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In Such a Night



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Points: 1122
Reviews: 150
Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:52 am
200397 says...



...
Last edited by 200397 on Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:43 am, edited 8 times in total.
  





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Points: 890
Reviews: 10
Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:59 am
georgia30 says...



Firstly, WOW. I reeeaaalllyyy liked this. It told the story, had an awsome plot and was well described, all round it was very good. Just a few things i picked out.

My gaze broke first, and Derick and Melissa move away.

This should be Moved

This is all I could find now. But I will say one thing. When you go back in time to teh cafeteria, It annoyed me how it read like a biography. I'm guessing you didn't mean this.

Anyway. Well Done.
You are the meteor that keeps my world alight.
  





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Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:21 am
WrittenSoul says...



Hello! I shall be your reviewer today.

The first thought on my mind is this: Oh wow! That was superb! You described everything amazingly well, and I could see it all. The plot was very good as well. I didn't notice anything grammar-wise that needed correcting.

You did very well with you characters, too. They seemed to jump off the page which is a good thing! You did a good job with the animosity between Ellen and Melissa. I really wanted to strangle Melissa a few times! :) You put me on tenterhooks wondering if Ellen and Derick would get together in the end. I'm very glad they did though, they're both likable characters!

All in all, I can't find anything bad to say or anything that's worth criticizing. Sorry if this review's not much help, but I'm not very good at review romantic fiction. :D

Anyway, if you have any questions PM me! Keep up the [s]good[/s] great work!

~SOUL~
"What you learn for yourself, you will know forever."
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Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:41 am
Bittersweet says...



Hello! This was a spontaneous review; I hadn't been planning on reviewing anything. But I really enjoyed your story and felt that I should put in my two cents! I apologize beforehand if I begin to ramble incoherently. It's 12 o'clock and I'm tired. But anyhow, moving on, yes?

The sinus-clearing smell of chlorine filled my nose


I don't think this was... the best way to describe chlorine. Sure, it clears your sinuses, but do we really need to know this? You may want to find another way to get at what you're saying.

][i“Over my dead body!”[/i]


Silly mistake, no? :P

He searches for the right words:


'He' should be lowercase.

Suzanne had managed to get a partner for the night


Before, she was "Susanne" with an S, and now it's a Z.

In any other situation, I would laugh and tell him to relax. But I could tell even without looking at his face that he was struggling. He stumbled a little and squeezed my hand as a result.
“Derick?”
“Do you hate me now?”
“What?”


The dialogue right here was a little confusing. I had to read it a few times over just to make sure who was saying what.

The taste of him, the intoxicating smell of him, the feeling of his body so close to mine . . . all of it seemed like a dream.


This bothers me because it's too... cliched. It might help if you gave us more details. What is this taste of him? What is this intoxicating smell?

Anyway, that's all I had to point out. Now for the actual writing. I really liked the way you crafted the story, with the present and then the memories. There were points that were a little awkward, but it was still well done. I liked it versus just summarizing what had happened in Ellen's past without much detail. A problem I noticed throughout the story were the tenses in which the story was told. Sometimes it was past, sometimes it was present. I think you need to read through the story aloud and take out all the misplaced tenses.

As for the characters, I though you did a very good job of getting nicely defined characters in so little words. It's easy to tell how Ellen feels about things, or how Derick feels about the situation. Their moods and personalities came out strong. Merissa the little jerk!

So this is my two cents worth! Happy writing,
-Holly
eviscerate your fragile frame
spill it out in ragged form
a thousand different versions of yourself.
  





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108 Reviews



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Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:00 pm
KailaMarie says...



I absolutely love the beginning two paragraphs!!

adopting the disappointed feeling one gets when one is let down,
This seems a bit redundant to me. People usually are disappointed when they're let down... and it seems a bit strange for a casual narration to use "one".

When the principle held an assembly stating that all men are created equal and should be treated equal, she joined Derick and me at our secluded lunch table.
It should be "principal".

Why do I have the feeling that I’m face-to-face with the devil?
That's a great line.

