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Young Writers Society


cart race



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Gender: Male
Points: 890
Reviews: 14
Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:46 pm
Gabe.L says...



Gabe


It was icy in the park and the girls found it difficult to stop. The small red cart sped down the dimly lit concrete path, splitting the snow-covered park in two. It was late by now and only a handful of dimly lit people could be seen lining the path, their breath rising into the bitter New England night. Claire and Maggie clenched their teeth, burying their faces deep into their coats; it was the second to last turn in the park, leaning all their weight on one side, the cart turned with great effort, wooden wheels only finding traction on the sea salt laid down the night before on the icy stretch. As they cleared the turn and found themselves back on the main park road, the occasional person sped by, there was no applause, just a tense silence. The cart flew by the rustic white park gazebo, Claire and Maggie clamped their hands down on the steel handles that their father had screwed on, this was the final stretch. They both knew what was ahead, one more turn, leading straight into the steep downhill, “the widow maker”, as the boys at school called it with a certain reverence. It had been a little over a year since Tommy Warner had tried the hill, getting about a quarter of the way down before one of his wheels, catching a rock, twisted off, sending the cart into a barrel roll, Tommy lodged inside. A little less than a month ago, William Hollins, had attempted the hill, he was only a little more fortunate, making it no more than fifty feet further than Tommy before his cart too malfunctioned, sending him to the hospital for almost three days. And here they were, Claire and Maggie, the first two girls to ever try the hill, over half way down, in the home stretch. Rounding the last corner, Claire and Maggie zoomed past a flock of schoolmates and parents huddled together, a cheer went up as they passed, a red blur to the onlookers. They turned the corner, two feet until the big hill. There it was, from the cart, one could make out the onlookers waiting at the bottom of the hill, illuminated by the parking lot, but here, at the top of the hill, Claire and Maggie were alone. There was no time for sentiment, before they knew it, the cart had rolled over the flat land and began to plummet down the hill, the loose stones on the path sent vibrations through the cart wheels, rattling Claire and Maggie so violently that their teeth chattered together. They were picking up speed now, wind howling past the small red cart and the two girls huddled as deep inside as could fit. A few years ago after a big rain-storm, some visible erosion appeared towards the bottom of the big park hill. This was unlucky for the girls for as their cart sped down the final thirty feet of the hill, their wheel met the eroded crack in the path. The sound of splitting wood could be heard from the base of the hill as the wheel lodged itself in the crack. As the wheel separated, it seemed like the carts structural integrity completely gave in. splinters of wood flew though the air, some say the two girls sailed almost five feet though the air before their bodies met the icy path. As shock rippled though the onlookers below, the two girls, now indistinguishable slid face first down the hill, arms and legs limply extended.
  





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Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:21 am
deleted_5 says...



Ouch!! Hiya there! I'm Lucy. I liked this, it was very very good. I didn't really see anything wrong! Great job! I really liked it and it was good in description. Maybe add a little detail about Claire and Maggie. But other than that, it was good. Bravo!

Lucy
I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts. I also hate being on television, I hate it as much as people hate chocolate. But they always want chocolate.
  





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Thu Jun 04, 2009 3:25 am
kittykat says...



First off...

Hi and welcome to YWS! :D

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

Grammar


Claire and Maggie clenched their teeth, burying their faces deep into their coats; it was the second to last turn in the park, leaning all their weight on one side, the cart turned with great effort, wooden wheels only finding traction on the sea salt laid down the night before on the icy stretch.

The sentence after the semicolon is too long. Instead, change it so that it's two sentences:

Clair and Maggie clenched their teeth, burying their faces deep into their coats---it was the second to last turn in the park. Leaning all their weight on one side, the cart turned with great effort, wooden wheels only finding traction on the sea salt laid down the night before on the ice stretch.

What do you mean, sea salt?

They both knew what was ahead, one more turn, leading straight into the steep downhill, “the widow maker”, as the boys at school called it with a certain reverence.


