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Young Writers Society



Desolate Hearts

by CassandraInvisible


So I need some help with this. I'm rambling on, and I don't know how to finish it off. And the title is crappy. Any suggestions?

One of the worst feelings ever is knowing that you’re being judged. You’re just walking along, trying to get to class on time and you can feel their looks on your back even though your head is lowered, and you can hear their whispers slicing through the air towards you. Worse even than that is not knowing what they’re saying, not knowing if they’re on your side or not. Every step you take, you’re diminishing, until you may as well not even be there at all. But you know they’d still talk about you.

And there he is all smug, right in your path. He’s got nothing to worry about, and he knows it. After all, he gave you the flick. He doesn’t have to deal with loss of dignity and sleepless nights, wondering what he did wrong. No, that’s your cross to bear. Cheeks burning, heart thumping so loud you’re certain everybody can hear, legs to useless jelly. His glance slides right over you. Of course he’s not going to say anything, what more is there to say? Nothing he said could make it better. He had the opportunity, when you were crying and telling him you loved him. He could have taken it all back, changed his mind, come to his senses. But things like that tend not to happen when you’re wishing with every ounce of your being that they would.

Once you’re in class you can breathe properly again. You think you hear somebody say your name in a conversation across the room, but you could be wrong. You hope you’re wrong. Focus on the words on the board, on what the teacher is saying, like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. All the while your mind is going crazy, running in circles, replaying the expression on his face. Did he even have an expression? He might not have even seen you. He would have been too busy looking for her. The one he said he’d rather be with.

‘I heard he dumped her because she was frigid.’

You weren’t supposed to hear it, but you did. Or maybe you were supposed to? You wouldn’t be surprised. Those girls aren’t your friends, they wouldn’t care. They’d enjoy seeing you break a sweat; enjoy seeing the tears in your eyes. Well if that was what they wanted you weren’t going to give it to them. Dig your nails into your palm and ignore them. But their words stick in your head. Frigid. Was that it? You’d talked about sex, but you hadn’t been ready. You’d promised him soon, and you knew he was getting impatient. But he’d been so understanding! Never pressuring, always saying ‘only when you’re ready.’ Well so much for that then. You just wished you’d been able to figure out what was wrong with you before those girls did.

You can give your all to somebody, but the one thing you’re holding on to is the only thing they want from you. If you’d known what to do to make him stay with you, would you have gone against your values and taken the plunge with him? Would it have even kept him around much longer anyway? Maybe he would have found something wrong with your body. Maybe it just didn’t matter to him if everything in your heart was right.

Some people don’t know how to accept love. They get given it, but don’t know what to do with it. Was he one of those people? Did love not matter to him? And if that was true, was every time he said it to you just a ruse?

Before you’re even aware, the tears are coming thick and fast. People are staring at you, not knowing what to say. Then you feel a hand on your shoulder, the first gentle touch all day. “You can excuse yourself for a while if you like”, she says softly.

You don’t know where to go once you’re out of the room. Furiously you wipe the wetness from your cheeks with your sleeve. That shouldn’t have happened. Never show any emotion. Never bare the wound. Fuck, none of this should have happened. Things like this don’t happen to you. They happen on television, to pathetic girls in cheap soap operas, to trashy celebrities in the midst of a divorce and to anyone else but you. How could you let a person affect you this way? You always thought you were stronger than this. But times such as these always test that strength. How thick is your skin really?

Walking past desolate classrooms, working yourself into a state of calm. One day soon you’ll look back on this and laugh. But would you really? Right now you feel like this is the least funny thing possible. There’s nothing humorous about a broken heart. This feeling, it isn’t comedy. A part of you is shattered, the part that keeps you living in perfect synchronicity with the people around you. Now you feel completely detached from them, because somebody took the best part of you and they didn’t care. He didn’t care what he’d done.


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Tue May 06, 2008 5:09 pm
LoveableLittleSock wrote a review...



Wow. I mean, just wow. I'm racking my brain for something negative to say. Let's first get past the positives.

First of all, phenomanal in the language department. I first saw this and I was like, "Aw, damn. This is long." I couldn't take my eyes off the page. Good for you, bad for me. My eyes really hurt now.

It's pretty difficult to write in second person, and almost nobody does. I see how you based everything on assumption, and you described all the sistuations just enough so the reader knows exactly what you're talking about.

Obviously the plot is cliche, but nobody's going to stop you from writing about it. It's a big thing, a broken heart - and you wrote about it pretty well. A timeless subject, so if anybody says its cliche, um, who cares?

