same thing twice, ie. 'given for dead' and 'abandoned by his group' kinda mean the same thing. - of the fire mage abandoned by his group' - tighter.

therefore attracting more adventurers, in a vicious cycle.
- a vicious cycle would imply it's always bad, but what you've described is bad leading onto good, more of silver linings in every cloud type scenario. *Smile*

to flaunt about that time that she had to shelter her staff in the kitchen
- boast or brag might be better words to use than 'flaunt' - the minotaur and orc thing that follows is a reeat of minotaur and orc action already shown in a preceding paragraph.

Conclusion.

The setting introduced and Talbata are interesting, but you should think about 'showing' the setting more through her actions rather than 'telling' the reader what her tavern looks like.

Thank you for sharing your introduction with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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141
141
Rated: E | (5.0)
Hello again, Jody!

Since you've edited this poem since I reviewed it — and it reads much, much smoother now — I decided just to pop by and up your grade to 5 *Star*

While I'm writing, I wanted to mention something about emdashes. I notice you often type -- for an emdash. Maybe you're using an iPad or phone to type, I don't know, but if you're using a computer with a standard keypad, the kind that has a numeric pad to one side, then you should be able to hold down the 'alt' button and then press 0151 in sequence one by one while continuing to hold 'alt' then release the 'alt' button to give— which is a standard emdash —

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Bob *BigSmile*
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Rated: E | (4.5)
Hello again Prosperous Snow celebrating!

Since you've been so kind as to review a few of my poems recently, it's probably time I looked at something of yours. *BigSmile*


I hope that this review proves helpful to you. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. My critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will be useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.

When approaching your story, I'm searching for specific elements, and each will be addressed under a different header.



Hook — does your opening have something that stops this reader putting down your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Falling through a rip in time and space is certainly a hook for me! *BigSmile*

Characters — are they well rounded?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Your protagonist is proactive and certainly a sympathetic character in her desire to do good work on Earth and her fear for the fate of our planet due to pollution etc. However, she's not really very well rounded. You don't give her a name, provide a rough age, tell us if she has a job or if, indeed, she's really an angel or something. Other than that she's 'I' and she's kind, we know nothing about her.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution, or hook if it's a chapter or serial?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

The plot is simple but sweet. However, I did feel you could have made the conflict a bit more arduous. I mean, she could have struggled a bit more mentally over whether she would return to Earth or not. It would have made for greater emotional impact.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

Too fast paced, imho. I feel you could explore a lot more of your character's personality and thoughts before reaching your resolution.

Language and voice — does this reader 'feel' the story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The narrative was generally clear, but there were a few issues. Maybe it's a deliberate tool to give your character 'voice', but I felt there were too many sentences beginning 'I'. It's a common problem with first person narrative, obviously, but in such a short piece of flash fiction, it stood out for me.

A few notes:

I descended into the dark unknown and landed in a meadow of wild rhyme
- did you mean 'wild thyme'? - ah, no, you continue with the 'rhyme'. My bad. *Laugh*

This morning a nightingale woke me up.
- once viewpoint is established, directional components are unnecessary. So, here, the 'up' is redundant at the end of the sentence.

Its song reverberating through my dreams
- if you join this to the previous sentence then it would make sense in this tense. Otherwise is needs to be in pluperfect here, ie. Its song had reverberated throug my dreams, if you catch my drift.

I would listen to the nightingale sang while
- either 'sing' if you mean as a verb or 'song' if you mean as a noun.

Settings — is this reader grounded in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The settings were really cool!

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

I love the theme of the pollution and problems of Earth needing people to stop dreaming and start taking action. Great theme!

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

My feeling is that this is a story with an important message to communicate and a really interesting premise, but that its protagonist really needs a lot of development so that the reader cares about her and wants to see her succeed. Also, I feel you need more internal conflict in the character with respect to her important decisions.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. Good luck with your writing.

Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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143
143
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Sherman Marshall!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your poem.