This needs to be split into two also:

They both knew what was ahead, one more turn, leading straight into the steep downhill. "The Widow Maker," as the boys at school called it with a certain reverence.

It had been a little over a year since Tommy Warner had tried the hill, getting about a quarter of the way down before one of his wheels, catching a rock, twisted off, sending the cart into a barrel roll, Tommy lodged inside.


Who's Tommy Warner?

A little less than a month ago, William Hollins, had attempted the hill, he was only a little more fortunate, making it no more than fifty feet further than Tommy before his cart too malfunctioned, sending him to the hospital for almost three days.


Who's William Hollins? Whoever he is, he doesn't need a comma after his name or another comma after "hill." Put a period after that word and make the rest a separate sentence.

And here they were, Claire and Maggie, the first two girls to ever try the hill, over half way down, in the home stretch.


Were in the home stretch.

Rounding the last corner, Claire and Maggie zoomed past a flock of schoolmates and parents huddled together. A cheer went up as they passed, they were a red blur to the onlookers.


There it was. From the cart, one could make out the onlookers [right here, I would change "onlookers" to people or something else since you used the word in the sentence before this] waiting at the bottom of the hill, illuminated by the parking lot, but here, at the top of the hill, Claire and Maggie were alone.


The last part, "but here, at the top of the hill, Claire and Maggie were alone," I would change here to there and make it its own sentence.

There was no time for sentiment though because before they knew it, the cart had rolled over the flat land and began to plummet down the hill. The loose stones on the path sent vibrations through the cart wheels rattling Claire and Maggie so violently that their teeth chattered together.


splinters of wood flew though the air, some say the two girls sailed almost five feet though the air before their bodies met the icy path.


Either take out the first part about the splinters, or move it to fit into the sentence. Don't put some say they did bla bla bla after you wrote all of that. If they flew five feet then say they flew five feet.

As shock rippled though the onlookers below, the two girls, now indistinguishable, slid face first down the hill with their arms and legs limply extended.


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


Overall

Ah! Okay, finally. You reeeaaally need to go over this and move everything into paragraphs instead of this jumble of sentences. There were a lot of run-ons that you should watch out for next time. Also, describe Clair and Maggie more. Who are they? Just two girls that happen to sliding down a hill? This needs more detail and to be reread for anything else.

Something I noticed was that tons of the sentences went like this:

Words words words, more words, more words more words.

Why are most sentences split up into three with all these commas? Also, why is it always Claire and Maggie? What are they, just one person? Talk about them as two people more---even if this might just be a short story.

I don't really know what else to say here. I liked the idea though of the first two girls sliding over this huge hill. I sort of like how it wasn't a happy ending, but it kinda sounded gruesome. Wow. :shock:

- kittykat
Our happiness here is all vain glory,
This false world is but transitory,
The flesh is weak, the Fiend is slee
Timor mortis conturbat me.
--William Dunbar
  





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Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:10 pm
doodle:] says...



Hiya there! Becca here!

M'kay, I almost didn't read this becuase it's in on big clump. This will put most people off becuase when they see it, it's like a brain overload! xP So, seperate it into paragraphs.

You needed more description. Especially on Claire and Maggie, as kittykat said.

At first, I thought that maybe they would make it down. So it kind of suprised me, so that's good. :D Sounds painful, though.

Okay, so it looks like everybody else got everything.

Good luck!
Becca
  





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Sun Jun 14, 2009 11:26 pm
Moonshine says...



I agrees that the layout of the story nearly turned me off from reading it.
Spaces and paragraphs are our eye's friends, my glasses really don't need to get any thicker.

However I am glad that I did read it, I have to say that you're writing style is fluid and descriptive.
Good job.
...I hope the girls aren't dead though :cry: . But if they are at least they set a record like they wanted. :)
  








I was born to speak all mirth and no matter.
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