Some cliche things I didn't like were the sayings you used. You connected to the reader when you said things like, "Heart beating rapidly, legs turning to useless jelly." But you should go more into the depth of the paranoia your character is feeling. Its in second person: make US feel paranoid, make us have sweat streaming down our face, make us have our fingers struggling to move the 'down' button since we can barely move.

And I'm not to fond of the word 'frigid.' There are plenty other words you could have used that would have been better, and not many people would whisper in the hallways, "Oh, she's so frigid. Ew." So be careful with your word choice.

All in all, I liked it. You said you wanted help, and that was pretty difficult seeing how it was really good. So keep writing!




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Tue May 06, 2008 3:20 pm
soconfused4512 wrote a review...



in my oopinion it was a well written a few typos here and there but what i am missing here is descriptions on the guy what did she see in him? What was SO special about him? I want to be able to feel what she is feeling but other than that i believe you have written aVERY good story just work on it a littl ebit more and you will have a GREAT story ok oh and please read my poetry and review it




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Tue May 06, 2008 9:57 am
Squall wrote a review...



Hey there dear :D Time for the extraordinary critique :)

Cheeks burning, heart thumping so loud you’re certain everybody can hear, legs to useless jelly.


Legs turning to useless jelly is a pretty cliche metaphor. It's like something that a kid would use in primary school. Heart thumping is also a cliche description of awkwardness / residue of the narrator's romance.

Once you’re in class you can breathe properly again.


Describe this more. Why can't your narrator breathe properly? You gave a small hint of it in the paragraph before, but it isn't convincing enough for me to believe the above statement.

You think you hear somebody say your name in a conversation across the room, but you could be wrong. You hope you’re wrong. Focus on the words on the board, on what the teacher is saying, like it’s the most interesting thing in the world.


How do these two ideas link? Why would she hear someone call her name across the room? Also, I think you are unaware of how powerful a school board is. See, a school board is often used in school as it is a common tool used to educate right? In both primary and intermediate years, teachers would scold us to look at the board and that we were punished for not looking it. This also holds true in high school, but to a lesser extent. When you are turning away from the board because you think you heard someone used your name in a conversation, you immediately divert your attention from the board and hence risk punishment.

That is one example you can use of linking the two ideas together (Of course, there are many more).

All the while your mind is going crazy, running in circles, replaying the expression on his face.


Again, this is cliche. I've seen these types of description used so many times that it is dull to read.

Did he even have an expression? He might not have even seen you. He would have been too busy looking for her. The one he said he’d rather be with.


Why does his expression matter? What is the significance?

You wouldn’t be surprised. Those girls aren’t your friends, they wouldn’t care.


See this could be a good time for characterization. What are the reasons for the narrator to not care what they think? Is it because your narrator is well protected in a coven? Is it because your narrator is mature enough to not be influenced by negative peer pressure? Explain the reasons as to why the above is so.

You’d talked about sex, but you hadn’t been ready. You’d promised him soon, and you knew he was getting impatient. But he’d been so understanding! Never pressuring, always saying ‘only when you’re ready.’ Well so much for that then. You just wished you’d been able to figure out what was wrong with you before those girls did.


But is the guy really understanding? Don't you think that it could be possible for him to pretend that he is just to manipulate the narrator's trust so that he can do the pow pow with her? Heck if I was him, I would do such a thing just to get a free screw. To make this convincing as to why he is understanding, you need to characterize him. Why does the narrator think he is understanding about sex? What actions show this? What were the narrator's past experiences with him like? Does morality play a role in this? Details are very important.

“You can excuse yourself for a while if you like”, she says softly.


Who is "she"?

You can give your all to somebody, but the one thing you’re holding on to is the only thing they want from you. If you’d known what to do to make him stay with you, would you have gone against your values and taken the plunge with him? Would it have even kept him around much longer anyway? Maybe he would have found something wrong with your body. Maybe it just didn’t matter to him if everything in your heart was right.
Some people don’t know how to accept love. They get given it, but don’t know what to do with it. Was he one of those people? Did love not matter to him? And if that was true, was every time he said it to you just a ruse?


I'm not a fan of questions like these. You as the writer should be communicating to the reader, not leaving a good chuck of the ideas for them to figure out themselves. The prose in here also feels a bit teenage-angsty.

Overall impressions:

Your writing here is solid and shows promise, but the biggest problem this piece has is that the writing is really safe. It is the typical teenage story: Girl whines after being ditched by some guy (probably just another typical Mary-Sue guy). It follows a lot of teenage cliches, such as people talking behind your back, sex in relationships (the old "I'm not ready" "Take your time" thing), crying etc.

