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The stuffed toy applicant



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Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:40 pm
Yuriiko says...



I opened my eyes but it wasn’t the place I had expected.

“Welcome to YWSland!” The high-pitched voice startled me. I rubbed my eyes and as my vision gradually cleared, I noticed a green leafy thing skipping towards me. It was an artichoke.

“Where am I?” I stood up and brush off the dust that got attracted on my stuffed body.

“I have just welcomed you to our place!” He flashed a smile so wide that it almost reached both of his ears. Boy, is he weird.

“Right.” I breathed out a sigh as I started my pace. The ground, I believe, wasn’t made out of rocks or even cements. Sure it looked like it wouldn’t crack easily after a few decades, but the color just didn’t give any safety assurance for me.

Why you ask?

“You might be wondering why the ground’s blue and white checkered. Well, don’t ask me! I don’t know anything about it! But I just like how it’s so mysterious! Oh my gosh!” Next thing I knew, I felt a slight vibration against my feet, but it wasn’t an earthquake that had occurred, but because of the weird-and-happy-go-lucky creature jumping right beside me.

“Jeez, you need to chill down.” My eyes roamed around the place. I know this wasn’t real but it couldn’t be just a dream. I pinched my arm, thinking it might help me wake up from this stupid dream, but I felt nothing. How could I ever forget that I’m a just stuffed toy?

“Whoa. The sky is beautiful. This place is awesome! Hey, look it's Logan!” The artichoke pointed a brown-haired boy standing under an oak tree. His tall frame and blue eyes all looked pleasing. I didn't say that because he stood out in the crowd, but rather most of the woman who passed by him would sneak a stare, or even dogs happened to sniff his shoes. It was a weird kind of thing. After a matter of few seconds, he angled his face towards us and smiled, as if to acknowledge the artichoke's presence.

"What is he doing here?" It was like my eyes had this electricity locked to his eyes. I don't know, but I kept on staring at that guy.

"He's here to apply as an avatar!" I couldn't tell f this guy was born out of rainbows or unicorns.

Whoops!

I tripped over at a small rock and next thing I saw was a big yellow pool across my body.

Splash!

“Oh no...” Stupid gravitational pull of the world! Why does it even exist?

“You got dunked into the yellow pool! Awesome!” The artichoke squealed like a mouse that has just found a cheese. Really, I don’t know what this artichoke can do for good here. If I was really hungry today, I could have just gobbled him at once. I looked around my body and everything was yellow. It was like I jumped into a yellow paint bucket! My hands, feet, legs, neck and my gorgeous plain face all turned out to be literally and super ultra mega yellow! This just couldn’t be!

“Good morning, noob.” My head turned to follow that strange voice, then I saw a monkey whose tshirt had a “YWS” text on it. Nice.

I just had enough! I could feel hot air coming out from my ears.

“Excuse me, are you the boss here? ‘cause you looked like one. I want to get home! I don’t like it here! First, I got welcomed by this artichoke that never stopped squealing like a mouse. Second, I’m yellow—“

“I’m sorry?” He lifted his glasses to the bridge of his nose as his brows went up in confusion.

“I need to get home!”

“I’m sorry. In order for you to get ‘home’ ”, he quoted with both of his fingers then continued, “you have to pay the exit fee”.

“Exit fee? What are you saying? I don’t have any money? Tell me, how do I get one?” I could feel my blood vessels bursting out in my neck. I wanted to get out from this place. I felt so sticky and disgusting!

“You need to apply.” The monkey said in a calm voice.

“Apply for a what? A job?”

Without answering it, he asked,“Do you even have a home?”

“I—I… I ran away. People don’t accept me there.” I gazed down at the checkered floor, stained with yellow drops. Whoa, it really felt like water… except that it was color yellow.

“Awesome. You really have thick eyebrows. I want to have those too.” The annoying artichoke started to stroke his brows and I suddenly had the impulse to kick him out.

“Your job is to be someone’s avatar.”

“Excuse me?” Is this monkey playing a joke? If so, this was definitely not a good time.

“I’m serious. “ The monkey nodded. He have this poker face that really bothered me off. I couldn’t tell if he was really serious or just laughing hysterically at the back of his mind.

“What is your name again?”

“Paul," I replied with my teeth gritted.

“Son, you just got hired! Artichoke will lead you to your client.” My jaw dropped at this monkey’s unbelievably fast recruitment. You gotta be kidding be.

“Oh my gosh, you got in! I’m so happy for you!” The artichoke started to skipped again, like he had some imaginary jumping rope with him.


