Removed by author
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
Hey there Kanen! At last, I have made it to chapter 1 part 2. ^^ This was quite a bit better than part 1--good job! I can tell you are taking past suggestions in mind as you write and edit more. As always, your writing style is easy to read, and it flows well. A lot of my suggestions are going to be along the same vein as what I suggested the last part, but I am going to point out specific parts where you can work characters into the prose, okay? You're already doing a lot better with it, but there are parts where you can improve even more.
Your description of the office is nice--but I've never really understood the entire 'description of place... but so-and-so didn't care' set up. This beginning seems to herald largely from Jairon's point of view, so why do we get such a detailed description? Even if Jairon is focused on something, chances are something about the atmosphere catches his attention. The fire crackling--he can hear that while he's working. And, when other things affect him, you can color the description with your character. Try to avoid flat-out telling us scenery for the moment--try relating the scenery and the situation back to your character. The crackling of the fireplace--does it distract him? The tapestries--does he look at them when he's thinking? How do they make him feel? And the situation you describe at the end--how does he feel about that? Does he have some anxious visceral reaction? Is he unworried about it? You don't want to include too much of this detail, but, especially when we are first being introduced to your character, it really helps to fuse together setting and character, how the two affect each other, so your atmosphere and your cast work together towards painting pictures for the reader.
We have some better body language here! Lovely. Here we learn that Jairon does not like the son of the Duke of Caldrea. His dislike for him is a statement though, one which is not well backed up by character or by voice. There's many ways of going about this--my two personal favorites are adding body language to the thought and messing with voice. Making him grimace a little, changing his face, giving him gut reactions when he thinks about so-and-so. The other favorite way is infusing Jairon's voice into his dislike a little more--tapping into his head and putting the way he thinks about it down without breaking into the parentheses. Basically, taking his own words and putting them into the prose. That will give us a better feeling for the exact things he feels towards the Duke of Caldrea's son. If you want examples of these, just PM me and I can provide, but it might be better to just dive in and try it.
Again, I think some setting-character fusing would make this more powerful. Give us a better feel for the hall AND for Dracon.
Okay, maybe this is just me... but this seems like an odd knighting speech. You know Jairon better than I do, but it seems awfully informal for knighting someone. Maybe look up some knighting speeches for examples?
Body language speaks louder than telling! If you give us more detail on Dracon remaining silent, perhaps glancing around boredly, we don't even need you to tell us that he's been to too many to find it interesting!
This ending seems rather distant right now--mostly due to the fact that we get very little insight into what Dracon's 'state of battle' is. Try to clip the prose to mirror his thought process, like you did in the first part of the chapter. I know he's calm, but more connection between Dracon and the events at hand would help this immensely!
So, you are certainly improving on the character development front! This is looking much better in that respect--but those are some specific instances where I felt you could really take the character development up a notch and start drawing the reader closer to your characters. It's getting better.
As for the characters themselves, I'm getting more reaction from Dracon in this which is making him slightly more believable, but he still seems a little distant, so keep connecting the reader with him and try to let him shine through more. Jairon seems interesting, but I don't have a good feel for him yet--I think more interaction between himself and his setting would help with this. Also, keep an eye on switching around in too short of scenes, one of the pitfalls I mentioned in that tutorial I gave you last time. It's not out of hand, but it's something to keep an eye on and something you want to think about.
Nice job with this! You're doing well! Do keep writing! I will try to get to chapter 2 at some point, but I can't say how soon. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!
Hay Kanen! Aushy here again, as requested. :}
And here I go...
This, as always, is another example of your fantastic work. You have a really wonderful writing style, perfect for action/fantasy/adventure. I really have no negative critique for this. Keep up the good work! :}
Don't forget to PM me or come to my shack whenever you need anything else reviewed. And yes, I'm on my way to chapter 2.
Love & Blessings,
Aushy
I changed the story to add in the edits. Thanks so much for the help. I decided to go with a crossbow and on a balcony.
Alrighty, I'm ba-ack!Let's get right to it, you know the drill.
Alrighty, then. Not too many errors in this one. But I have a problem-- this is really cliche. I mean, king tackled at party by servant to save him from assassination? Not quite original. I dunno. This is well written, but you should change things up a bit. Add in a twist. Keep writing!
--Dreamy
Hey there! I'm here to review part deux!
Again, beautifully written, and I love that you're bringing in action; always a sure win for me. There were only a few things I noticed.
I'm not an expert on the proper way to show thoughts, but I'm pretty sure that you only use italics for a direct thought from the character. For example: I wonder what's going on? he thought. - as opposed to - He wondered what was going on.
You see how the one in italics is exactly the wording that's going through his head? And what you have in italics seems to be more like the general line of thought of the king's.
I think you mean "razing."
Sounds wrong, I would use a different word.
Notice how many times you use "young man" to refer to the knight-to-be? You don't want to have so much repetition in a single paragraph.
As much as I like this, I can't help but think that a man with a bow, which he's drawing, is bound to gain more peoples' attention. After all, he has to be in a spot where he's got enough draw room, and I get the impression that it's pretty crowded there.
Maybe using a crossbow would be easier. For one thing, just about anyone can use it, as all you need to do is pull the bowstring back with a winch and then pull the trigger. It's smaller, more portable, less conspicuous, easier to aim with and easier to use. And the man won't need the massive power of the longbow at such a short distance; a crossbow would work just as well and make it less complicated for him to use.
Sorry for ranting on about that, I tend to get really talkative when it comes to medieval weaponry. I'll leave it to you to decide what weapon he uses.
Anyways, well done yet again! Please let me know when you post more!
Well hey there! Here to review!
I don't know why, but this entire part takes up just the middle of the page.
Okay this part here, I would italicize it too, because it's as if he's thinking it, especially if it's in the present tense.
I didn't really find any other mistakes... I thought the story and writing were good! I enjoyed the chapter, although the King's a jerk