The Quest

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Ok, so I've been getting questions about name pronouncing. So, I've decided that I'm going to have pronunciations at the beginning of each part. Hope it will help! By the way, I'm not very good at showing pronunciations!

Carzyl - (Cars-ill)
Demeter - (Dem-eat-er)
Osoroshii/Oroshii - Said the way it is spelled
Neeco - (Knee-ko)




I sighed partially exhausted as I locked up the store for the night. I twisted the key to the left and then out of the keyhole. I put the key into my denim jeans pocket and faced Demeter and Osoroshii. “Let’s go,” I breathed.

The three of us began our walk to the park where we ‘lived’. We have been homeless for two years now, and we're only able to survive on the little money we could work for. I had long black hair and deep blue eyes and I went from store to store looking for an aspiring position as any type of employee, but to no avail. Demeter, who had long blond hair and blue eyes, was a DJ and singer. She'd perform wherever she was asked for, for a specified amount of money of course. Osoroshii, who had medium grayish colored hair and brown eyes, never even tried looking for a job. Instead, she'd just sit and play her guitar on the street for ongoing pedestrians with hopes for a few generous offers. Of course, the we still attended school in the meantime.

“I’m really tired tonight,” Demeter yawned as she looked down the darkened street. The only light that shone was the light from the full moon. Our community was so poor that it couldn't even afford to line the streets with light posts.

“I bet you are,” I barely managed to get out. “It’s almost sunrise and I don’t even have the energy to speak.”

“I still don’t see why we had to stay up so long,” Oroshii sighed, annoyed. “Dem here was the only one that had to work.”

“It’s ok. I’ll even be paid for the overtime,” I managed to whisper before letting my eyes droop into slits and my head sag so low it almost hit the ground.

Demeter puckered up the last bit of energy still left inside her and scoffed. “Well at least I work! You're so lazy that you won’t even go looking for a job!”

Before Oroshii could protest, a honk made us all jump. We spun around only to see a red pickup speeding down the empty road.

“Oh no,” Demeter whispered. “Aren’t they the guys from school? The ones that always get themselves drunk?”

“Yes, it’s them,” Oroshii agreed. “And, if I’m correct, didn’t they try to rape a girl one night?”

I hesitated. “Oroshii, please don’t get any of those thoughts into my mind. If we’re lucky, maybe they won’t see us in the dark!”

“And why would they have honked if there wasn’t anyone on the street?!”

“Because they’re drunk!” I shouted, just as the pickup passed us.

It screeched to a halt a few feet away. It stayed there for a while before starting to move in reverse.

“Great, now you’ve done it,” Oroshii blamed me.

As the front window came into view, our eyes met with the drunken ones of the driver and five passengers.

“Hello girls. Want to join us?” the driver asked. It was Blaine, the quarterback on the football team. His eyes were glossy and I could smell alcohol in his breath.

“Shouldn’t you six be in bed right now? If I’m correct, you guys have a game tomorrow,” I said, while noticing the other passengers were football players as well.

“Now you sound like their mother,” Demeter whispered into my ear.

“Hey, aren’t you guys from school?” Phoenix, the captain of the team, pointed out.

“Better, at least we know they’re our age,” Blaine half said, half giggled, while smiling a drunken smile.

They started to get out of the car, laughing and hiccuping the entire time. The three of us all sighed, knowing that we were going to have to fight these drunken lunatics. It wasn’t the first time we had met drunken men early morning. By now, we had made a living off of it. Unfortunately, the problem was that Dem, Oroshii, and I were completely out of energy.

But before any of them had a chance to get anywhere near us, we dashed down the street, hoping the teenage boys were too drunk to follow us or would just give up. Unfortunately, that train of thought was immediately abolished. The guys jumped into the pickup and sped toward us, with no seeming intent to slow down.

“Crap! Are they planning on running us over?!” Demeter yelled. “I’ve fought men, but I’ve never confronted a car. Of course…” She took a look back at the car, now only feet away. “I’m pretty sure I know who’d win!”

