firebird chapters 3-5

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should I continue?

  • yes 100%
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I'm in a rut with this book. PLEASE tell me if you think I should continue :)



III (Zalia):

TV’s were blaring from abandoned homes, talking about the bombing in West Virginia. As we walked along the smoking streets, hand in hand


“The bombing was violent and the capitol is warning neighboring states to take precautions against terrorists,” Bill O’Reliey’s voice came from a little clapboard house on the corner of my street. I felt my face turn red with anger, James shied away from the anger that was rearing up my body like a snake about to strike. My thoughts were spat out before I could stop them.

“HOW DARE THEY!” The anger coursing through my body suddenly disappeared, leaving me feeling exhausted, broken. His hand stroked my hair, the thing that always calmed me down. I reached up taking his hand and holding it tight, never letting go.

----------------------------------------------------

People injured and well gathered in the Cabell/Huntington hospital. It was the only place not destroyed by the bombing. James and I were deemed Healthy and ordered to the 4th floor where the able-bodied inhabitants of West Virginia were being housed till further notice. Nancy Millerton (the host of a popular news show) was being broadcasted on every TV in the whole building: Nancy showed shots of the damage, doctors in the hospitals curing wounded patients and rescuers pulling people out of the wreckage. She held interviews with important officials and even talked on the phone with my dad.

“now Nick is it true you are the reason half of West Virginia is ruined?” I could almost see my father squirming uncomfortably. “No,” his voice was dangerously low with hidden anger. I picked up the remote and clicked the television’s power button off…



IV (Zalia):

Slowly the inhabitants of W.V. got organized. One by one, groups of people filed into a large warehouse, to be outfitted with clothes (from who knew where) and allotted times in the shower. A nasal voice crackled over the loud speakers of the hospital explaining the arrangement.

“you will stay with your group at all times,” I blocked the voice out of my mind, trying to get hold of the anger and confusion chasing each other around my brain. Half the time I felt sympathy with my Father, the other times anger rose up in me, threatening to swallow me whole. I sat there unmoving till James poked me, signaling our groups turn. On the way to the warehouse I learned the names of the others in my group: there was Cynthia, my age with honey blond hair, then the Tuck family (a mother, father and baby), young Chris (6)and his older sister Nina, and then Heather a young journalist (24) and her husband Tom a handsome lawyer. We walked two-by-two till we reached the depot, walking through a short health screening, picking up a pack of clothes and supplies and then sitting down to wait for our turns in the shower. When it was my turn for the shower, I stepped in and was met with a cold blast, as I scrubbed with the lemon scented soap I once again tried to clear my head, drowning my thoughts in the dirty water that flowed down the drain…..

---------------------------------------------------

My thirty minutes up, I stepped out holding the water proof timer, out to the next person who restarted it as she fiddled with the knobs that controlled the showers heat. I exited the bathroom feeling fresh and enhanced after clearing those thoughts from my mind. I met James in the laundry room where we were to wait for the rest of our group before trooping back to the hospital. I kissed him and sat down holding his hand in mine.

“Better?” he asked me, putting our dirty clothes in the nearest washer and turning it on.

“Yeah” my voice cracked after several hours of ill-use.

“Good,” his hand stroked my hair, sending shivers up and down my spine, and my lips found his again. Rousing us from a steamy make-out session, the rest of our group cleared their throats as one collective unit. James pulled himself away and helped Chris gather all the clothes from the washers; leaving me breathless and sweaty in my chair. After gathering the clothes and dolling them out, we trooped out the double doors marked EXIT in red paint. When we reached the hospital, the harassed looking receptionist behind the check-in counter signed our group in and said to Cynthia, Chris and Nina their parents were waiting for them in the waiting room. Then she turned to me.

“You have several messages waiting for you in your room” I nodded, thanked her and hurried off to mine and James’s joint room to retrieve the messages……



V:

(James):

Her lips, her arms that’s all I felt. Sitting there in the hospitals waiting room; Leaning over the arms of the chair. My arms round’ her waist and hers around my neck. Pure bliss. It didn’t last long. “James Linston,” the receptionist interrupted our heaven. Zalia groaned and pulled away. “Go on,” she kissed my forehead and turned away walking towards our jointed rooms.

~

(Zalia):

Memories. Hateful ones. They flooded back, one by one

The sight of him with his arms wrapped around her waist.

His lips pressed tight and hard against hers.

Him pulling her away from the crowd,

Into the empty hallway where there was more privacy.

Tears streaming down my cheeks,

Feeling the anger rising in me like a snake about to strike.

Screaming at him, Her pulling away; slapping him.

“You told me she was a cousin!” her voice cracked with anger....

