Eva's Imagination

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NOTE: This entry had to be less than 500 words. It currently sits at 499! :D So please, I'm not looking to add to it, but I am looking for reviews on clarity, punctuation and any errors I missed in proof-reading it. Thank you!




The moment little Evangeline knocked on her grandmother’s door, she hastily said a greeting, pasted on her face a grin that stretched as far as her mouth would allow, and pleaded to play out in the fairy garden.


Evangeline’s grandmother laughed heartily. She knew her granddaughter too well. She wasn’t interested in chilled homemade lemonade, scrapbooking, watching cartoons, or even reading an adventure tale, told to her whilst she sat on the cosiest lounge chair her Grandmother owned. Evangeline preferred to create her own adventures, in amongst the luscious sea of greenery in her grandmother’s backyard.


“Of course you can, Eva,” said her grandmother politely, and stepped aside. Evangeline flew past her and down the hallway. When she reached a glass door that inevitably led to the yard, she pushed it open with her palms, her long brown hair sweeping past her face as she did so, and raced outside.


When Evangeline became older, she would then describe her childhood haven as a place of sunshine dreams; where the plant life sparkled, graced from the afternoon sun caught on it’s leaves. Violets and fish-palms and angel roses blossomed from pottery vases. Vines wriggled up the sides of the enclosure, as if itching to stretch the furthest upwards. Little glass gnomes with bemused expressions on their faces guarded the enclosure floor.


But most importantly to Evangeline, there were the fairies.


“Seraphine! Jester! Hubnik! Macie!”


At her eager cry, there came a rustling in the lavender pots in front of her. Evangeline knelt down, and watched as four miniscule little figures emerged from the stalks.


“Do I hear the calling of Miss Eva?” said a tiny male voice. For of course, these were the fairies that Evangeline came to visit every day.


Evangline squealed. “Oh yes, Jester, I am here!”


She extended her pinkie at the front most creature, who embraced it. Jester’s petite little arms hugged the digit briefly before he stood back and patiently waited for the others to do the same.


The two male and two female fairies were wearing identical uniforms in pairs with their gender. The ladies wore slim, white, feathery dresses which appeared to be entangled with soft moss, and atop their heads sat gleaming golden crowns. The men were clad in leather-like tops and bottoms, with gumnut boots and hats. On all four’s backs, fluttering in the breeze, were translucent, see-though wings, like those found on a dragonfly’s, but greatly more beautiful. Evangeline thought it was the most adorable clothing she had ever laid eyes upon.


She spent all morning in light-hearted conversion with the fairy folk. Even when her Grandmother called out for lunch, Evangeline remained with her friends.


In the kitchen, her grandmother was becoming quite concerned at her granddaughter’s absence. She made her way to the door and stumbled outside, heading straight for the garden. What she found surprised her.


For she saw Evangeline knelt down, in front of a lavender pot, talking to no-one but the wind and herself.
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Hi, it's me Nike here to review. The first thing I noticed is that, I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I hate fantasy because it isn't real, sadly. So, I don't even bother with reading it because I want it to be real. But now I decided, why not? This is beautifully written and, I believed in fairies. It's a great story. I have no edits for you.

Keep Writing!

Nike :)
"If I look like a monster,' he says roughly, 'then no one will be surprised when I do monstrous things." - A.B. Poranek




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Hey Maddy!

I thought this was really cute. The title drew me in and the story didn't disappoint. It was short, but then you had a word count to stick to.

The descriptions were lovely too :)

pasted on her face a grin


I did think this read a little awkwardly. I suggest you try something like -

'pasted a grin on her face'

There's still the same amount of words, yet it flows a little better.

were translucent, see-though wings


I think that these two descriptions kind of mean the same thing, so at the moment it's like you're repeating yourself. Maybe try a different adjective like - 'were translucent, glittering wings'

Apart from those two things, I think this story is great as it is :)

Good luck in the competition!

xDudettex
Last edited by xDudettex on Tue Mar 15, 2011 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'Stop wishing for the sunshine. Start living in the rain.' - Kids In Glass Houses.