“Run into that alley!” Oroshii shouted, pointing to an opening in between the humongous buildings.

We turned just in time as the truck dashed beside us. In the alley, we stopped and looked over our shoulders, to see if they were going to try to run us over again. As we breathed hard, trying to catch our breath, we could hear car doors slamming shut from the street.

“Man, they never let go do they?” Demeter sighed, turning around to face the oncoming battle.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar, harsh, and icy voice none of us had ever heard before pierced the air.

“What would you guys be doing out so late?” the voice said. The person to whom it belonged was male.

Whoever it was astoundingly scared the football players, who were known to never be afraid of anything. Each one stuttered uncontrollably until screaming set in. A sound like flesh being torn apart was heard.

“Oh my gosh……what the heck is that man doing?!” Demeter whisper-shouted.

Cries of ‘help me’ were heard from each one of the guys, but no one seemed to hear them, except for the three of us of course.

“I say we get out of here,” I whispered.

“Agreed,” the other two nodded.

Just as we were about to turn around, I was grabbed by two strong arms, holding me by my neck and waist.

“Let go!” I screamed while flailing my body around.

I kicked the person in between his legs and his face, making him bend to the ground and let me go. But, I wasn’t finished. I kicked him in the stomach and punched his face, sending him sprawling on the cold ground. The boy was about my age with black hair. His eyes were black, a beautiful black so deep someone could get lost in them. His nose was bleeding and he had a few bruises on his face where I had hit him.

“Serves you right!” Demeter shouted at the guy.

“Neeco?” the man who was talking to the football geeks called down the alley.

We looked towards the opening of the alley to see two guys, again about our age, standing there.

“You guys ready to fight, too?” Oroshii growled at them.

The boy, Neeco, looked intently and somewhat astonished at Oroshii.

“Humans? You let yourself be beaten by humans?” the other guy sneered, as if disgusted.

“Ahem. I’d like to point out that only ONE human beat him!” I objected.

I froze. *Did I just say…..human?!* I looked back at Demeter, same expression implanted on her now pale face. Oroshii, instead, still had a fierce expression, but with a little fright and anger mixed in.

“Carzyl! Demeter! Don’t let them scare you. It didn’t seem like it was hard kicking Neeco’s ass. Why should these two be any different?” Oroshii shouted.

The two guys growled low deep growls. Oroshii moved into her fighting stance and the battle was on. Both boys bolted towards Oroshii and reached her with incredible speed. Suddenly, the two stopped dead in their tracks, both a punch aimed at her, both punches cradled in one of her strong hands. The two looked at her smiling expression unbelievably.

“I knew it was you Oroshii,” Neeco’s voice chuckled. He had gotten to his feet and was watching with a wide smile on his face. Almost evil.

“You know her?” one of the boys asked as he jumped away from her, followed by the second boy.

“He knows you?” Demeter joined in.

Suddenly, police sirens filled the air and red and blue lights danced across the street.

“I think it’s time to leave,” one of the boys pointed out.

As the two boys jumped into the air and from one building to another, Neeco smiled at Oroshii. “We’ll be back,” he said before following his friends.

“Oroshii…” Demeter began.

“Here are the bodies! Search for the killers!” shouted a policeman.

“We better get out of here”, I said, grabbing both friends by their wrists and pulling them away.
Last edited by VampireBloodrace on Wed Dec 31, 2008 1:41 am, edited 2 times in total.




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Interesting story. So what are the non-humans, vampires?

Anyways, here are a few suggestions.

"I'm really tired tonight",


The , goes before the ".

I sighed, partially exhausted, as I locked up the store for the night.


Of course, [s]the[/s] we still attended school in the meantime.


Blaine half said, half giggled, while smiling a drunken smile.


Those are the basics. Well, keep on writing- I want to see where this story is going!
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Lol. Well, you know I've always loved your stories, especially when 'yours truly' is in them. ;) I <3 Demeter, as you very well know. Excellent work! And, just like TheWordsmith said, and as I've told you before, the comma goes inside the quotes. That has always bothered me in your stories, lol. Keep writing! n_n
Singing: It's more than my forte; it's my fortissimo
---
They say "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."
Well, I think guns help. If you just stand there and yell BANG I don't think you're going to kill too many people...




