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Reviews For: Sweet Like Sylvia
Renatus . 2004-02-02 . chapter 1
Over all, a good story, and the characters are believable.
First impression: An overuse of adjectives. It isn't too bad but it weighs the story down. For instance, rather than "I snorted in derision", try "I snorted", as snorting in response to what someone has said is usually a derisive action. Also, some thigns in the story are described with three adjectives - cut it down to one or two to make teh story flow better. If any of those adjectives use a hyphen, only use one.
Avoid using synonyms for said instead of said - using said most of the time may seem boring, but it's actually much easier to read. For instance, rather than '“If you get me a hot dog,” my sister grinned.', try '“If you get me a hot dog,” my sister said with a grin.'
Some of the speech seems too formal for the characters, notably the speech of the rich kid, and the bit at the end that reflect's Sylvia's thoughts - they do not sound like tht thoughts of a child who just watched her brother kill himself.
Finally, Seth's suicide comes as a surprise -a bit too much of a surprise. This may be because of the shortness of the story, but as the reader, I would like to know a little more about why Seth commited suicide. You don't have to come out and tell the reader, but more hints - from his behaviour, his thoughts, whatever - would help his suicide be 'in character'. Perhaps more reflections on the deaths he knows he's helped cause, or just more information on what's happening in those other schools, or more insight to how he feels as he gives Janie the talk about why she shouldn't kill herself. Also, with that talk, his lecture to her sounds out of the blue - she sounds more like a spoiled kid spouting off without thinking about what she's saying. You may want to change her behaviour or lengthen that part to make Seth's speech about living fit the scene better.
SunMoonAndSpoon 2004-01-27 . chapter 1
^.^ Good job Rura-chan! This is, as I said before, an awesome fic. I really like the transitions, I could never pull off something like that. The only problem is that I'm not really sure why he wanted to kill himself in the first place. I know he was all gun-selly and stuff...but he didn't seem particurally bothered by that. Okay. you just explained it to me...I still dont get it that much...but thats okay...it was still really well-written. ^_^ ::Glomps:: Maloogha! Write another thing soon, or I shall consume your arm. I mean it. Floogh.
Reka 2004-01-27 . chapter 1
I liked it. I agree that it would've been better if you had fleshed out the plot more, but it was a rather good idea and well-written, as usual. My only other complaint is that the flashbacks were kind of sudden. ^^
Good story. :D
Alex 2004-01-27 . chapter 1
Although not your personal best still high above most people's standards. I know some people were saying it was predictable but it wasn't to me. I dont't really make many predictions while reading. They're usually right and ruin the stoy for me.
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