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Young Writers Society



Magic Survives: Chapter 2: (untitled)

by GreenTulip


Steam seemed to raise off the of his head. His blonde hair was plastered to his head, the strands giving him nearly a feminine look. His gaze illuminated the outrage he felt towards me at that moment.

“What was that for?” he screeched.

“To teach you a lesson, Mr. Yoldern,” a female spoke.

He scoffed, “Right. Because I am totally in the wrong.”

The woman walked into the arena, her dark shoes tapping against the tiles, till she stood face to face with the young man. Unlike the rest of us, she was dressed more professional. Silver streaked black hair was pulled into a ponytail. Her dark brown eyes focused onto his pale blue ones and they were shining with fury.

“You are correct to say that you are in the wrong,” she stated. “You are supposed to be a responsible person, but alas we will treat you like the child you act like.”

“Child?” he snapped. “I am not a child.”

I laughed, “Oh my dear boy, you are wrong. Your behavior right now displays that.”

“Maivene, go take a rest. I will handle this,” she said softly.

“But I am always willing to stay, just in case he does something,” I replied, unwilling to leave her.

“Okay, you may stay in the room, just go do something else. I believe this should be handled between the instructor and the pupil,” she stated, glancing at me with a hard stare.

“Yes ma’am,” I whispered as I shuffled away to a corner where I had thrown my bag in it.

Sticking from the top of it was my water bottle, and I snagged it with glee. I was so parched, believe it or not. I sank onto the ground, my eyes focused on the events that would start soon.

Jayden eyed his tutor with distasteful hatred. His pale hands balled into fists and he took a step backwards.

“I didn’t want this job in the first place?” he snarled. “I hate it and I hate these powers! I wish I never received them!”

“Well, Mr. Yoldern, that is something that was out of all our control,” she stated calmly.

“Well look lady, I really don’t care about that okay?” he questioned, taking another step towards the door.

“First of all, you will treat me with the respect that I deserve. My name is Ms. Tram, and I am your only hope of survival,” his instructor asserted.

“What part of I don’t care, did you not understand,” he spat, angrily.

Ms. Tram’s brown eyes flashed with undismissable anger as she filled the gap between her and her pupil. In her hand formed a ball of flame. This is why she was selected to be his instructor.

He glanced warily at her, unsure of what to do to protect himself. Ms. Tram didn’t hesitate to strike the first blow of their match, landing it squarely on his chest. He exhaled a puff of air with a pained expression. His expression also held a lot of disbelief.

“I thought you were supposed to be teaching me not hurting me, lady,” he said annoyingly.

“To be hurt is to learn,” Ms. Tram responded with. “You learn nothing by being sheltered in anyway, learn to fight correctly or die in the streets.”

“Maybe I’d prefer to die instead of being in the company of such improper females,” he chimed.

Surrounding his fists were flames, not powerful and majestic like that of his instructor. His where whimpy, childlike flames, that keep trying to spread out across his entire body due to a lack of personal control.

“Leave. I’m not going to deal with you right now,” Ms. Tram said. “I am leaving you with this note. If you continue on the path you are on, you will last very long in this war.”

I stood up, gathering my belongings. I knew that Ms. Tram was angry, and I really didn’t want to stand in her way. Jayden shrugged with no care and walked away from her. I gave her a small smile as I went to head towards the exit, to allow her to have the room to herself.


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Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:58 pm
Holysocks wrote a review...



Hello! C: I'd love to give you a review! ^_^

You've certainly got me thinking about about things and my mind if full of questions and so I think that's good in the beginning of a novel like this! Like, I'm wondering what is this job that that guy is talking about, and what he's getting trained for and why he's backing out, and I'm wondering if he ever wanted the job, or if he just has some ability that sort of carves out his life's path (which is kind of a scary thought to me, actually). I have just jumped into this, so there might be a few things that I don't understand but I'll try to comment on other things.

Steam seemed to raise off the of his head. His blonde hair was plastered to his head, the strands giving him nearly a feminine look.


This first line I found was kind of confusing and vague. The bolded words really make it seem like the character isn't even sure if what they're saying is true or not, and when the character is our eyes we need them to be sure of what they're telling us to an extent, or we might just decide not to listen to them, you know?


“But I am always willing to stay, just in case he does something,”


Some of your dialogue feels almost info-dumpy. Well, I don't know. In a sense I feel like this bit of dialogue is too open and the character spells too much out. In real life, sometimes people don't say everything that they mean, sometimes they say it in another way, by disguising it as something else. This article: Linguistics and Dialogue, Intro explains this very well and it's very entertaining from what I remember, as well! ^_^

Jayden eyed his tutor with distasteful hatred.


His name seems to only get mentioned half-way into the piece, and I find this a bit odd because he's mentioned plenty enough. Don't be afraid to use his name a little more! Variety is good but not without a... foundation..? Something like that.

One last thing. I feel like I don't really have a feel for your characters- well I do (not the MC though), but they seem to be sliding into a almost cliche niche of what characters or people would act like in those situations. Like the tutor and the pupil. The tutor falls into an almost bad-guy role (like most evil scientists or something), and the pupil falls into more of a rebellious teenager type- only more of a "going to do something stupid because he's terrified" type. It's hard to explain, but just remember that not all bad guys are bad, and not all good guys are good- AKA they all have a piece of everything in them.

Other than that, I think you've got a good start! Keep it up!!! ^_^ I hope my rambling was somewhat useful.

-Socks




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Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:05 am
Mea wrote a review...



Hey there! I saw this lurking at the back of the Green Room and thought I'd come give it a quick review.

So, I like the conflict you have set up here - I'm interested to know what's going on and if Mr. Yoldern will grow less hostile to Ms. Tram.

One of the main things that this chapter needs is a bit of a proofread. In general, I can follow what's going on, and your grammar is fine, but there are several places where common errors occur, such as "where" instead of "were."

The other main thing that was a problem was that all your dialogue and narration felt really stiff. I know Ms. Tram is trying to be formal, so her dialogue makes sense, but the narration and the other character's dialogue just don't read well, and I know why - you're trying too hard. You're trying to use higher vocabulary and specific words to describe things, and it shows.

Your dialogue tags are a good example of this. Almost all of them aren't just "said" or "asked," but things like "responded," "questioned," and other overly formal words that mean similar things.

For example, this quote:

my eyes focused on the events that would start soon.

You can just as easily (and more specifically and colloquially) say "focused on the showdown that was about to happen" or something similar. This reads better, and actually winds up being more specific. Remember, this isn't an essay - you don't use the same vocabulary.

The one thing I was confused about was this:
In her hand formed a ball of flame. This is why she was selected to be his instructor.

I don't understand the connection here. Was she chosen because she's able to form the ball of fire? What relevance does that have?

And that's all I've got for you! Good luck and keep writing!





Powerful men have a way of avoiding consequences.
— Dr. Harrison Wells, The Flash