What I liked.

I like the intro hook, the passage of three hundred years that symbolises how long you feel you've known your love interest. A lot of the imagery is very powerful, and your language is clear. I love the natural flow of your five part structure of first love, loss, fear of new love, possible new love, regret of not embracing new love.

What I feel may need improvement.

Though 'believe I could fly' and 'cast a net around my heart' are both powerful images and great description, the problem is that they've frequently been used before Also, because they're on consecutive lines, you've got mixed metaphors. It's often better in a short poem to develop a specific theme, a central metaphor around which all the comparisons and descriptions are made. For example, here's one I wrote a while back about the end of relationships, for which I used the metaphor of a sinking ship: "When Relationships Sink…. Also, with the second image, you use 'heart' twice, which sounds awkward. I mean, try to picture it as if it's literal rather than metaphorical, ie. this girl placed a dream inside your heart that created a net around your heart, one inside, the other outside, if you catch my drift.

Rather than wrap my life up in to women who barely filled the void - I couldn't fully understand this line because of the section I've underlined in the middle.

Thank you for sharing your poem with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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144
144
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Apologizing Adolescent !

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your poem.


What I liked.

This is a cute declaration of a person's love for their spouse. A little idealistic in tone, 'tis true, but lovely all the same. Great, consistent rhyming scheme. I particularly like the simile about the couple being 'puzzle pieces, a perfect fit'.

What I feel may need improvement.

There are a few, minor punctuation issues. For example:

“Oh cupid, oh cupid, oh cupid”
- Cupid is a name and so should be capitalized, and the period is missing from the end of this spoken sentence. Throughout the poem, you have some sentences ending with periods and others simply blank. Either use them or don't use them, but if you're going to use speech marks then I recommend you use them or the speech marks will look weird, imho.

“What is it my dear, what is wrong?”
- when a person is addressed in speech, their name or title must be separated from what's said to them by a comma, so: "What is it, my dear? What is wrong?"

I sang my melody and sang it my best
- here, for this line and the line beginning 'She swayed' only, you change from present tense to past, which sounds a bit weird in context.

How can I be so blessed - missing question mark.

Conclusion.

This is a sweet poem only marred by a few, tiny punctuation issues.

Thank you for sharing your poem with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Rated: E | (4.5)
Hello, iluvhorses

What I liked

As a person from the other side of this equation (an adoptee who traced his birth mom) I can relate to this memoir.

There are some beautiful emotions shown within this short piece, and I personally found it moving.

What might need work

During the build up of anticipation before you open the envelope, try to move beyond your own feelings and reliance on hubby's emotional support and also include some 'regret' and 'reassurances' to provide clearer 'setting', eg. maybe wish you hadn't had to give Ann up as a baby, but assure yourself it was the best choice at the time because you could never have provided for her emotionally and physically because you were a different person when you were eighteen, providing (though application of emotions to your memories) background to the reader of why Ann was given up for adoption at the time.

Watch out for tiny errors that have crept into your narrative. For example, in the sentence "in fact i whispered that to her as she slept in my arms that last evening in the hospital" capitalise the "i".

Stylistically, don't "tell" and "show" the same thing. For example:

It was a mid-May afternoon. The spring sun shone brightly. Across from the porch a large lavender-colored lilac was in full bloom, fragrantly scenting the air. My favorite flower, lilac, evokes many memories of spring's hopes, love, joy.


Within that section, you have two uses of the word "spring" and a specific mention of the month. Firstly, the actual month is irrelevant to the emotion of the piece. The key metaphorical tool is that it's spring, a time of winter's end and new growth/rebirth. From your constant references to melting of frozen heart type stuff, you do comprehend this and have made use of the metaphor. However, you're still telling it. Consider removing specific "telling" references to the month and overuse of the word "spring", eg.