However, the writing itself flows really well and technically is pretty good. I can see a good effort has been made, as at least some of your own creativity is used to deviate it a bit from the cliches. Such examples would be the beginning, where you showed the narrator being judged ( I thought it setted up pretty well) and the comparison to cheap soap operas, trashy celebrities and anyone else about you and how the narrator has been reduced to their level just because of him (that is a good idea and I was interested as to why you would think that and it shows some individuality).

However, the unique ideas that you've shown do not undergo much development, they are simply statements and are easily overpowered by teenage cliches.

Now, I think you are a pretty cute girl and we've recently just talked and I think you are a pretty cool chick. When I read this piece, I was slightly disappointed, as it didn't show much about you. Instead, it showed more on teenage cliches that are out there and the majority. I think you should had focused more on the whole "being judged" thing and the idea of just one guy being able to reduce to the level of weakness that is common in our society.

To achieve that, you need to characterize your narrator more and the guy. I didn't really get a feeling for your character, as she seems to be another school girl to me. Characters can be characterized through props, setting, dialogue, action and costume (deja vu of media studies? lol). Here, little of that is shown.

What I would had done would actually show more of her life outside of school. Show the date that they used to have. Show what the narrator's room is like. Show the dialogue conversing with the guy (dialogue provides a lot more character insight than you think). Show the social status of the narrator. It's little details like this that makes your narrator seem more of a belivable person. With this said, develop more on the whole "being judged" thing and how the narrator thinks the people around her is weak.

Overall, it's solid writing, but I want it to be more personal than it being reflected more on teenage sterotypes and cliches. There are some moments of that, but because you didn't characterize your narrator enough and that cliches take up over half of the piece, it feels more of the same teenage stuff that I have to endure.

You have potential, and I'm here to help make your writing feel more unique and a reflection of you. If you need more specific help with this, feel free to PM me.

Andy. :D




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Tue May 06, 2008 8:21 am
Tamora wrote a review...



This is wonderful! I love it!

there are just a few little things that I thought i'd point out. One is the fact the paragraphs. i like long paragraphs, but not for the whole thing, and there seems to only be one reprieve from this, the sentance ‘I heard he dumped her because she was frigid.’
You need to shorten a few of them, or split them up a bit, otherwise it gets a bit monotonous. Remember, different paragraph for different thoughts; there're a few different thoughts in each paragraph, try sorting them out a bit. Remember, if the reader finds the story

Other than that, I loved it. The ideas you have portrayed are pretty universal, but the way you've done it is very good, and makes it more interesting. Well done.




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Tue May 06, 2008 3:06 am



Thank you for your reviews, advice and for pointing out spelling errors ^^

However as for the rambling on bit I have a feeling you want to end this piece as it is, just leave it, without promising the hope of another along the same story and the best way once again in my opinion is to end it with a distraction or something to lessen the blow, such as mention the remaining atmosphere and weather, or simply put end it by switching the focus from that of your main character(s) to that of something which is broader.


I have taken that into account, and now I think I might just leave the story where it is.




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Tue May 06, 2008 1:08 am
myfreindsavamp says...



Yes I have to say that the title is perfect.

How think is your skin really?
Sould be:
How thick is you skin really?

Other than that I didn't find another thing wrong.




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Tue May 06, 2008 12:54 am
EliteHusky wrote a review...



First of all, wow. You really placed a lot of effort into this and it shows throughout the piece. You said that you were rambling on, not quite sure of where and how to conclude an ending but in my own opinion the ending it currently has of

He didn’t care what he’d done.


relates perfectly well to the starting phase of,

One of the worst feelings ever is knowing that you’re being judged.


and a major step in creating a conclusion is relating it to the introduction. However as for the rambling on bit I have a feeling you want to end this piece as it is, just leave it, without promising the hope of another along the same story and the best way once again in my opinion is to end it with a distraction or something to lessen the blow, such as mention the remaining atmosphere and weather, or simply put end it by switching the focus from that of your main character(s) to that of something which is broader.
Hope that helps, if it doesn't or you just don't like it, I'm pretty sure you can delete it from your page.

Best of Wishes,
-Elitehusky

P.S. A good title sums of the piece in a matter of seconds when reading it. Brainstorming backwards might prove useful of if you're looking for a quick fix try "frigid love" or "separated cheeks", creating names is not one of my strong points! But there are always sources of inspiration everywhere.




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Tue May 06, 2008 12:42 am
TNCowgirl says...



Wow! That was incredible! You really really did well on this. It was well thought out and well written. There wasn't anythign that I caught.

Again good job. I don't know what else to say.

TNC





I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.
— Holden Caulfield