z

Young Writers Society



Contingence

by cj2344


We were put forth from the same lovers. So often that an inquisitive eye falls upon our likeness, yet forgets our fatal incompatibilities. It is possible I worry these into existence but it is as if they are palpable. I feel them in my voice when it gets weak of yelling. I feel them in the hand that strikes my face. I even feel them in the taut muscles that peek out when I clench my fist. They feel like lemon does on open flesh. They are pepper-spraying my mental faculties. I have tried to cease them but they do not wish to be quieted, it seems.

In the air she spouts that seldom sends me messages that in return grant a smile. We have different propensities towards congeniality, I suppose. Where I try, or at least I hope I do, to speak rationally, but she chisels at my hopes for a better future together with her words and violence. I’d like to think she gave an agreeable amount of effort I do not see it, nor hear it, nor feel it like I do the undoubting pain.

How did we become so different, her outward bearing thorns and my easily marred complexion? We are of the same home, sex, and life. It is something I cannot overcome. Believe my words, for I have tried. I have quit, and I have succumbed. I have given in and given up. I have forgiven and forgotten. I still find myself in the same predicament: A secret leaked, a bubble of hope popped, a clean slate dirtied, and a dry eye moistened. By the time she learns to love, or show compassion I will have none of these things, including a life.

There is no happy sun that will shine on our petty relationship. I know I will continue to let her stump me, and skin my knee. I know that I’ll walk away and she will act nice for a while. I know that when I get comfortable and least expect it she’ll turn like old milk. The one thing that I will never know is if I love her, even better yet, does she love me? Being attracted to her is like hearing the siren’s song I long for her deadly beauty. I’m an absolute fool without a commitment problem, and maybe I should grow some thicker skin, but for some reason I think I should wait for her to change. Words, although helpful in patching my ever growing discontent, are tentative in this battle. The true dilemma is whether to fight back with action.


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Sun Jun 30, 2013 5:58 pm
StoneHeart wrote a review...



~Black~

Hey CJ! Black here for a quick Review Day review!

Okay, so, AMAZING piece here! Your style is incredibly formal, but formal in a good way, extremely well used! And your theme . . . whew, if you didn't do a nice job on it then nobody has! It is awesome and I loved it! Your style is really, really good, going along from point to point really easily, without glitches! Nice job there! Overall you did a really good job! Great work!

However, you did have a few problems, only two of which I have time to address in this particular review. These two problems are your theme is really jolty and if you do not read this piece very carefully then it's pretty much impossible to understand, and your grammar, while using nice formal words, is at times very hard to understand, and in a few places, it's totally incorrect!
I'll do my best to help you out with both of these problems (closely tied together as they are), but in the end you must remember that the hard work of actually sitting down and FIXING the problem is left up to you! As always! Don't let this review be in vain!

Okay, so here goes with your grammar! What I'm going to do here, as I usully do, is show you your basic, down- to -the -earth problems on the lowest level: Quotes. Then I'm going to give you fixes for the base problems, and I'll wind up this part of the review by giving you a general solution to your problem! Here goes!

We were put forth from the same lovers. So often that an inquisitive eye falls upon our likeness, yet forgets our fatal incompatibilities. It is possible I worry these into existence but it is as if they are palpable.


Okay, read this! Tell me if you, as a reader, not knowing what's going on, could read this here paragraph and understand what it means. The first part is confusing! Who are 'we'? How can you be 'put forth 'from' the same lovers'? In the second part of the paragraph you STATE that these people have 'fatal incompatibilities', and then you step forward and state doubt in the fact! 'It is possible I worry these into existence'. . . that doesn't make sense. If you want it to though, you should use third person to write the piece!

Where I try, or at least I hope I do, to speak rationally, but she chisels at my hopes for a better future together with her words and violence. I’d like to think she gave an agreeable amount of effort I do not see it, nor hear it, nor feel it like I do the undoubting pain.


Okay, again, you're not making sense. But this time it's partly because of your grammar. Again, you should read it out loud (doing that really does help to work out problems!). I think your 'where' should be 'when', but it would probably work as nothing -you should look into it! Also, you need a '. But' after the 'effort't here. You need to note that period espeicially!

How did we become so different, her outward bearing thorns and my easily marred complexion? We are of the same home, sex, and life. It is something I cannot overcome. Believe my words, for I have tried. I have quit, and I have succumbed.


Seeing as there are a number of things that I'm not very sure about in this piece, I thought I should just let you know that this paragraph makes me think that the two lovers the story is about are gay. . . . It may not have been your intention, but still! I thought you might just like to know! Also, the 'outward bearing thorns' part doesn't make sense, you should look into it!

I know that when I get comfortable and least expect it she’ll turn like old milk. The one thing that I will never know is if I love her, even better yet, does she love me?


Okay, this guy/ girl is sounding like a hypocrite because of the second part here. An idiot too. How could he/she not know! >> Insane! Work on it! Or at least realize it. Also, you need to put a comma in after 'comfortable' and 'it' in the first part!