The afternoon sun warmed my face. Across from the porch, a lavender-colored lilac bloomed, scenting the air. Lilacs are my favorite flowers because they evoke emotions of hope, love and joy that I associate with spring.

I stumbled at first on reading the line "Perhaps the long frozen part of my heart will thaw when i read this letter. I tremble in anticipation" because I thought it was a grammar error, a use of "will" where "would" should be. However, reading on, I discovered this marked a departure from past tense to present as you prepare to read the letter. I presume this is to subtly communicate to the reader the intimacy of the moment. However, because the first two short sentences of that paragraph are first a fragment and then a pluperfect, the transition became quite a stumble, with four tenses within one paragraph. Also, why choose that moment to mark the departure. Surely the moment of actually opening the envelope would be the key moment, the point when past became present emotionally speaking? Personally, I'm not sure it's a good idea to shift from past to present for the core central part of the story, but I can understand the psychological impact you're aiming at.

Thank you for sharing!

Best wishes,

Bob *BigSmile*

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146
146
Review of Bird  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Armed Raven!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


Hook — does your story opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

For me, the opening held a hook because I wondered why the viewpoint narrator was focused on the bird so much, and — to be honest — I guessed at that time that the girl could communicate with animals, and for me the hook was finding out whether I was right or not. Your final line satisfied me that I'd been right. The secondary hook, with the purple grass, was also really cool.

However, on the negative side, it wasn't clear what the girl 'tried again' which is a little frustrating within viewpoint narration where we should really hear the thoughts of the narrator, but we were deliberately excluded from them at this point to create a mystery. I feel that perhaps you could have created an adequate hook by having her attempt to communicate with the bird in her viewpoint thoughts but leaving the reader unsure whether she's really capable of doing that or she simply has an overactive imagination.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The protagonist is proactive, going out there to talk to the bird, and intelligent, making wonderful observations about her parents and the world. She's also sympathetic, feeding the bird, interested in the other kids, suffering from her parents damaged relationship etc. Also, you give her a nice rounded character by bringing in her interest in environmental issues. However, I was mystified about her age. She speaks about environmental issues and DNA, which suggests she's later teens, but her interest in watching a ball game suggests younger to me. You don't really make it clear. However, the biggest issue for me was her name. You could have easily inserted the girl's name into her conversation with her parents when they spoke about moving, but you chose not to. It's natural for people to care more about other people if they know their name. We care very little for people if we don't know their name, but we value people more and care more about what happens to them if we know their name. For that reason, it's essential to give a protagonist a name as soon as possible in narrative.

Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

You have a fantastic premise here. Really cool.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The pace was fast and interesting things happened. No problems here.

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Really clear voice and no errors to note. My only real concern was that the voice might be too mature for the age of the girl, but I couldn't determine that because I don't know what age she is. She sounds 18, but I'm guessing she's maybe 14. There's nothing to guide me there.

You chose the present the human conversation in italics and then had the mental communication, the telepathy between the girl and the bird at the end, also in italics in exactly the same way. This may confuse readers. I mean, maybe it's just me, but after reading the ending, I reconsidered her conversation earlier with her parents and wondered if that had also been entirely telepathic. *Laugh* Also, to add to the issue, the way you've presented the conversation within the paragraph doesn't allow it to be really shown within a scene, and I think it would be better presented as a fully realized back flash of memory.

The relationship of her parents' had become like a beloved doll whose face had been glued back on after breaking, - sometimes small changes can tighten your prose and make it sound more active without altering the meaning. Consider: Her parents' relationship had become like a doll's face that had been glued back together after breaking,

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

I really like the setting you've chosen, and it's described really well. There were only two big issues, in my mind. First, you don't hint at the season in spite of ample opportunities when she's looking at the grass or the leaves in the trees etc, eg. were there spring flowers dotted in the grass? were the boys on the field preparing for a particular sporting event? Was she wondering if she'd see them at school when she started X? Were the leaves turning brown? Second, there's no taste, smell or temperature reactions. Warm sun on her face would hint at midsummer, unless you commented it was unseasonally warm for spring/summer. She could smell some flowers, or maybe some nasty farm smell, like fertilizer being spread etc. Extra sensory information helps better immerse the reader.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

Excellent themes: relationship issues affecting kids, environmental issues, crime, breakdown of society etc. All great stuff.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
*Star**Star**Star**Star**HalfStar*

This was an excellent opening with a wonderful hook. I feel it would be much improved, though, if you could give the protagonist a name and narrow down her age so the reader can identify with her a little better.