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Ok, so I got rid of some mistakes and put all the commas inside the dialogue! I hope it's better no! :D




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Okay, well, wow. That was very interesting. Your character development is coming along quite nicely. I can understand each of them already, so good job on that.

You plot is very thick for the beginning of a story, so another good job. *gives gold star*
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I've changed the punctuation (in bold) and my coments are in brackets. Some suggestion for words etc are in bold.
I don't think I'll go through all of it, just bits and pieces. It's pretty long. XD
And I feel ruthless today! :twisted:

VampireBloodrace wrote:

I sighed, partially exhausted as I locked up the store for the night. I twisted the key to the left and then took it out of the keyhole. I put the key into my denim jeans pocket and faced Demeter and Osoroshii. “Let’s go,” I breathed. (You should start these sentences with something other than 'I' everytime, it gets repetitive.)

The three of us began our walk to the park where we ‘lived’. We had been homeless for two years now, and we'd only been able to survive on the little money we could work for. [s]I had long black hair and deep blue eyes and I went from store to store looking for an aspiring position as any type of employee, but to no avail. Demeter, who had long blond hair and blue eyes, was a DJ and singer. She'd perform wherever she was asked for, for a specified amount of money of course. Osoroshii, who had medium grayish colored hair and brown eyes, never even tried looking for a job. Instead, she'd just sit and play her guitar on the street for ongoing pedestrians with hopes for a few generous offers. Of course, the we still attended school in the meantime.[/s] (This whole section is un-needed, you just seem to tell us all the facts in one big paragraph, put their appearance in bit by bit, not in one chunk)

“I’m really tired tonight,” Demeter yawned as she looked down the darkened street. The only light that shone was the light from the full moon. (change this sentence, you use the word light twice and it seems too much)
Our community was so poor that it couldn't even afford to line the streets with light posts.

“I bet you are,” I barely managed to get out. (this sentence sounds wrong. Try: I managed to stammer out- or something similar) “It’s almost sunrise [s]and I don’t even have the energy to speak[/s].” (You've just told us this, becuase she can't speak)

“I still don’t see why we had to stay up so long,” Oroshii sighed, annoyed. “Dem here was the only one that had to work.”

“It’s ok. I’ll even be paid for the overtime,” I managed to whisper before letting my eyelids droop [s]into slits [/s]and my head sag so low it almost hit the ground.

Demeter puckered up the last bit of energy still left inside her and scoffed. “Well at least I work! You're so lazy that you won’t even go looking for a job!”

Before Oroshii could protest, a honk made us all jump. We spun around only to see a red pickup speeding down the empty road.

“Oh no,” Demeter whispered. “Aren’t they the guys from school? The ones that always get themselves drunk?”

“Yes, it’s them,” Oroshii agreed. “And, if I’m correct, didn’t they try to rape a girl one night?” (Seems an odd thing to say, seems out of place and only there for the reader)

I hesitated. “Oroshii, please don’t get any of those thoughts into my mind. If we’re lucky, maybe they won’t see us in the dark!”

“And why would they have honked if there wasn’t anyone on the street?!” (true lol)

“Because they’re drunk!” I shouted, just as the pickup passed us.

It screeched to a halt a few feet away. It stayed there for a while before starting to move in reverse.

“Great, now you’ve done it,” Oroshii (said) [s]blamed me[/s] (we know this from the speech)
As the front window came into view, our eyes met with the drunken ones of the driver and five passengers.

“Hello girls. Want to join us?” the driver asked. It was Blaine, the quarterback on the football team. His eyes were glossy and I could smell alcohol in his breath.

“Shouldn’t you six be in bed right now? If I’m correct, you guys have a game tomorrow,” I said, while noticing the other passengers were football players as well.