TO BE CONTINUED...
Last edited by LadySpark on Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Hello there. I'm here again to review. :)
III (Zalia):

TV’s were blaring from abandoned homes comma talking about the bombing in West Virginia. As we walked along the smoking streets, hand in hand
Skip lines
“The bombing was violent and the capitol is warning neighboring states to take precautions against terrorists comma” Bill O’Reliey’s voice came from a little clapboard house on the corner of my home street. I felt my face turn red with anger, James shied away from the anger that was rearing up my body like a snake about to strike. My thoughts were spat out before I could stop them period.
Skip lines
“HOW DARE THEY!” The anger coursing through my body suddenly disappeared comma leaving me feeling exhausted and broken. His hand stroked my hair comma the thing that always calmed me down. I reached up taking his hand and holding it tight, never letting go.

----------------------------------------------------

People injured and well gathered in the Cabell/Huntington hospital period. It was the only place not destroyed by the bombing. James and I were deemed healthy and ordered to the 4th floor where the able-bodied inhabitants of West Virginia were being housed till further notice. Nancy Millerton (the host of a popular news show) was being broadcasted on every TV in the whole building: Nancy showed shots of the damage, doctors in the hospitals curing wounded patients and rescuers pulling people out of the wreckage. She held interviews with important officials and even talked on the phone with my dad period.
Skip lines.
“Now Nick is it true you are the reason half of West Virginia is ruined?” I could almost see my father squirming uncomfortably period.
Skip lines
“No comma” his voice was dangerously low with hidden anger. I picked up the remote and clicked the television’s power button off…



IV (Zalia):

Slowly the inhabitants of W.V. got organized. One by one comma groups of people filed into a large warehouse, to be outfitted with clothes (from who knew where) and allotted times in the shower. A nasal voice crackled over the loud speakers of the hospital explaining the arrangement period.
Skip lines
“You will stay with your group at all times comma” I blocked the voice out of my mind comma trying to get hold of the anger and confusion chasing each other around my brain. Half the time I felt sympathy with my Father comma the other times anger rose up in me, threatening to swallow me whole. I sat there unmoving till James poked me comma signaling our groups turn. On the way to the warehouse I learned the names of the others in my group: there was Cynthia, my age with honey blond hair, then the Tuck family (a mother, father and baby), young Chris (6) and his older sister comma Nina and then Heather a young journalist (24) and her husband Tom a handsome lawyer. We walked two-by-two till we reached the depot, walking through a short health screening, picking up a pack of clothes and supplies and then sitting down to wait for our turns in the shower. When it was my turn for the shower comma I stepped in and was met with a cold blast, as I scrubbed with the lemon scented soap I once again tried to clear my head, drowning my thoughts in the dirty water that flowed down the drain…..

---------------------------------------------------

My thirty minutes up comma I stepped out holding the water proof timer, out to the next person (Heather) who restarted it as she fiddled with the knobs that controlled the showers heat. I exited the bathroom feeling fresh and enhanced after clearing those thoughts from my mind. I met James in the laundry room where we were to wait for the rest of our group before trooping back to the hospital. I kissed him and sat down holding his hand in mine period.
Skip lines.
“Better?” He asked me comma putting our dirty clothes in the nearest washer and turning it onPeriod.
Skip lines
“Yeah comma” my voice cracked after several hours of ill-use.
Skip lines.
“Good comma” his hand stroked my hair comma sending shivers up and down my spine, and my lips found his again. Rousing us from a steamy make-out session comma the rest of our group cleared their throats as one collective unit. James pulled himself away and helped Chris gather all the clothes from the washers; leaving me breathless and sweaty in my chair. After gathering the clothes and dolling them out comma we trooped out the double doors marked EXIT in red paint. When we reached the hospital, the harassed looking receptionist behind the check-in counter signed our group in and said to Cynthia, Chris and Nina their parents were waiting for them in the waiting room. Then she turned to me period.
Skip lines
“You have several messages waiting for you in your room” I nodded, thanked her and hurried off to mine and Jame’s joint room to retrieve the messages……



V:

(James):

Her lips, her arms that’s all I felt. Sitting there in the hospitals waiting room; Leaning over the arms of the chair. My arms round’ her waist and hers around my neck. Pure bliss. It didn’t last long.

“James Linston comma” the receptionist interrupted our heaven. Zalia groaned and pulled away.

“Go on comma” she kissed my forehead and turned away walking towards our jointed rooms.

~

(Zalia):

Memories. Hateful ones. They flooded back, one by one

The sight of him with his arms wrapped around her waist.

His lips pressed tight and hard against hers.

Him pulling her away from the crowd,

Into the empty hallway where there was more privacy.

Tears streaming down my cheeks,

Feeling the anger rising in me like a snake about to strike.

Screaming at him, Her pulling away; slapping him.

“You told me she was a cousin!” her voice cracked with anger....

TO BE CONTINUED...


Whoa, what was that? I'm curious now. It was really smart to finish with such a strong end... Gets the readers hooked. ;) You have a little bit of problems with your punctuations, so you might want to review that, but you seem pretty good apart from that. Oh, and I also indicated when you needed to space your paragraphs. It's just easier for us to read when it's all spaces up like that.