Thank you for sharing your story with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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147
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Review of Bella Mia  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Angela444!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your memoir.


What I liked.

This is a very inspirational account with some wonderful anecdotes and great imagery worked into the narrative. I especially liked the cute anecdote about your wife's teeth and how you wouldn't marry her if she had them fixed. Beautiful.

What I feel may need improvement.

Although I really enjoyed reading your memoir, I did feel there were some easy things you could do to make the read more pleasurable and engaging. I'm going to go through a little list item by item.

Names.

Names are important in any kind of story. In life, we care more about people whose name we know than those we don't know. Without a name, a person is just a statistic. So it is that when we tell a story, even a memoir, names become important. But, the only two people who's names I remember from this are Lia and Nonna (Grandmother in Italian?). There was also a 'Zia' mentioned when you first entered the household, but it's not clear who she is. I'd recommend you make it clear from the very beginning what your name is and what your wife's name is. The easiest way to do this in a first person narration is by introducing some dialogue in the begining. For example:

I remember that phone call, the one that led to me meeting my "bella mia" for the very first time face-to-face.

"Angela," Maria said, "I want to see you."

The handset shook in my hand. "S-see me? Y-you mean, actually for real?"

"Sì, Angela," she replied in a firm voice. "Talk is no good for me. I want to hold your hand, my darling."

"But, Maria, you might not like the real me."

"How will I ever know unless we meet?"

Now, obviously I don't know what words you really spoke to one another on the phone, but I hope you get the general idea of how dialogue can be used both to set the situation and, more important, to fix the protagonist's name, and her love interest's, in the reader's mind.

Dialogue


I've already mentioned how dialogue can be useful. You have a little dialogue in the middle of your memoir, eg. Yes, she said, nothing else, just beer. However, you don't present it inside quotation marks, which confuses some people. Consider using quotation marks for dialogue, eg. "Yes," she said, "nothing else, just beer." Also, consider using a lot more in your memoir. Dialogue helps bring a story to life, showing a scene rather than telling the reader about it, and so better engaging them. That scene in the house meeting your wife's family for the first time would be much more vivid for the reader if you used dialogue to show what people said to you and your replies.

Paragraphs

Each 'paragraph' of your memoir takes the reader through a huge part of your life rather than a specific moment. I'd say that each paragraph you've written represents a 'scene', ie. a specific event in your relationship, like your first visit to your wife's family. However, usually paragraphs are used for much smaller segments of a story, so your paragraphs become a little overwhelming at time while reading. This may just be a personal thing coming from me, but I feel your story would be more engaging for readers if you could split each scene down into several paragraphs rather than just one, each paragraph containing a separate theme within that scene, and with dialogue between to bring the story to life.

Structure


While reading, I got lost at a few points, and so I feel you might like to slightly strengthen the flow of your story and bring in a few more details to support the core events. In particular, in the beginning I didn't get that your wife was from Canada. I thought, from what you'd said about her, that she lived in Italy. So, when you arrived in Canada, I got really confused. The other point I found confusing was near the beginning when your wife just arrives on the island. I feel that a bit more background on your relationship before then, ie. how you came to start talking, first met in the first place.

Conclusion.

I really, really like your memoir. There are several really wonderful moments. However, I feel you could better show the story with more dialogue, more spread out writing and the names of major participants clarified to better engage the reader.