“Now you sound like their mother,” Demeter whispered into my ear.

“Hey, aren’t you guys from school?” Phoenix, the captain of the team, pointed out.

“Better, at least we know they’re our age,” Blaine half said, half giggled, while smiling a drunken smile. (this sentence seems odd) get rid of 'smiling a...' and write something like ' with a drunken smlie spread across his face')

They started to get out of the car, laughing and hiccuping the entire time. The three of us all sighed, knowing that we were going to have to fight these drunken lunatics. It wasn’t the first time we had met drunken men early morning. By now, we had made a living off [s]of[/s] it. Unfortunately, the problem was that Dem, Oroshii, and I were completely out of energy.

But before any of them had a chance to get anywhere near us, we dashed down the street, hoping the teenage boys were too drunk to follow us or they would just give up. Unfortunately, that train of thought was immediately abolished. The guys jumped into the pickup and sped toward us, with no intent of slowing down.

“Crap! Are they planning on running us over?!” Demeter yelled. “I’ve fought men, but I’ve never confronted a car. Of course…” She took a look back at the car, now only feet away. “I’m pretty sure I know who’d win!” (this whole bit of speech doesn't seem realistic)

“Run into that alley!” Oroshii shouted, pointing to an opening in between the humongous buildings.

We turned just in time as the truck dashed beside us. In the alley, we stopped and looked over our shoulders, to see if they were going to try to run us over again. As we breathed hard, trying to catch our breath, we could hear car doors slamming shut from the street.

“Man, they never let go do they?” Demeter sighed, turning around to face the oncoming battle.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar, harsh, and icy voice none of us had ever heard before pierced the air.

“What would you guys be doing out so late?” the voice said. [s]The person to whom it belonged was male. [/s]
Whoever it was astoundingly scared the football players, who were known to never be afraid of anything. Each one stuttered uncontrollably until screaming set in. A sound like flesh being torn apart was heard.

“Oh my gosh……what the heck is that man doing?!” Demeter whisper-shouted. (what's a whisper shout? XD)

Cries of ‘help me’ were heard from each one of the guys, but no one seemed to hear them, except for the three of us of course.

“I say we get out of here,” I whispered.

“Agreed,” the other two nodded.

Just as we were about to turn around, I was grabbed by two strong arms, holding me by my neck and waist.

“Let go!” I screamed whilst flailing my body around.

I kicked the person in between his legs and his face, making him bend to the ground and let me go. But, I wasn’t finished. I kicked him in the stomach and punched his face, sending him sprawling on the cold ground. The boy was about my age with black hair. His eyes were black, a beautiful black so deep someone could get lost in them.
(Corny expression, lose it. He just grabbed you, so why would you compliment him?) His nose was bleeding and he had a few bruises on his face where I had hit him.

“Serves you right!” Demeter shouted at the guy.

“Neeco?” the man who was talking to the football geeks called down the alley.

We looked towards the opening of the alley to see two guys, again about our age, standing there.

“You guys ready to fight, too?” Oroshii growled at them.

The boy, Neeco, looked intently and somewhat astonished at Oroshii.

“Humans? You let yourself be beaten by humans?” the other guy sneered, as if disgusted.

“Ahem. I’d like to point out that only ONE human beat him!” I objected.

I froze. Did I just say…..human?! I looked back at Demeter, the same expression implanted on her now pale face. Oroshii, instead, still had a fierce expression, but with a little fright and anger mixed in.

“Carzyl! Demeter! Don’t let them scare you. It didn’t seem like it was hard kicking Neeco’s ass. Why should these two be any different?” Oroshii shouted.

The two guys growled low deep growls. Oroshii moved into her fighting stance and the battle was on. Both boys bolted towards Oroshii and reached her with incredible speed. Suddenly, the two stopped dead in their tracks, both a punch aimed at her, both punches cradled in one of her strong hands. The two looked at her smiling expression unbelievably.

“I knew it was you Oroshii,” Neeco’s voice chuckled. He had gotten to his feet and was watching with a wide smile on his face. Almost evil.

