Chasing Smoke by @WinterWriter11

Title
Of course, the title is great. It's captivating right from the start, and it's unique.

Cover
Lol, I'm not quite sure what to say about it—it feels weird to criticize a cover that's replaced mine. No hard feelings, though! New covers are always exciting! However, I still have to review it. In my opinion, it's a bit jumbled and the title is hard to read. There are so many themes and fragments of images that I'm having a hard time putting together when I first look at it (perhaps a bit cheesy, as well?). I don't want to push it, haha. In my experience as a cover maker, I always try to make my covers clear, beautiful, intriguing, and professional. Anything below that critique isn't my standard (which I'm sure you know!). I'm assuming that you made a request recently or a while ago and had received it with a requirement to have it there for a certain amount as payment, which I have in my shop as well. I don't blame you for wanting to try something new! A little different style here, a new person...try it! I will always advocate that, so I won't take any points off. :)

Gosh, that was weird. I feel guilty!

Blurb
Your blurb leaves me with one question: where and what is the conflict in this story? Don't answer drama! Tsk, tsk—don't you dare! Don't even think about it! Most romance stories are "great and all," with their hot and steamy scenes and cutesy phrases. But a romance story should have a real conflict to deal with too! A race against time, overcoming tragedy...etc. Perhaps your story has this conflict and you just didn't put it in your blurb. We'll see.

Hm. Now that I've read it, there are many side conflicts but not a main one. Of course, there's the issue of friend zones, Camila's nightmares, Chase's dysfunctional home and anger issues, and just drama, but where's the underlying conflict? Is it that they have struggles with sort of wanting to be together but things keep pushing them apart? That's kind of drama, though, so you agree? You could really amplify a character's flaws I suppose...but it still wouldn't be clear. I won't take any points though, because it doesn't affect the reading.

*since your story comes in 14 parts, I'll be reviewing two chapters at a time for a total of seven portions of the review*

Author's Note-Playlist
Your Author's Note seems a bit unnecessary all but the banners. Even those could be put in an author's note at the end of a chapter and take up less space. It wouldn't hinder the reader's reading, if you know what I mean. The rest of the note, you just keep saying that you don't really know what to say. Then why have this part? Also, you kind of put another blurb in your author's note. Many people tend to do this, but why? Why put another blurb in the story when you have a blurb outside of the story? Are authors afraid that the readers didn't read the blurb? That doesn't make sense—they opened your story to read your story. Let them read it! And why is the blurb inside always more detailed? You have room! Use the spot that Wattpad gives you to your advantage—you don't want readers to open up your story after reading the blurb outside only to find another one or virtually the same one on the inside. I think I'll have to take a point off for that, I'm afraid. Your readers click on your story to read the story. -1 is your total so far. I would take out the entire note if I were you and move stuff around.

You also have a cast list in your story. Let me just start off by saying that I don't like these things. I mean, they're probably helpful in fanfiction, but for the rest, it just seems as though the authors aren't...trying. Don't get me wrong—I know how hard everyone works on their writing! It's just that with cast members, I also how that they eliminate intricate descriptions of the characters (since the readers know who the celebrities look like). You could easily put cast members into your writing through description, and even if you really wanted a character to look like a certain celebrity, you could easily just say so in your story. That way, you give me as a reader more imaginative freedom (to visualize the characters in my own way).

And now...a playlist. To be honest, it seems eccentric. Playlists are awesome, but as a reader I was kind of hoping to get to your actual story. If I read this just normally, I'd probably skip over your Author's Note and your playlist. That being said, I think that your playlist is fine.

Now I can actually read the story!

Prologue-Chapter 1
The first thing I have to say is that I really like your opening phrase. Well done!

The second thing is that whenever you have phrases with colons are the end, you still need to connect them. Picture this: the correct sentence is that the second clause is connected to the colon and not made into a new paragraph.

I think you mean "comparison" and not "comparation." :)

Oh, no...we've run into some issues with the past perfect tense, I've realized! It should start right after the first sentence. This is because the first sentence is the narrator speaking in the present, and then you switch to a flashback. That makes the necessity for the past perfect tense ("had" and then verb).

When you want to put quotation marks within a quote (dialogue), they should be apostrophes.

"Really? Would you say that this is 'a-okay?'" he asked.

"Yes, 'unnamed imaginary character.' That's correct."

Chapters 2-3
I know that it's a way to express enthusiasm on the Internet, and I hate to break it to you, but "asdjk" is not a word and it's actually incorrect to use it in writing pieces aside from inserting text messages in a story. Sorry! Try and use your beautiful language that I know you can use effectively to describe the feeling that "asdjk" expresses!