Thank you for sharing your memoir with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.
 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


I do hope you find this review useful. I've written a story that I'd really like to hear your opinions on, if you have time. It's:
"The Librarian
Thank you!


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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148
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Review of This I Believe  
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: E | (4.5)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello IntricateMind!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your poem.


What I liked.

This is a truly inspirational story and you use very clear and evocative language. It is vivid and heart-warming. Your narration is fast paced and very enjoyable. You clearly have a talent for writing inspirational anecdotes.

What I feel may need improvement.

These are a few suggestions. Though this is a truly well written short story, there are several things that could easily be changed to increase both to increase clarity and impact without actually changing word count or deviating from the truth.

First, your title and introduction. Both acurately describe the story to come. However, both sound exactly like a standard Christian, evangelical tale designed to show how our Saviour redeemed us and brought us to the light. While I would personally have been happy to read such an anecdote, I suspect many wouldn't read this for that reason. Try to use a title and brief description that makes it more obvious that this is a story about your school experience of bullying.

NAMES. It's in our nature to care more about people if we know them by name. If you want to engage your readers better and get them to care about you and what happens to you then you need to get the name of the protagonist and your saviour in rather than leaving those anonymous. Many writing this kind of story "change the names of people to protect the innocent and not so innocent" but still use names because of their emotional impact.

Names are typically injected into first person narrative through dialogue. In this story, the protagonist can be named simply by having the bullies taunt her, eg.

The other girls would crowd around me, push me into a corner of the playground and chant, "Smelly Nelly, dirty belly, you're so smelly."

Such dialogue also clarifies a few things, such as the direction and degree of psychological bullying. From a narrative viewpoint, more dialogue would help transform your story from telling to showing prose. Showing is generally, though not always, preferred to telling.

Gender is also important. It's never expressed what the gender of the protagonist, though one mention about midway through of the bullies being girls leads me to suspect she's female. However, this could be clarified in the very beginning where you've written: "My glasses, my clothes, they even..." If instead you wrote "my glasses, my patched dress" you'd immediately show both a gender and hint at a reason for bullying, ie. if the dress is patched, it implies she's poorer than the other kids. Also, such language is more concrete, less abstract than a word like "clothes". When writing, always attempt to use the most concrete word possible as this gives you more active and engaging narrative, eg. use "whisper" instead of "speak quietly", "sprint" rather than "run quickly", "Labrador" rather than "dog", "gelding" rather than "horse". Such word choices are simply less abstract and so give the reader a clearer idea what's happening so that the picture that enters their mind during the process of suspension of disbelief is what you intend and also much more vivid and real.

Finally, watch out for simple grammar and punctuation issues. On multiple occasions, you have i where you should have I.

Conclusion.

This is a really awesome anecdote that could be much more powerful with only a little tweaking.

Thank you for sharing your poem with me. Since you're a new member of this community, please check out "Invalid ItemWe want to award the best new authors on this site, so please enter either a poem or a short story. Read the rules before posting an entry.

 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1873271 by Not Available.


Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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149
149
In affiliation with SIMPLY POSITIVE GROUP  
Rated: 13+ | (4.0)
*BalloonR* Welcome to WDC from "Newbie Welcome Wagon! *BalloonR*


Hello Zaighster!

I'm offering this review because you're a new member. Please remember that everybody has different tastes. This critique is the opinion of only one person and offered in the spirit of constructive criticism with a hope that it will prove useful if you decide to further develop or edit your tale. Approaching your writing, I'm searching for specific elements that I shall address under separate headers.


Hook — does your story opening have something that grabs my attention and makes me want to read on?
*Star**Star**Star**Star**Star*

The opening paragraph about wearing black on a hot day and it being a funeral provide a strong hook for the story because the reader feels sympathy for the protagonist and at the same time wonders how such an event can be the backdrop for a comedy.

