[Dreamy Manifestations]I was your average girl, living. I had a family. A mother, a father, siblings, I was the youngest. But they took it away from me.
“Who are they mama?” I asked her in my six-year old voice, she did not answer. Tears just kept on falling from her eyes. Back then I can’t even understand what was happening.
There stood, a man in black shirt and pants, he was plain. He was plain before I saw the fire from his eyes. He was plain before I saw the fire from his hands. He was plain before I saw how he killed my family, looking them straight in the eye, holding them tight. BURNING THEM. And I sat there, just sat there. Hearing the screams, the pleas, the cries of my family and doing nothing to stop the agony. I sat there, hearing the bitter chuckle of the man who killed them. I was afraid to look at him, I was afraid of him. And I still am.
“Now, kill the girl” the man said, I trembled. Then, I saw someone standing in front of me. He was about my age, six? , I can’t see him clearly. Besides the fact that fire was everywhere, my vision was cloudy because of the tears, tears of fear. The little boy held my wrist, I felt a burning sensation, and I looked at him, and knew what was going to happen. The last thing I heard was when he whispered.
“Sorry” in a tone so soft only us: he and I would hear.
Then everything went black.
CHAPTER 1
[Cold Summer]
I opened my eyes. I was panting. My throat was so dry with all the screams in my dream.
A DREAM! I thought. It was all a dream.
I hope it really was just a dream. But unfortunately, it did happen. I did lose so much. I happen to be the little girl that was terrified, killed, and lived again.
I was in a coma for five months and when I woke up, the two things I remembered were my name and the day five months before. It was all a blur to me, how I woke up again, because as far as I am concern, I died. Someone killed me, that boy killed me. How would I live if my heart stopped? How would I live if right there that little boy KILLED ME? Answer.
I am now sixteen. I am a sophomore and living here in Salem, New Jersey. Hazel-colored eyes, long dyed black hair, very, very pale skin, and 5’8 in height, that’s pretty much what I could say about myself.
Also, the couple who had found me inside the house had adopted me. Their names are Brianna and Harold Sparks. Brianna has strawberry blond hair in a bob, icy blue eyes and ivory skin. While Harold, or Dad, has brown hair, brown eyes and tan skin. He is also built but not bulky. They are actually just like siblings to me, she is 31 and he is 33.
“SUMMER!”
“Yes mom, I am very much aware that I am late now.”
“Good.” Was all she said, funny? Well no. Even though she acts mother-like, she still sound like an older sister.
“I’m going Mom”
“Okay” She shouted from the kitchen which is by the way three rooms away from where I am. (Just so you know)
I walked towards school, don’t pity me, I don’t do this because I have to, it’s because I want to. I needed to think. I needed to process the images that went vivid in my dreams. It had been hunting me for ten years now.
My recalls were suddenly interrupted by someone who was plain stupid not to know where to go.
“You know, there’s a thing called ‘Sorry’.” I said this complete with the air quotes.
“It’s not nice of me to not say that word but I’ve been saving that word for one person only. I hope you understand.” He said in his most calm voice. Okay, so why did I know he was calm? He could have killed me, then and there.
“Look, mister-not-nice-of-me-to-not-say-sorry you are so goin—“
I simply could not finish my statement because he suddenly wrapped his arms around me. His grip was so cold it burnt to the touch.
I was in a state of shock. All my brain cells are dying one by one. My heart is skipping beats. It feels like I know this guy from somewhere, I’m feeling he was or is a part of me. I just can’t remember.
“You will understand” then he walked away.
I stood there, taken aback. Who wouldn’t? Being hugged by a guy you don’t know, who wouldn’t be freaked out?
Surprisingly, I kind of, felt like, uhm, know him.
HELP! -threm.:)
[JMod Edit: Watch the caps in the title]
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
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I've added maaaany more chapters. who wants to read? pm me.
I'm really bad at proof reading(I have a hard time even doing my own stuff!) but I'm good with plots and stuff if you know what I mean.
One thing I did notes though is that you use commas way to much.
Plot wise it was pretty good but you need to show more then tell. Also I'd work on adding description in with the story letting it flow rather then the "Info dump" you have now.
I really like the suspense of the hole thing:) A real page turner!(or since it's on the computer would it be a page scroller?)
Well anyway I know it's not much but I hope it helps!
I see music took care of the issues, and I am a bad proof reader. I saw your post in Writer's Corner about this, but did not make a comment due to a lack of content to go by.
This piece is short, and it really doesn't help me answer try to fix your writer's block because the content is still so little. You have 17,000 words down according to your other post, but I can't help think that 17,000 words reads entirely like this entry.
A lot of the problems with this piece is the dialogue and the in formal, way to informal to be exact, prose you have int he story. It reads like a diary and is very bland by using passive verse. Going between active and passive should be part of the tools a writer uses to fill in gaps of knowledge or take a look at something more closely, then switch to the in depth active prose to bring the reader in more. Like the focus of a lens, it needs to be adjusted for capturing the picture you words paint. Frankly, I don't see it.