Okay, I've proved that you do have a bit of a problem, I've fixed the basic problems that I've pointed out to you! And now I must generalize! I think your problem here is that you're using a really formal style and you're not familiar enough with it to be able to handle it. My prescription? Simple: Practice this style. Work with it. You know, practice makes perfect! Apply that!!!

Okay, so now for that final problem, before I wind up! Your theme is great and all, I love it how you show the guy/ girls doubt and timidity before his/ her lover. It's really well done. But you ahve a problem with the way you show it. Read it. The guy who wrote this (imagining it wasn't ficiton here) seems like he must have been really, really confused. I think I'm going to say that this is closely tied to your grammar problem. Infamiliarity with the style and topic. Try to plan out a bit. Try to understand where you're going and why!

Okay, so winding up! Good job! You did have a good theme, a good style, and despite your problems you did use formal style quite nicely. Not many people use it anymore and it's a nice thing to see around! Work on your weak spots, try to familiarize yourself with this style of writing, and this type of topic, practice, and you will improve! Remember, writers advance through practice of their craft. If you don't practice you won't improve. Workshops, books, and classes only get you so far, it's the practice that wins out! So Keep writing!


~Black~




cj2344 says...


Thanks for your review. I appreciate you telling me where you get confused because, as you probably know, the main part of writing is communication. Anyways, I can clear up a few parts of this for you. being put forth from the same lovers means that 'we' are siblings. This piece is about my sister and I. It's about how she's unpredictable and mean, but she's my sister and I have no idea if I truly love her.



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Sun Jun 30, 2013 3:39 pm
ArcticMonkey wrote a review...



Yo, cj! Here to review :)

Right so it is very obvious that you have a lovely way of writing! It's very... sophisticated to say the least, and is really nice to read (there are a few concerns with this style which I'll mention later). I also like the whole idea and theme of it. It seems really well thought out and planned, even if it wasn't, it's just quite unique really, so well done!

There are a few points I'd like to raise like firstly, who is the 'she' mentioned. I mean, I totally like the mysteriousness of it, but i really want to know more. I mean, is it referring to a person or a thing? That was quite unclear. I think you should still keep this mysteriousness of it up, but perhaps just explain it a bit more, because I think that would really help to better understand what is actually going on.

Now, I did say that you have a really nice way of writing. However, it seemed that your sophisticated language sort of took over the whole story. I'm not saying you did this, but it's almost like you got a thesaurus on your words. I think it's great that your vocabulary is this broad, I know that mine is nowhere near this, but even for a sophisticated target audience, I think this is just a bit too much! Try and use shorter sentences perhaps, especially when big things are going on. As lovely as big descriptive sentences are, when used all the time it can just make the piece quite tedious.

Believe my words, for I have tried. I have quit, and I have succumbed. I have given in and given up. I have forgiven and forgotten.

I really wasn't fond of this part. I'm not sure what it was, but I guess the whole opposites thing didn't really work for me. It just seemed a bit too over-used, and took away from your beautiful writing in all honesty!

Generally, this was really well-written. Like I said, you clearly have a fantastic vocabulary, however don't let that take away from actually telling the story. Stories should be told and not described. What I'm trying to say is, there needs to be a midpoint between showing and telling. Right now it's pretty much all showing, so just something to watch out for.

Hope this helped. PM me with questions or if you'd like another review!

Keep Writing!
-Arc x




cj2344 says...


Thanks a lot for the review, I'll do my best to fix this. I agree with you that it's too much complicated vocabulary. I was trying something out, and I think I'm going to go a different way in the future. That one quote you pulled is not really about opposites. It was more showing that my narrator wasn't a whiny little brat, and that she has actually tried to make the relationship work between her and her sister (it says they were 'put forth from the same lovers' meaning they were siblings). Anyways, thanks a lot for the review, much appreciated!



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Mon May 27, 2013 3:38 am
KatieHope wrote a review...



I feel as if you wrote this while experiencing feelings similar to those expressed here. If you did not, let me know and you'll hear me applauding from my home. This was beautifully written, and my only issue with it was that the extensive vocabulary seemed almost frivolous. I had to turn off my television, put on my glasses and really concentrate on the words to understand this. It was worth it, and perhaps that isn't necessarily a bad thing for a story as intense as this, but lightening up and making things a bit smoother wouldn't hurt.

Overall, I'd love if you would keep writing things like this! You express emotions well.




cj2344 says...


Thank you so much for the review! It is in fact something I've felt my whole life. And, isn't it an author's job to make the reader turn off the T.V. once and a while, hahaha. I'll work on the vocabulary thing. I'll take this into account when editing this (again :) ) and writing other pieces. Thanks again!



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Mon May 27, 2013 3:28 am
Frayer wrote a review...



Beautiful. All I can say is BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL WORK!

I absolutely love this. The realness of it is breath-taking. The mood is dark but quizzical (In a good way).

Please keep on writing! Work like this stuns me and I would like to read more from you in the future.
-Frayer




cj2344 says...


Thank you!




something I have been thinking about ever since I saw the Super Mario Bros movie is how once I took a "what Nintendo character are you" quiz and I got Waluigi.
— Elinor