Characters — do they feel like real people?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The protagonist is clearly sympathetic in the beginning, and what happens to him does help show his character. However, beware making him seem uncaring about his mum and dad. Keep the humour situational where possible because this is a sad day for them all. Get what the people say to him to be funny rather than what he says or thinks. He needs to play the straight guy in this one, with everybody else doing or saying funny things, if you catch my drift.

Most imporant, NAMES! The protagonist needs a name, ideally revealed in a brief conversation with his mum that makes him look like a great guy, eg.

"Mum, I've no idea what to say."

"Johnny, I've lost my soul mate and my husband, but you've lost a father. We're about equal, I guess."

Then later on, don't just call them 'brothers' but give them actual names so they're more like real people.

Also, to make the protagonist a more 'real' person to the reader, you must hint at some life outside of the plot, such as a girlfriend who didn't want to go to the funeral, but he can't phone her, and maybe a silly hobby, such as collecting old hubcaps and he sees one on the side of the road but doesn't have the strength to cross the road to collect it, etc.

Along the path, consider throwing in a few funnier characters, such as the homeless man who offers to swap the bike for his shopping trolley, and the little old lady who he asks for a drink, but she thinks he's a confidence trickster and so attacks him with an umbrella - the usual tropes.

Oh, And I sweat more than most people too - this is all great character development, but you miss the opportunity to add extra physical details, and also you don't need to actually express what's happening or the truth about yourself. Be creative, because it doesn't matter if it isn't completely accurate. For example, 'Oh, and you know what they say about fat guys sweating. Well, let's just say that squeezed into my biker's leathers, I looked like a Michelin Man made out of black tyres. - note that this is also a good way to 'show' what he's wearing rather than telling it.


Plot — does your story contain a clear plot with a strong resolution?
*Star**Star**Star**Star*

The basic plot is okay, but it could be funnier with a bit more showing and less telling.

It turns out that the scooter was just overheated, - this is 'telling' and also a little too quick. Better to pretend one of your brothers is a mechanic, have him examine it for a second then burst out laughing. After that, they can have a conversation in which his brother ridicules him. This will not only 'show' rather than 'tell' the situation, but it will also provide much opportunity for humour in the conversation that doesn't make the protagonist look a douche, such as his older brother using a derogatory nick-name for him that makes out he's always been a wimp or something.

"You could have just called someone too." - it's actually implausible that he didn't if he had a mobile phone. You could always have him take out his phone when he breaks down and realise its battery is dead, and then try to recall his brother (the mechanic's) number, then realise all his contact numbers are on his phone, which he can't read because it's dead, plus he failed to pay his Automobile Association (Aussie equivalent?) fees, so he'd have to pay for a tow truck.

Pace — does your story feel like it's going somewhere?
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The try-fails worked well, but were a bit predicable. Try throwing in some less obvious problems along the route, such as a hot girl he knows from work and he has to hide to avoid her so she doesn't see him all covered in dust and sweat. Because the narrative is a bit telling, it feels less engaging which makes the pace feel slower than it is. Showing scenes better engages the reader.

putting aside my diet because ... well, any excuse to skimp on your diet, right?
- this little humourous aside, the last part of this sentence only from 'well' onwards, doesn't work too well at the moment, imho, because we've just begun to read your story and have yet to really get to know your character, and this 'joke' loses a little of the sympathy you've gained in the beginning of the story, ie. at this point he begins to look self-centered and selfish. Have him do something nice, like comfort his mum, before you begin the jokes. Initial jokes should aim to make the protagonist look better as a person, such as ones about how his dad would think they were all soft/wimps if he saw them crying. His dad would want to know where the strippers were. Situational works better, too, since that won't make the protagonist look bad. For example, in the latest Bridget Jones movie there's a funeral near the beginning for Hugh Grant's character from the previous films. Half the church is filled with eastern European tall blonde models, and it's this obvious reference to the deceased's womanising that makes it funny. Then, one of the models gives a speech where she says something about a poem or something the dead man said to her that was very romantic and personal, then all the models in the church look at one another in confusion, and without anything being said it's obvious that this dead guy has cheated all of them with the same chat up line, and the situation is funny without any character losing sympathy (except the dead guy, whom the viewer already knew to be that kind of man).

