Venery by @MoonlightBearer
Title
Although the average reader may not know what "venery" means, it certainly sparks intrigue in any reader.
It's very interesting, the double meaning of your title. I wonder if both meanings make their way into your tale.
Cover
The only potential flaw I can see in your cover is that the image in it did not convey a sense of science fiction like your story clearly is. The woman, her clothing and the fiery background (even with the metal piece behind) inflicted more of a fantasy sense. The font also looks more to me like fantasy, although I'm sure you don't intend this.
The graphic design of it is otherwise fantastic! It would have earned you a point or two if it had been for a fantasy story.
Blurb
Your blurb is articulate and clear, all except for two points. The first is that Earth must be capitalized when used as the planet's name. The earth is fine with a lowercase 'e' like so, but Earth as a title must be capitalized. The second is that I seem to be having trouble effectively grasping the setting from the blurb. Of course it shouldn't be as specific as it should be in the first parts, but it should give a bit of a clear picture. Your blurb tells me something about aliens, a girl, space, and opinions. That is all I have gotten. If you had intended me to grasp all of that and nothing else, fine. It will be sufficient. However, if you think I should have more information before reading the first chapter, add to the blurb. If you run out of room with the word limit, take out that quote (it does a good job at getting me more interested, but it's not top priority in terms of blurb material).
*since your story comes in 45 parts, I'll be judging nine parts at time, coming to around five parts*
But first, the introduction.
Introduction
I've always questioned why authors put summaries in their first parts since Wattpad has a specific spot for a summary. It also runs the risk for disinteresting readers. They've already opened your story to read it—let them read it! Although the extra summary has more information, that new information is hard to follow. Terms like "Venery" and "Matron-Capsule" haven't been fully explained by the authors yet (even if some have been implicitly mentioned). Because of this, I feel that the summary is unnecessary and might reveal too much for the readers. If you have too much summary, the readers will feel as though they've already read the book and would feel disinterested in it. I'm going to take off a point as a bit of an alarm, I suppose. Be careful with interest! -1 is your current total.
Let us begin with the actual story.
Chapters 1-9
Is the redundant use of "white clad" necessary? If so, consider making the reason clear. If you're unable to make the reason clear for spoiling purposes, make the sentence more fluent somehow.
Besides obvious grammar issues (which I have no doubt you'll fix while editing), the first chapter was stunning, if not vague. I enjoyed the information you gave indirectly. That kind of transfer is my favorite kind. :) +1 for that, and you're breaking even.
Is the giveaway still applicable? If not, consider taking it down. Otherwise, take out the synopsis. It's not needed for readers who are reading it straight through (which will now be the vast majority of your readers).
The transition between Alice's doubt and belief is a bit abrupt. Perhaps focusing on showing Alice's emotions and internal struggles could make it more fluent. I love the exchange of dialogue between the main characters, but it is simply dialogue. Emotion and thoughts would effectively color Alice's doubts and final realization.
I had forgotten about Taliesin's bullet wound to the shoulder, and I think you might have, as well. Suddenly, he's able to fully carry Alice and sprint with her with his shoulder wound? I can tell you that shooting a shoulder is pretty bad.
For one thing, the shoulder contains the subclavian artery, which feeds the main artery of the arm (brachial artery) and the main nerve of the arm (brachial plexus). If you get hit in that nerve bundle, you won't be walking so great five minutes later (and you'll definitely not be able to carry anyone and sprint with them). In fact, 51 out of 58 gunshot victims shot in the brachial plexus needed follow-up surgery because of severe pain, blood vessel damage, and loss of motor function (fact from the Washington City Paper). In a study of 16 people shot in the subclavian artery (from the same paper), four died and one lost an arm. However, in another study (from the same paper), three out of seventy-nine victims simply just shot in the shoulder died. You aren't risking Taliesin's life (especially because of his race as an Oriehn), but you're definitely being...optimistic about what he'd be able to do in such little time, even if he had a good shot of adrenaline. I know he is Oriehn, and that may change some of the results, but he resembles a human and therefore may have much of the same anatomy. If there's a reason why he may heal suddenly, then you should say that (and don't just add it to fix this problem—if you add anything, it must be prevalent throughout the entire piece). I'm taking off a point for inaccuracy. -1 is your new total.
I think it is time to discuss the difference between hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes. Here are the rules (the shortcuts are for computers):
Another general thing with that is that you mustn't have two punctuation marks beside each other except for quotation marks (and parentheses) and end-marks. Therefore, you can't have an em-dash and a period. The em-dash ends the sentence itself by cutting it off. If you really wanted to complete the thought, then you could simply say after the dialogue that the character stopped or something of the sort. This is a consistent error, once again.
If Drai is truly a female and an Oriehn female at that, then I fail to see the true purpose of Alice and what her role would be as an Oriehn, even if she's the last born female. I don't know exactly what that means with Drai in the picture.
Your banners have disappeared mysteriously. Was this a lack of time atop of the time it took to write these new chapters? Make sure to be consistent.
Careful with silly mistakes like the difference between "its" and "it's," as well as "rein" and "reign."