'Would you destroy something perfect in order to make it beautiful?' - MCR artwork.




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Hi there, Maddy! I'm Pink and I'll be doing a review for you today.
Since this is a contest entry and I want you to do your best, I'm not going to hold back anything that I think will help strengthen your piece so I will apologize beforehand if anything that I say might feel any bit harsh. Please don't think of it that way. ^^

Now, I want to start with the opener...

The moment little Evangeline knocked on her grandmother’s door, she hastily said a greeting, pasted on her face a grin that stretched as far as her mouth would allow, and pleaded to play out in the fairy garden.

The thing about a contest with a word limit is that it's tricky. You'll have to do your best in order to cut down words that you don't need such as this right here. You could have easily stated that she opened the door and greeted her grandmother in just one sentence. Also, as far as opening go, this isn't very strong at all. Try to spice this opener up and reel the reader into your short story with something that will catch their interest.

Evangeline’s grandmother laughed heartily. She knew her granddaughter too well. She wasn’t interested in chilled homemade lemonade, scrapbooking, watching cartoons, or even reading an adventure tale, told to her whilst she sat on the cosiest lounge chair her Grandmother owned.

*Another thing with short stories is that it's hard to make them more real. With a word limit, that's even harder so you'll have to work on trying to get your information across without making the story feeling too 'telly'. You're not doing a super bad job here and I like how simplistic it is with a touch of character.
However, there was one thing that you missed in here and I have bolded it out for you.
It seems like you missed a sentence or accidentally deleted it or something. It doesn't make much sense when read out loud.
When she reached a glass door that inevitably led to the yard,

This one of those 'get rid of unnecessary words' cases.

Now, as far as I'm concerned with the plot it's quite alright. I saw it coming though but it seems like you left the plot hanging there and normally, some kids do have imaginary friends and such. The thing that I did like about this was that you had us guess. Was it the child that was talking to the fairies or was it her imagination. Or, could this girl really see the fairies and was the grandmother the one who was out of the loop? You could have gone a bit further with this and explained a few more things but again, with the word count that's a bit difficult. It seemed like you cut the story off without much of a plot too. Anyway, those are all ares that can be worked upon.

Lastly, what kind of contest is this? Something about magic? Fairies? It would have helped me more to critique this properly if you have provided us with a link to the contest thread. This way, we can glimpse at the contest rules and such and then give a more detailed review.

Overall, you did pretty good for such a short word count. There are a few tweaks that you might need to look at but overall, it's not too bad. Let me know if you need anything else, I'm a quick PM away.

All the best!
-Shear
There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
-W. Somerset Maugham




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wow, I really liked it even though it was short and I like your style of writing. Although i wouldn't say it was needed to say "Upwards" because it already sais it earlier on in the sentence:
Vines wriggled up the sides of the enclosure, as if itching to stretch the furthest upwards.
But other than that I think it was magical ;)




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Hi Maddy. Lavvi in to review.

You know, I really,really, really liked this. Very often nowadays, few or nobody write fairytales because they were so cliche once. Now, however, where there are little out there among vampire novels, it's a refreshing new landscape. And that is why I liked this.

It sort of reminded me of myself when I was a little girl. I wandered much into a small wood on my grandparents' acreage where I was told a fairy lived. I perhaps spent many afternoons like Eva, speaking only to herself ;) Perhaps other YWSians are much like Eva and I.

I found the start was a little rough, lacking some grace. I suggest you start with one simple, flowing sentence. It'll hit off with a bang. What you have now has a rushed feeling to it, which we don't want. Especially when you're writing about flighty beings that are graceful in all sense. Be your topic, y'know?

The fairies' descriptions were stunning, but beautifully simple. Just like the creatures themselves :)

The title, however, has little to offer. It's suitable, yes, but is it creative? No, not really. I don't have an idea right off the top of my head, but just think about it.

Yours,
Lavvi
this tender selfmetamorpoiesisi have returned with the swell

What is to give light must endure burning. – Viktor Frankl



It's a pity the dictionary has only one definition of beauty. In my world, there are 7.9 billion types of it- all different and still beautiful.
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