Language and voice — can a reader feel your story?
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Generally, your prose is clear, with few grammar mistakes, and I can follow what's happening. Humour is difficult, so this is a tough one. All I can say here is that you do a little too much telling and not enough showing in your story. By telling, I mean saying you've had a talk with a guy about a glass of water and thought about kissing him. Showing is actually quoting the speeches made in that conversation and using the situation to add humour through what they say to one another. Also, your narrative could do with being a little tighter in order to make it feel faster paced.

I was not about to buck tradition for the sake of being comfortable.
- It's always worth looking to see if you can tighten prose and at the same time make it more active. For example, here you already have a strong sentence. However, you could easily make it stronger and tigher like this: I was not about to buck tradition for the sake of comfort.

Dialogue — are your characters' voices distinct, and do they add to character building?
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What dialogue you have is okay, but there's simply not enough, so you're telling the story rather than showing it. For example, with the guy who brings him water in the street, a dialogue exchange rather than telling what happened would be better showing and also provides opportunity for situational humour, eg.

"Gee, man, thank you. God bless you." I smiled at him. "I could kiss ya!"

He took a step back, and the blood drained from his face.

"Jeez, Bro. Chill. I'm only joking."

or alternatively,

"I could kiss ya!"

He smiled and handed over a business card. "Why don't you?" He winked. "Call me up any time, teddy bear."

Settings — have you grounded this reader in 'real' scenes?
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I liked the description of the heat and also of the road he travels along. However, you could do with a lot better setting at the funeral. I mean, it's important to the protagonist and yet I don't feel, as a reader, that I was even there. I cannot remember if it was outside, in a church or just a memorial hall. You need to show the reader where you are and what the place looks and feels like. Contrasts are always good, such as stepping out of an airconditioned pun into the midday Sydney heat.

Themes — is this reader blown away by mind-blowing philosophy or originality?
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The theme of an Aesop's Fable style story with a list of morals at the end is good, but you need to direct the humour more toward the protagonist, to make him (you) funny. Exaggerate your problems and issues using hyperbolle.

Conclusion — a summary of how this reader personally felt about your story.
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Potentially, this could be a funny story if you can show rather than tell the tale, inject some more humorous situations into the journey, and also make fun of yourself more. It's essential you name the protagonist as early as possible in the story in order to make him more engaging for the reader.

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Best wishes,

Bob *Bigsmile*


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Review of Tortoise Lessons  
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Hello, turtlemoon-dohi

What I liked

I like how your sijo follows the traditional line structure with a clear break around the middle of each line, and I love the theme of learning patience and enturance from the turtle. Clearly, you have quite an affinity with such creatures. You use some strong words to put across your meaning.

What might need work

I hope you've read the article about writing sijo poems:
http://www.ahapoetry.com/SIJO.HTM

Reading your sijo, I didn't feel that the first half of the third line formed a twist or surprise. Instead, it was a continuation and repetition of the same theme. You might like to think about making your final line more of a departure from the theme developed in the first two lines in order to make it more of a sijo in nature.

In the opening line, I felt that the last two words (and protect) were maybe added to make the necessary syllable count because there wasn't anything in the described action of the turtle within the context of your poem and the actions descibed that seemed protective. Now, I don't know anything about turtles and so for all I know they're very protective, but i simply mean that within the contest of your poem, of what you've written, that small statement stands out as disconected from the rest imho. It's essentially irrelevant to the core theme of the slow steady movements of the turtle being a sympbol of determination and patience. I personally feel you might benefit from narrowing the scope of your metaphor to ensure that it's all internally consistant and as clear and powerful as it can be.

Thank you for sharing!

Best wishes,

Bob *BigSmile*

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