Everything is told to us, so I cannot really get into the story. Making matters worse was the constant 'I' at the beginning of almost every sentence. Try to spice up the sentence structure some. You also need more description, especially in active 'showing 'prose and not this passive 'telling' prose.
For curing your writer's block, it seems that you are unorganized and write this on the fly without really knowing the characters before hand. Perhaps some character sheets and a grasp of various settings will help you overcome it.
Hello, darling! I'll review overall for prologue and chapter 1 and edit grammar for chapter one [since everyone else did the prologue.]
I think the sentence was a little choppy, so I re-worded it.
Caps... Haha.
You're mixing up your tenses here. Keep it in past tense, the one you used first.
As to the last line- you didn't describe this person as being angry, why throw in the "kill me"? Consider removing it- it just doesn't make sense.
It sounds like she's saying this aloud, which isn't what she's doing.
Overall:
Hi, and nicely done! I want to know who killed her family and why. Your grammar wasn't perfect; try to double check for any careless mistakes before posting.
Anyway, good job! Keep it up!
Love,
Music.
Hey, I'm Moo, and I'll be looking at your work
This, 'living,' part makes no sense, really. Also, a full stop after siblings is needed. Also an 'and before siblings too.
Um, kind of a strange way to tell us the age of the MC. Try to tell the reader this another way.
I don't know why, but I find capitals make words very choppy. Also, it draws the reader to those words, and it gives a tendancy for readers to skip to that line. Use lowercase letters and put it in italics instead
The second, 'just sat there,' is annoying me. Take it out and use a different sentence to show the MC did nothing to help her family.
'Their' pleas
Ah! Repetition!
The word, 'afraid,' is repeated too much here. It makes a sentence boring if you use the same word in it twice. Try, 'terrified, scared,' for the latter one.
Use another word rather than, 'said.' It's a bit of a bland way for a murderer to speak. Also, you should maybe put an excamation mark at the end of this line. For example, 'Now, kill the girl!" he man roared in my direction, as I trembled violently in my seat.'
Remove the question mark and replace with a full stop
You switch tenses here, from past to present. Keep an eye out for this, it's an easy mistake to make.
Poor wording here. You should split this sentence, and put in a few extra words so it's like this, 'The little boy held my wrist, andI felt a burning sensation. I looked at him, and knew what was going to happen.'
Sorry, this is all I have time for. I'll return to look at the rest later
-Moo
First of all, i would just like to say i really liked this and thoroughly enjoyed it! Also, sorry if i repeat advice already given to you
But, now to review!
Instead of putting "i can't even understand..." i would use "i couldn't even understand what was happening", because it seems like you jumped from past tense to present there?
I think this would sound better if you said "There stood a man in a black shirt and pants, he seemed plain."
[/i]I put the 'a' before black shirt because i think that would be correct there, and i also put 'seemed' in because then this sort of gives the reader the idea that when you looked at him, he did seem plain but then you realised he wasn't. If you get what i mean?[/i]
I can see what you were trying to achieve with repeating 'he was plain', but in my opinion it just seemed a bit repetitive. You could use something like I soon realised he wasn't plain when i saw the fire in his eyes... and just carry on with that? If you get my drift...
There shouldn't be a comma after here, just start with "I can't see him clearly".
Just to clarify, if i sounded mean i honestly didn't mean to! And, i did really enjoy the story here, also, my advice is all optional, you can take it or just leave it the way it is
Another thing, i was gripped to the story throughout, and i am excited to hear what happens next! PM me if you have any questions...and if you've written more
Hope i helped!
That sentence sounds a little choppy to me, how about rewording it? Something like this, "A mother, a father, and siblings, and I was the youngest.
Keep it past tense, the rest of your story mainly is, (change can't to couldn't)
I say you reword it to, "And I just sat there." The first version sounds a little too repetitive.
Rewording it to "Kill the girl, NOW!" makes the man sound more scary, it would give the girl even more reason to tremble.
Be careful, you're getting very close to an info dump. (P.S. some people would call that an info dump)
Love the names!
I think you probably meant "haunting"
I say you should actually tell us what he did, I got very confused at the next few parts.
Sounds very childish, I'm not sure if your character meant to be that way, that was just my first impression.
It feels very awkward. How about, "Surprisingly, I felt like I kind of know him."
Hope I could help!
I really liked it! This is the kind of book I'd pick up to read at a book store!
Keep writing!
God Bless!
Hey! I'm La Reina, and I'll be reviewing your prologue today. (Don't have enough time to do chapter one, sorry!)
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS~
I'd definitely like to keep an eye on this one. I like how you left us hanging. Who's the man with the flaming hands? Why did he kill her family? Why did the boy save her? What's wrong with the girl? I like that. It leaves the reader wanting more.
Now, I didn't pick up an spelling mistakes but you had a lot of gramatical errors. You use the commas too much. I adjusted that, as you could tell. If you have Word Perfect, you can usually use spell check and a grammar check, too.
Hope that helps!