Wow—this book is delightfully frustrating. Haha. The friend zone is so sad! I feel so bad for Chase!

Chapters 4-5
When you describe Camila's dreams about Emily (which is an excellent twist, by the way), I'm having trouble discerning which tense you're meaning to write in. That is, if you're writing the dream in real time as it happens or just describing what always happens in the dream. If the first is true, then you should italicize the entire dream. If the second is true, then you must use the future past perfect tense ("would have" verb, "would" verb, etc.). However, for the great twist, I'm giving you your point back. Breaking even!

I think I should now mention something about your dialogue. Many times it's hard to decipher who's speaking. I believe that dialogue tags will help immensely with this.

"So you mean I just say who's talking right after the dialogue? That's a tag?" the imaginary character said with a surprised expression.

"Yes, unnamed imaginary character. Dialogue tags are so diverse, as well! It's easy to have fun with them because you can write them so differently each time!" I reply enthusiastically.

"Wait, I don't just have to have 'said' in the tag?" he asked, still shocked.

"Nope. There are tons of different words to convey different meanings (thanks for using those apostrophes again, unnamed imaginary character!)." I answer again. Actions are good and well-used by you as well, but they tell me nothing about who is speaking.

In Chapter 5, when Chase mentions Aaron Harding, it doesn't make since for any of his "friends" to react like they had no idea. Obviously the last names should have clicked as soon as they had first heard Aaron Harding's and Chase Harding's last names way before this particular conversation. What could make since is that the friends could be like, "Oh, yeah!" They would realize it again, not act like they had no clue.

Chapters 6-7
If it's a "weird metaphor," why bother putting it in at all?

Leo and Valery. I knew it! And what the heck—this friend zone is absolutely killing me (I suppose that's a good thing because it made me want to read more, but gah!)!

At this point if the story, I should mention something, and it's that I think you use the phrase "my best friend" too much throughout the entire piece of writing. Be creative with your pronouns and labels! Have fun with it!

Chapters 8-9
Whenever you use ellipses (the "..."), you should connect the next phrase to the ellipsis as to not create a new sentence. You should write your first phrase...and connect it completely like this. Many people make this slight mistake!

For some reason when you write text messages again, you write it differently than you first did several chapters back. I must say, I like the first format better.

Ping.

Imaginary character: Hold up. What's actually the right way to write text messages?

Me: You know what? There's not actually a "correct" format for it in the MLA anywhere yet! There are many methods that have been deemed "acceptable," though. I personally use italics and describe the text messages, but names and colons are fine, too. Text messages in published stories come in different formats, too. All you have to do is make it clear who is sending the message to whom.

Another text lights up my screen. Are you saying that this is correct as well as the other one?

Yeah. I know it's weird that they're both right, but the key is to choose one method and remain consistent, I reply.

See how weird it was using two methods to write text messages? Like I said, choose one method and stick with it. :)

I'm Chapter 9, you say that Chase wanted to gasp at his father's physical condition, but don't describe it at all to the readers. We can assume a lot, but physical ailments are too diverse to specifically picture. Give us more information! Is he battered? Is his skin an ashy color? You never tell us why Chase's dad in the hospital in the first place, too, even if we already know that he's a drunkard.

I really don't like his dad, haha. Who wouldn't, though?

Chapters 10-11
You're killing me! That's a good thing, though. Your plot is well-fabricated and flows so naturally. It's very impressive. +1 point for that!

Have you tried to write poetry before at all? What if you wrote the song that Chase wrote? I think that would be a really cool thing to put on there, but obviously if it's not your strength or something, it's only you choice. :)

That's the end?! You give me such a cliffhanger for me to review!

Well, overall WinterWriter11 got 1 point! I think it's mostly because of a weird consistency (for lack of a better word). Now, the "consistency" you bring is both good and bad, I suppose. This certain consistency thing kind of puts your story in a bit of a grey area. That is, there's not many drastic errors, but there's also not many amazing surprises. Here's what I mean by that: I could read a romance story with friend zones and for all I know, it could be the same story as yours. There's no really unique trait about your story that would stick out to any other "friend zone story." You have impeccable style and you're talented at planning and weaving plot together, but there's not a certain original trait that sets your story apart. The first story I ever fully completed was like that, too, so I can feel your pain! It's hard to come up with an original idea—it really is. I think that your story has great potential to become an extremely unique and great piece of writing, but it hasn't shown me extreme originality yet. You understand. I will say that you exceeded my expectations, though! I'm still impressed. ;)

Either way, I'm definitely keeping this story in my library to continue! I want to know what happens now!

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