Keep writing!

-Other One
Behind every mask, lies a man that can't live in his own skin. - Woe is Me <3
Need a reviewer? I don't bite, I promise. :) ---> viewtopic.php?f=188&t=76466




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Ok, Pointe.

Overall.

I do not think you need to stop this story. It has serious potential. But you are going to have to find a way to fix it.

DO you work with an outline? With a plan? Character plan? You need to do something about this, in my opinion. Figure out your characters strengths and weaknesses. How do they react in certain situations? You need to figure out their past so that they can have a future. I'm not one for planning. But I posted my whole novel on here, chapter by chapter and I received awesome feedback. And I realised afterwards that I had a lot of holes that needed fixing.
So I printed my story out, reread it, made notes, and realised my characters definitely needed a past because some of them were just there because I needed them to be, you know?

What you should do is write down your goal, here. What do you want out of your story? Do you want us to love your characters? Hate them? Feel pity for them? Be shocked when they are shocked? Then show us scenes. I've mentioned a few in the previous review. Take in serious consideration every comment your reviewers made. Also, browse around the site, in the knowledge base, and read up on some threads. Dialogue puncutation and such.

One more thing. When your write in first person, you have to keep in mind that you are plugging your reader directly into your Mc's mind. We must feel, hear, touch, smell everything they do. Like right now. I'm at my laptop. I feel heaviness behind my eyes from lack of sleep. My spine is sore in it's usual place when I spend too much time at my computer. I can here the cooling fan whirring under my laptop. I can feel the heat of the keyboard under my fingers. And that's just from sitting here typing. If you throw your characters in a situation, you have to see and smell and feel everything from their perspective, so that we can also do that. Feel like we're in their shoes.

Good luck with this. It needs work but I know you can do it.
Tanya :D




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Hey Point! :)

TV’s were blaring from abandoned homes, talking about the bombing in West Virginia. As we walked along the smoking streets, hand in hand
Okay, didn't you need to continue after hand in hand or the second sentence should've been a part of the first one.

I reached, up taking his hand and holding it tight, never letting go.


Half the time I felt sympathy with for my Father, the other times anger rose up in me, threatening to swallow me whole.


Sitting there in the hospital's waiting room


Well in all honesty, I found this much better and interesting than the parts you posted before. I am going to agree with everything Tanya has to say since she is right on the planning thing. Till now, I don't have a single idea where this is going to progress but that's not a problem but my main huddle comes when I try guessing Zaila's dad's connection to all this violence and terrorism. Is he there in the army and if yes, or some other way, then do tell us how exactly his actions have helped in instigating this activity? Otherwise the readers are going to find them in trouble keeping up with the things here. So just work that out. You just get down to writing a plan or something so that you don't get confused to writing things up. I have to tell you that I have a broad planning of my stories but I still get so troubled by the middle or the end, so not having it at all is going to make it all the more messier for you. Otherwise, I sincerely have to appreciate the efforts you've put in here to improve and I liked some of your descriptions and I think you should keep on working hard on them. Also, just don't use run-on sentences and don't confuse the readers.

My most big problem here is that I still haven't got the gist of what all is happening here and why actually they all have been forced into hiding. Also, you are taking too big leaps here and there and just slow down. Just make your chapters long enough to have something important in them or at least something cool. I don't mean to say that chapters should be long, but all chapters have some aim or mission to carry out, so just work out on that. 'kay? Also, you have a pretty broken grammar and sometimes I believe that your first language isn't English. Sorry I had been trying to avoid saying this but I think it would make you write better or at least try so because I can tell this from my own experience. Somebody once said my grammar is 'horrendous' and I was like so embarrassed that I started working hard on it and today I can say that I have reached far ahead where I had been then. So same would be with you.

My other thing or the problem here is that what all did the last chapter mean here? In Zaila's POV? I am really confused and please sort things out. Are they all memories of the time he ditched her? Because you say those are memories so I just guessed it was that. So please clear this for me. To be honest again, if you ask me whether you should continue with this or not I would say 'no' because you should re-write it completely and it won't take much time since it is almost the beginning. Please don't get me wrong but there's a need for lot of work here and I really want you to work hard towards it. :) Also, going by your progress from the former chapters to this one, I'd say you're goin' great. This is a very new plot line of lovers re-uniting in the time of great distress. And other ways, however cruel this sounds I have a soft thing for reading to tragedies and disasters.

Just remember to not confuse your readers, don't just jump over things and be very careful with your dialog.

~Shubhi
"Next time you point a finger
I might have to bend it back
Or break it, break it off
Next time you point a finger
I'll point you to the mirror"

— Paramore



"Yesterday you said tomorrow, so JUST DO IT."
— Shia Labeouf