“You know her?” one of the boys asked as he jumped away from her, followed by the second boy.

“He knows you?” Demeter joined in.

Suddenly, police sirens filled the air and red and blue lights danced across the street. (nice- I like 'danced')

“I think it’s time to leave,” one of the boys pointed out.

As the two boys jumped into the air and from one building to another, Neeco smiled at Oroshii. “We’ll be back,” he said before following his friends.

“Oroshii…” Demeter began.

“Here are the bodies! Search for the killers!” shouted a policeman.

“We better get out of here”, I said, grabbing both friends by their wrists and pulling them away.



Well, this wasn't bad! You're pretty good at showing action, and moving the story along, but this just seemed to lack something. I couldn't relate to the characters at all, I couldn't tell one from the other because their speech sounded similar, and their dialogue didn't seem realistic. The whole thing needs more subtle description, more character development and less descriptions of everyone's 'beautiful eyes'! (sorry, but that was bugging me)
I'm sorry to be so harsh. :)

All in all, good story, the plot is quite intriguing but you lose the reader because of the lack of character development and the dialogue.


Hope I helped a bit!




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Thanks, Swottielottie, your critique definitely helped. I'll see what I can do about the dialogue....because they are supposed to be somewhat the same, but if it gets so confusing that you don't know who's talking then its a problem. Wow, i've got a lot to change!

P.S. NO CRITIQUE TOO HARSH FOR ME!!! Lol
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VampireBloodrace wrote:P.S. NO CRITIQUE TOO HARSH FOR ME!!! Lol


That's a good attitude to have. XD

They're meant to be the same, you say? Hmm... I think I understand what you mean, but they just need to be a bit more... vivid?

I'm glad I helped.

I know how you feel! I had my work ripped to shreds a while ago. :shock:
Last edited by Swottielottie on Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.




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Yeah, this isn't the only of my works which that has happened to. It seems to be rather popular here :)
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Hello VampireBloodrace. Just a few pointers.

1)Show don't tell

Consider the following:

The three of us began our walk to the park where we ‘lived’. We have been homeless for two years now, and we're only able to survive on the little money we could work for. I had long black hair and deep blue eyes and I went from store to store looking for an aspiring position as any type of employee, but to no avail. Demeter, who had long blond hair and blue eyes, was a DJ and singer. She'd perform wherever she was asked for, for a specified amount of money of course. Osoroshii, who had medium grayish colored hair and brown eyes, never even tried looking for a job. Instead, she'd just sit and play her guitar on the street for ongoing pedestrians with hopes for a few generous offers. Of course, the we still attended school in the meantime.


The passage states its message too directly. It is too obvious about its meaning, leaving the reader with nothing for search for. As a result, they lack characterisation and making the above unconvincing.

It is far more satisfying to carefully use language that is subtle and hints at meaning rather than yelling it. This will make the reader far more involved in "unpacking" the information and creating their own "picture" of the action. For example, show them having to walk to find shelter somewhere on the streets or the narrator looking for job etc. By doing that, you are suggesting meaning to the audience and making them delve between the lines to work for understanding.

2)What does the above passage have to do with the rest of the piece?

The whole was basically about some girls getting attacked by some teenage boys driving by in a car. The information in the above passage doesn't seem to have any influence with the rest of the piece. It's like it's just placed there. Why do we need to know that Demeter is a singer and DJ and that the narrator is looking to be an employee of some kind with regards to them being attacked? Maybe it's because they want Demeter since she has lots of money from her profession? You need to give reasons as to why you are giving your characters those specific traits and consider the relevance of it in your plot.

Good luck.

Andy.
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Hey.

I thought that your story was cool, but I got too much of an impression that I was watching an anime TV show. I even started imagining the whole thing in anime. I mean...the boys jumped away from Owiblahblah. Sorry, don't know the name. And I got really confused at the fighting part. I got the football players and the non-himans mixed up, and I couldn't really tell who was fighting who.

Keep working, though! I'm sure that you can make it better!
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