Was that supposed to be a good news?


I couldn't tell.


Weird.

Spoiler! :
This is for Skins' Contest and kind of a rough draft since I finished writing this quarter to one in the morning! I apologize for any mistakes. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading! >83



P.S and because I adore artichokes and Logan... I just couldn't help it!
Last edited by Yuriiko on Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Life is a poem keep it in the present tense." -Sherrel Wigal
  





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Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:56 pm
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borntobeawriter says...



hahahaha!


Hhahahahahahahahaha!


Hhahahahahahahahahahahaahah!

Seriously. Loved this. Can't give you a proper review right now, cause I'm a little busy, but, daughter: you made my day!

Mom.
  





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Sun Apr 10, 2011 1:10 pm
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Jenthura says...



This is a cool story, a little late for the Paul contest, but cool nonetheless. Great job with the origanal spin!
*and yeah, I have no nitpicks* >__<
-ж-Ж-ж-
  





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Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:46 pm
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Rascalover says...



Hello,
Here as requested :) First I will give you an in-depth review of grammar mistakes then my overall thought of the story.

I opened my eyes but it wasn’t the place I had expected.

There should be a comma after eyes because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction but.

I rubbed my eyes and as my vision gradually cleared, I noticed a green leafy thing skipping towards me.

There should be a comma after eyes because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction and. A comma followed by any conjunction (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) is used instead of a semi-colon (;). They combine complete sentences with similar ideas together.

“Right.” I breathed out a sigh as I started my pace.

There should be a comma after sigh because as I started my pace is a dependent clause attatched to the sentence I breathed out a sigh.

“You might be wondering why the ground’s blue and white checkered. Well, don’t ask me! I don’t know anything about it! But I just like how it’s so mysterious! Oh my gosh!”

Never start a sentence with a conjunction, but in this case I think you can keep it this way because it's in dialogue. The reason you never start a sentence with a conjunction is because it signals that the rest of your sentence is a fragment, and not a complete sentence at all. In emergencies you can add a comma after the conjunction at the beginning of the sentence, but always try to find a way to rearrange your sentence so that you aren't starting it with as conjunction.

Next thing I knew, I felt a slight vibration against my feet, but it wasn’t an earthquake that had occurred. but because of It was the weird-and-happy-go-lucky creature jumping right beside me.

This is a run-on sentence. My suggestion on fixing this is replacing the comma after occured with a period and get rid of the but after it and change because of to It was.

I know this wasn’t real but it couldn’t be just a dream.

There should be a comma after real because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction but.

I didn't say that because he stood out in the crowd, but rather most of the woman who passed by him would sneak a stare, or even dogs happened to sniff his shoes.

It should be women.

I couldn't tell f this guy was born out of rainbows or unicorns.

Silly typo :) it should be if after tell.

I tripped over at a small rock and next thing I saw was a big yellow pool across my body.

There should be a comma after rock because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction and.

I looked around my body and everything was yellow.

There should be a comma after body because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction and.

“Excuse me, are you the boss here? ‘cause you looked like one. I want to get home! I don’t like it here! First, I got welcomed by this artichoke that never stopped squealing like a mouse. Second, I’m yellow—“

Cause should be capitalized, and your quotation mark ast the end is backwards (I know really nit-picky, but I thought I would point it out anyway :) )

“I—I… I ran away. People don’t accept me there.” I gazed down at the checkered floor, stained with yellow drops. Whoa, it really felt like water… except that it was color yellow.

The - after the first I should be ... and the ... after water should be a comma.

The annoying artichoke started to stroke his brows and I suddenly had the impulse to kick him out.

There should be a comma after brows because you are combining two complete sentences with the conjunction and.

He have this poker face that really bothered me off.

Should it be had instead of have? Also, I don't think the off at the end of this sentence is needed.

I couldn’t tell if he was really serious or just laughing hysterically at the back of his mind.

I think it should be in the back of his mind because he isn't laughing at his mind he is laughing at the main character.

The artichoke started to skipped again, like he had some imaginary jumping rope with him.

It should ber skip since started is already in past tense.

Personally, I don't like the weird at the very end of this story; I don't think it adds any thing to it, but I really loved the way you personified YWS. This was really orginal and funny. Good job! If you have any questions about my review or would like another one, feel free to PM me or write on my wall :)

Have a good day,
Tiffany
There is nothing to writing; all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein~ Red Smith

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Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:20 am
Tigersprite says...



