isolation

by elysian

Published April 2, 2019

E - Everyone

In Excerpt From A Novel I'll Never Write Series

The problem with me is that I am an explosion of everything compacted into one small human. I am a ticking time bomb counting down the moments to my next heartbreak, and let me tell you, there isn't very much time on the clock. Some may call me a liability, never sure how much they can take before I break into a million pieces before their eyes.

I love too big, too fiercely. I love too much. That's always been a phrase that didn't make sense to me. How can one love too much? How can one say that it’s better for a human to give you only half of their love, only a percentage, rather than their all? Is that not what everyone wants? To be loved to the fullest?

It’s ironically necessary for me to wear a “Caution: Do Not Touch” sign although what I crave most is human contact. I feel as though my spirit might die in isolation, so which do I choose? Am I selfish, and continue to need the ones I hurt, or am I selfless? Do I lose myself to the black void of loneliness for the sake of those around me?

Somehow I know isolation is the only way to save everyone from my downfall. The scattered pieces of my heart like glass cut so deeply the ones I love, leaving us both with open wounds that seem to only sting worse with the salt of time. I am not myself without love, yet being selfish is not in my nature either.

So is there really no hope for me? I really am alone.

{excerpt from a novel i’ll never write #14}

Comments & reviews · 3
ThatOneGuy2002 wrote a review Review · Apr 4, 2019

This is cool. I kind of see it as an insight to this novel that will never be written. It reminds me a bit of myself (I suppose it is a bit unfair to say, going off of that I have a girlfriend, but whatever), someone who keeps quiet when everyones loud. But I like the isolation. It helps me keep my own mind, and keeps me from becoming more like everyone around me, a vital strategy for todays twisted world. I liked the wording, the symbolisms were just spot on. I like how it was poetic, yet written in more of a novel type of pacing.
Overall, I loved this, and hope to hear more works from you in the future.

elysian replied · Apr 4, 2019

Thank you!

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brookeallo
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brookeallo commented Comment · Apr 2, 2019

I found this to be a really good poem. My favorite part would have to be the middle of it. For a review I would suggest that you make it look more like a poem format then a paragraph because at first I almost just stopped reading but then got quickly drawn in by the first line. I felt emotion and the feeling of being alone. One thing that bothered me was how great the poem was up till the ending. I think your ending should tie in you poem. I feel like for the last line something such as rewording like, " It seems as if there is no hope for me, doomed for eternity to be alone." I really did enjoy the way the lines blended together and felt so real and were more subtle and easy to connect to.

elysian replied · Apr 4, 2019

thank you so much! I'll work on the ending line!

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Teddybear
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Teddybear wrote a review Review · Apr 2, 2019

Hey!...yeah, I clicked into this thinking that this was just going to be some random scene that popped into your head that you had to write down even though you don't have the patience/motivation to create a context for. My point is, I wasn't expecting to be hit with the most relatable piece of writing I've ever laid eyes on. (How dare you not prepare me for this thing you could have no possible idea would hit nearly so close to home)

Yeah, but other than the emotional blow, this was really good! Well, I guess the emotion really contributed to it being as good as it is, but since I'm feeling called out, I'm going to just ignore that.

What I am going to do is go through paragraph by paragraph and give my thoughts and the few places I see as 'trouble spots' or that I think could be improved. (Note: just because I point it out, does not mean that I think it's bad, just that it's not as good as it could be)

Let's starts at the beginning. I'll be reviewing this as it's own finished thing, by the way, because it's incredibly difficult to judge something as part of a nonexistent whole.

"The problem with me is that I am an explosion of everything compacted into one small human."

The use of the word 'human' in your opening line implies that the readers would possibly guess the narrator to be anything but human, which is not something that seems justified by the end of this particular piece. Additionally, real people don't usually describe themselves as 'human' in their thoughts (unless they happen to be me, but that's a long story) since they wouldn't necessarily be hyper-aware of their species at any given moment. I would recommend switching it to 'person' or 'body' as in "The problem with me is that I am an explosion of everything compacted into one small person" or "The problem with me is that I am an explosion of everything compacted into one small body".

All of that over one word, I don't hear you asking? Yes.

Let's move on.

"I love too big, too fiercely. I love too much. That's always been a phrase that didn't make sense to me. How can one love too much? How can one say that it’s better for a human to give you only half of their love, only a percentage, rather than their all? Is that not what everyone wants? To be loved to the fullest?"

You go from this (above) to this,

"It’s ironically necessary for me to wear a “Caution: Do Not Touch” sign although what I crave most is human contact. I feel as though my spirit might die in isolation, so which do I choose? Am I selfish, and continue to need the ones I hurt, or am I selfless? Do I lose myself to the black void of loneliness for the sake of those around me?"

Which is a bit of a jump. You were on a role with that first paragraph, but you didn't follow through. It felt like you just kinda jumped un-organically from one topic of the narrator's internalized problems to another. I can't tell you exactly how to fix it, but I guess you can just try to make the transition smoother? Maybe dedicate a paragraph between them to the narrator guessing at the answers to the questions and touch on the idea of the narrator being touch-starved before going into the second paragraph.

"So is there really no hope for me? I really am alone."

Your last line feels a little awkwardly tacked on. I also don't know how to recommend you go about fixing that, but it is a thing that I saw.

One last thing to note before I go, most of these non-issues were only noticed by me in my second or third passes over the piece, so it's not like these are glaring issues or anything.

Okay, that's all from me for now. Goodbye and happy writing!

elysian replied · Apr 4, 2019

thank you for the lovely input! I will try and adjust those parts you mentioned <3



It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
— Mark Twain