I adjusted my purse and say, “Yes.”
There's a tense change here. There might be other places too, but I wasn't paying attention. Haha, sorry.

My eyes traveled up him slowly. Ironed gray suit pants; the loose belt; the clean white shirt; the rolled up sleeves; the hands settling easily in the pockets. The broad shoulders. The handsome face. The Bohemian eyes filled with unease.
This is perfect. I love how you described it making it seem as if our eyes are travelling up him slowly.

Wow. I really loved this. It was so sweet! Poor Tom, though. Haha. Sorry this review isn't that helpful, but I really really enjoyed this. Gret job.
... :D ...
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Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:15 pm
Demeter says...



Hi, 200397! Sorry for the wait, I hope it's okay.


his talking and laughing—and tenderly touching—another girl


I think it should be he (or him?), or then you should change 'laughing' to 'laughter' and so on – only that would come out as a little awkward, so I recommend the he/him thing instead.


Melissa sent me a calm, cool look of absolute triumph.


I'm wondering a little whether a 'look of absolute triumph' can be cool and/or calm. It sounds slightly contradictory, don't you think? =)


Derick and Melissa moved away.


I think this means that they *walked* away, not moved as in "My family moved to USA when I was three". If so, maybe just clear that out.


the disappointed feeling one gets when [s]one is[/s] let down,



Anything, but think of those two.


Hm, a little awkward. Maybe add 'to' before 'think'? Or then just rephrase.


Melissa’s pretty and popular, and known all around as an absolute angel.


The sudden tense change is a bit in-your-face – though not completely incorrect – so I suggest you reword as "Already back then, Melissa was pretty and popular..." or something similar.


half-drunk glasses of milk

Nuh-uh, doesn't sound very good. Try half-empty – or half-full, it's up to you. ;)


As I guide him through the literature textbook, I’m not focused on studying, and judging by the nervous action of stroking his pencil with his thumb, neither is he.


I suggest that 'neither is he' would get its own sentence. Thus, stop the previous sentence at 'thumb'.


Derick, whose parents are half-Jewish, half-Austrian, lifts his sky-blue, Bohemian eyes to me.


I don't think one would say 'half-Jewish, half-Austrian' since you can be Jewish and Austrian at the same time. And do you mean that it's his parents who are half and half, or Derick? Because wouldn't that make him one quarter Austrian and so on? Also, how are the eyes Bohemian? I like the image, but explain it a little.


He’s as apposed to Hitler as we are.


Opposed?


She shrugs and [s]is silent. She[/s] doesn’t say another word, which is suspicious to me.



From a distance, I see the back of Derick’s dark head, bending too closely to Melissa’s bright yellow one. I'm shocked a moment later when I realize they are kissing. Without a glance at me, they leave the square, hand in hand.


This is after the flash-back, so the tense is past again, like you've had it.


He looked at me, slightly like a child does pleadingly to his mother.


The word order seems a bit off in here.


Moments, a pair of shiny back shoes appeared right in front of my delicate little heels.


Moments? Also, aren't heels supposed to be behind you, so how could the shoes appear in front of them? Unless it means her shoes, 'high heels'.


Ironed gray suit pants; [s]the[/s] a loose belt; [s]the[s] a clean white shirt; [s]the[/s] rolled up sleeves; [s]the[/s] hands settling easily in the pockets.



“Would you dance?”


I think it should be either "Would you dance with me?" or "Shall we dance?"


****


Well, there were the nit-picks! I really liked this story, and I wish you good luck in the contest (if it's not been judged yet). The Tommy guy was a little random there, I think you should've explained who he was and what his relationship with Ellen was (was he a childhood friend, a lab partner or whatever), because now he just... appeared out of the blue, just to ask her to the dance.

I like your style of writing – it's somewhat light and easy to read, not suffocating at all. Just as I like it. =) I don't think you need fancy sentence elements and big words to have a good piece. This was such a pleasant read. Thanks for letting me!


Demeter
xxx
"Your jokes are scarier than your earrings." -Twit

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