Tiger here to review for the contest...or really just comment seeing as Rasca's gone over the grammar. ;)

This was hilarious. Adding Artichoke was a nice touch (in fact, I'm surprised he hasn't shown up to gush about this piece yet ;)), and including Logan was cool too. The monkey in the shirt, I'll assume that was Nate? His tactful remarks were amusing, especially the one about Paul getting a job (a nice interpretation of what avatars do, there).

The only nitpick I have for you, story-wise, is that:

1) Apart from the yellowness and the ending, it was difficult to tell that this story was about Paul. Maybe it's because it was written in first-person, but at first it felt like a story about any YWS avatar.

Other than that, this story was original and quite hilarious. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, but there isn't much to critique. Great job, and KEEP WRITING!

Tiger
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Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:42 pm
Shearwater says...



Hey, Yurii! I'm here to review this awesome piece of weidness that you pulled out of you head with a magical fork and yellow string.

Now, I'm not going to get into nitpicks with all of this but I do have just a few things that I would like to say. Other than that, I really did enjoy this piece. xD I mean, it's about Paul right? That means it's funny nonetheless.

Firstly, Pauls reactions to everything, to artychoke seems to be a bit over the top. Like he's way too angry for no reason. However, I understand that Arty is quite annoying and sometimes people wish death upon the critter but I felt like the emotion was a bit forced.

Why didn't you put a pink power ranger in it? xD
But I love how you put everyone inside this and made it all...avatar-landish. The idea was also quite good and interesting. I really liked it. Since it's kind of like a spoof, I can't really make any other comments on this besides that fact that I liked it and that it was fun to read. xD

So yeah, that's about it!
I LIKE it! xD
Sorry for being totally unhelpful but yeah. . .
You didn't leave much room to squeeze.

Let me know if you need anything else!

-Pink
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Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:34 pm
Ranger Hawk says...



Hey Yuri, I said I would review this piece and I'm here to do it (sorry it's taken me so long, though).

Okay, so overall it's a brilliant concept. I love that this is like an avatar island and that different avvies *coughloganespeciallycough* are around. I would like to see a little more...Paulness...in the MC's voice, though. I mean, Skinsy is always threatening to sic Paul on people, and apparently he can be quite vicious. When I first read this, I had no idea this was about Paul; the voice didn't sound quite as peppy and colorful as I'd have imagined Paul to sound. Also, I would have loved to see him being introduced to his "client" and see how well he and Skins hit it off. XD

You could also have played Arty up...he seemed pretty calm in your story, compared to how he actually was. ;)

Well, that's all! Sorry again about the delay, and thanks for writing this -- I enjoyed it immensely. ^.^ Keep up the great work, sis! Cheers. (:
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Sun May 01, 2011 12:12 am
Sins says...



Yoooo! Yurii! 8)

This review will only be a brief one because, well, I've got a lot of these to get to. Also, I don't want to make it obvious how much I like or dislike this piece compared to others, so the more brief I am, the less likely that is to happen. Don't worry though, I will still try to make this critique helpful!

Haha, I thought this was really neat, Yurii! Can I just say that I adored Arty's character. It was so... Artyish. :lol: You captured him brilliantly, and he was probably my favourite character in the story. I also really like how you included Nate into it, and you even managed to make him sound like Nate, which I think was very clever. Oh, and of course, I loved Logan too. How can I not love him, eh? It was a really funny piece and you've definitely done a good job of it.

The critique I have for you is actually something that's already been said, so I'm sorry if this sounds a bit repetitive. Bascially, I think you could have made Paul sound more... Paulish. I mean, you did a great job at making Arty sound like Arty, and you even managed to make Nate sound like Nate. I want Paul to sound more like Paul now! What you could have done is maybe bring up some of my Paul avatars.

For example, you could have mentioned him getting paranoid that his teeth were dirty, so he starts cleaning them with his tongue. You could have made him stare in amazement at Arty and his interesting personality, then have a fly fly into his mouth while it hung open. Do you get what I mean? If you'd added in maybe some little touches like that, I think Paul's Paulness could have been enhanced.

Really great job, Yurii! :)

Keep writing,

xoxo Skins
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Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:29 am
Alpha says...



*wide eyes*
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow, how come there aren't any more likes? I totally loved the originality of your story, that's the first time I read a YWS fan-fiction!
Love the way you introduced Artichoke, Logan and Nate, that was creative :D
Will the story continue? Hope so :))))
The nit-picks and core reviews are already made, so I guess you know what needs improving.
Keep on writing!
Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers
Alpha.
  








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