Chapters 10-18
You are extremely articulate with your words and have been throughout this story. In some ways, I applaud it. You truly know how to articulate ideas and how to execute it cleanly. You are planned, precise, and accurate. In other ways, however, I am concerned about it. In these ways, the clearness and cleanness of your writing can make it bland. It seems ridiculous, but sometimes the wildness and rawness of our writing is what makes intense scenes, scenes of emotional heights. It's how to be intentional with your writing. Writing like yours sometimes lacks these things. I think this is something for you to work on. Perhaps your use of dialogue tags could be compromised, of perhaps you could focus of emotions rather than only plot and the words of dialogue for certain parts. It is good and fitting to use plot and dialogue to reveal emotion, but it isn't fitting to use it all of the time (especially when the emotions desired for are emotions of the narrators). I think this is something for you decide how to fix—you know your style better than I. I also think that many times your writing acts as though it transcends its readers. I know it was not your intent, but it is the result. Writing that is praised is writing that is relatable, that is raw, that is personal. Imminent. Things that hit home are things that never strike out. This is something you consistently miss on, so I'm taking a point off to draw your attention to the importance of this. -2 is your current total.
In Chapter 14, Ian grazes Alice's arm. Wouldn't that be physical contact, giving him permission to bind himself to Alice? That presents a bit of a problem, does it not? These little physical contacts and their importance could be an extremely useful tool. For instance, when Taliesin and Alice touch, it would confirm their relationship in a much deeper way. In other ways, it could be problematic. I think you may have forgotten the established importance of physical contact that Taliesin had explained earlier. This same thing applies with the rest of your story. Sometimes you remember and sometimes you forget about this trait of the Oriehns.
Also, Alice just arrived on an entirely different planet, and we don't even get a full description of it and how different or similar it is to Earth! Alice seems to be very well-adjusted to space travel and new planets, as well. Was this intended?
The moon of Crete, I question it. Why would it be named after an earthly island?
Chapters 19-27
Chapter 19 was brilliant. Good work. +1 and your total is -1.
I hadn't noticed that Alice and Taliesin's relationship had grown that far. As far as I knew, they were in a strained business-like relationship. There were some moments of potential closeness, but never really anything more, especially with the introduction of Leanian Lorne. The kiss and confession/profession of love was a strange and unexpected event for me. I was not aware that they were at that stage yet, even with the extreme circumstances. I would suggest that you make the transition more natural with little things. A knowing glance, a clashing of hands, a meaningful conversation, etc. Choose things that progress their relationship. It may take more time to build it, but if you want that end scene with the kiss, you must make it a natural transition. Make the readers beg for the kiss to happen all up until the real scene, and then make the kiss bittersweet and effective. If you can accomplish all of this, your scene will be so much more powerful (especially when Alice thinks that Taliesin had died). The same can go for Leanian, as well. -1 for that, and your total is -2.
The author's note in Chapter 21 isn't needed anymore, correct?
In some of your dialogue, it's unclear as to who is speaking. Tags would solve most of it. Yes, many times tags are unneeded, but they are needed when the speaker's identity is unclear. This happens frequently.
It seems as though Alice's choice at the end of Chapter 27 was too sudden. Did she not even hesitate for a moment and think? Did it not pain her to think of what the doctors might do to Taliesin if she were to go through with her choice? Make these emotions and thoughts clear as to make the choice more conflicting for both the character and the reader.
Chapters 28-36
The possibility of the shuttle exploding should be more of a panic, don't you think? These are some of the last Oriehns, and Alice's sole duty at this point of time. She's doing all of this, sacrificing Taliesin's presence to get these people to Crious, and suddenly the shuttle might explode, leaving all of her earlier ambitions to waste? To make Taliesin's sacrifice a waste? That's a pretty big deal, and cause for some mass chaos.
You have many little mistakes that I do not care to point out. A simple read-through should do the trick in the editing process. If both of you write every other chapter, edit the other's. It'll help a lot, I think.
Chapters 37-Bonus Chapter
Chapter 38 and all of the scenes with regular human and Oriehn interaction is very interesting. Nice work with capturing that never-before-seen dynamic. +1. Total at -1.
Chapter 39 was stunning, especially with the bow. Nicely done. +1 for the powerful moment and you're breaking even.
You leave me hanging between love triangles, diplomatic disputes, and the risk of disease? For shame! In all seriousness though, I will definitely have to read the rest. Very intriguing. +1 for interesting me!
Something I think that you both fail to do throughout this story is to effectively and consistently make the Oriehns different from humans. Yes, they have their different roles in their matriarchal society, their different music, and their uncomfortableness with physical contact (with the obvious differences of the blue blood, enhanced strength, and "immortality"), but you don't describe their culture. They are galaxies away. Their cultures should be shockingly different. I think that at first, you did a good job with this with Alice and Taliesin. However, as the story went on, I found that the Oriehns became more similar to humans than I had first presumed. I'm not entirely sure what you could do to fix this effectively, but I'm certain that you know much more about the Oriehn race than I do.
Overall, MoonlightBearer got one point! Your story had its extreme highs and shallow lows. There were not many bad things to say about this piece of writing (and a few spectacular moments), but the things that I did critique were mostly about emotion in your style and inaccuracies. A writer's job is to make the reader feel what the characters feel—crying when the characters are crying and things of that sort. Like I said earlier with your style, be careful about knowing when to put emotions in there and about how you execute it. Another thing about your piece is that, like I mentioned before, you have many small typos. These things will be easily fixed, I'm sure, so I'm not worried about it. The best advice I can give to you is that while you maintain your professionalism, paint with your words. Make your story a work of art. Once you accomplish this, I believe your story can become a masterpiece. Keep up the effort! I will look forward to reading the end!
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top