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Reviews For: Nothing Gets Crossed Out
SpagettiO's 2005-08-19 . chapter 28
wow, this is brilliant, i hope you keep up updating!
Deep Insanity 2005-02-11 . chapter 13
this review won't be nearly as usefull as the one before it, but so what.A little shady in the beginning but i like how it moves along. All in all 6.5/10. And yes i'm the king of no-constructive reviews, i know this isn't helpfull at all :)
Sanct 2004-10-30 . chapter 1
Alright, first off, if you're looking for a sugarcoated "OMG this was so god! review my story now because I gave your ego a boner!" kind of review, then don't continue reading. If you're looking for pure criticism designed to help you with your writing, then read on.
Alright, now that that's been said...
Interesting start, rest assured, but there were also a few errors that stood out.
You break up your forth and fifth paragraphs when, if merged, it would not only flow better, but the reiteration on the topic of the chemists wouldn't stick out as much.
Your overall sentence structure seems a bit choppy; combined with the obscurity of the introduction it makes for a very skittish read, you might want to try to smooth it out a bit with some more details. Enigmatic qualities to a story are good, but at times people can go a bit far with them, as you've done.
An example: "When I look around this room I'm sitting in as I write this down, I remember how much has advanced over the years, and how I'm not supposed to being seeing this."
First, just a personal thing, the use of the word advanced in the past tense seems a bit... off. Perhaps saying "reminiscing of all that has advanced over the years" or something along those lines would work better, but that one is just me.
Also, although I know you want to keep the topic described as "this" something of a secret, it would be best to give at least a basic idea of what "this" is in an idelogoical sense at least. Is "this" good, bad, or what? You don't have to give away too much, but it would help give it more of a tone.
Elaboration is key in an introduction. Tell us about the room, what is seen through the eyes of the protagonist, that way you can give an accurate feel to the work even in the first few paragraphs, an invaluable skill as far as enticing readers goes.
"I guess it starts with the stars, the stars you see when you walk outside at night and look up at the sky. I loved looking at them, and I still do. I usually waited until it was so quiet outside that it felt like a footstep would echo so loudly that it wake everyone in a mile radius, and then I would go outside, and I would look at the stars." Saying that he loves looking at the "stars" in successive sentences really slices into the flow of the piece. I'd suggest describing them more metaphorically, accomplishing two things:
A) Breaks up the monotony.
B) Gives the reader a better idea of how this character thinks. Are they a dreamer who speaks in metaphors, or a pragmatic realist who sticks to base descriptions?
"there was a small hospital there"
Get rid of the there at the end of the sentence.
"like those stars you look at night?"
Perhaps, "Like those stars you watch at night." In any case, put another at after the first at so it makes sense.
"To answer that first question, you don't have a real life when you're immortal. I know this from personal experience."
And here's the kick...
Only one thing I would change, and that would have to be putting a semicolon instead of a period, it makes the sentence much more profound in its message.
I'll possibly get around to the actual chapters sometime, if, of course, you found my crit helpful.
Cheers,
Sanct
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