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Reviews for: New Life
Ranayana
2009-01-02 . chapter 4
I‘d really like to read more! It‘s a different kind of story, and I like it. Curious to know how you‘re gonna develop it.
Pissenoffanis
2008-10-14 . chapter 4
*chuckle* This seems like a promising story. Unique plot and idea! I can't wait to read more, particularly since both Theodred and Eomer hae taken interest in Anelia. ;)
Mstica
2008-06-10 . chapter 4
OK, I'm willing to know what's next. I liked the kiss scene. I love when the sexual tension wins.
Saber Apricot
2008-05-13 . chapter 1
--Stuff I think needs fixin' and whatnot
I see a lot of 'was' in the first paragraph. You rely way too heavily on passive voice, work on not using it so much. You can use active voice in past tense. Getting rid of all of it isn't good either, but cutting down on some of the passive voice would be an improvement.

You had, 'Anelia was snapping pictures of buffalo in the State
Park that was home to elk, buffalo and plenty of deer and wild turkeys.' Change it to 'Anelia snapped pictures of buffalo in the State Park, home to elk, buffalo and plenty of deer and wild turkeys.' It makes a difference.

More examples:
Passive: This vase was broken by your friend.
Active: Your friend broke this vase.
Passive: This story was written by me.
Active: I wrote this story.
Passive: Josh is liked by Jessica.
Active: Jessica likes Josh.

The narration can't side or sympathize so much with your character, even though she's the hero (at least it seems like she will be) in your fic. The narration is 3rd person pov, so there are certain restrictions on how the story can be told. For ex, Anelia isn't a druid, she's a neo-druid. Although Anelia may identify herself as an authentic druid and (somehow) trace the druids back in Cæsar's days, but that doesn't make her one of those druids. So, even though Anelia believes herself to be a real druid, the narration doesn't care and has to tell the story from a more neutral POV.

The second paragraph is an example of info dumping. Way too much information about the character at one time. What does this druid stuff or her thoughts on it matter at the moment? The story has just started. If this information is important, try incorporating it into the story more. Maybe it'd be more appropriate for Anelia to reveal this information in some dialog...Maybe she latter on gains the chance to explain what a druid is and what it has to do with her.

The healing magic thing is kind of lame. Park rangers and foresters don't really search out injured animals to heal. Handling wild animals isn't such a good thing for the animal (they get used to people, which can cause problems). Maybe rethink that a bit and try to rewrite it some to come off less cheesy and childish. Or, if you want Anelia's job ambition to be unrealistic and silly, show that by later showing how much of a failure that sort of occupation (ie forester than trolls the woods for injured animals to heal) is.

I don't think digital cameras normally have plasma screens. Look up camera information and just go by that. Canon can be pretty good and keep in mind that any 7 or 8 megapixel is way more than enough. Actually 5 is great.

I notice that there is a lot of useless info (the druid stuff and Anelia's dreams of being a power ranger) in the place of stuff the readers may want to know (what the scenery looks like, what does the card kind of look like, what's the weather like, what time of day is it, where did Anelia come from, at least a faint idea of what Anelia looks like or what she's wearing, etc). Who the heck is she driving with, etc? You don't even explain what she's doing there until halfway down the page.

It's 'drinks' or 'beverages' or even 'refreshments' but not 'drinkage.' 'Drinkage' is slang for the act of drinking (alcohol), right? Even if it was a real word, it's a verb, not a noun.

I like that burnt down lodge tidbit. Maybe announcing that Anelia had found the leftovers of a burnt down lodge and then describe what it looks like. It'll help readers imagine what the place looks like.

It's 'six packs' not 'six backs' of bottle soda. Sour cream doesn't need to be written in caps, because it's not the actual company name of the chips (like Sun Chips is). And this is horrible food for the woods.

I stereotyped Anelia (the supposed to be druid) as the sort that was more into natural, pure foods not processed convenience store junk food. I figured she'd be more in tune with her body and take better care of it. ...Whatever, some people like to eat stuff like that.

You need to work on describing what's going on. Is the car moving, what castle are you talking about, etc?

The last three or four paragrpahs need work. It's kind of unclear what's going on seems rushed. Also, concerning dialog, each time another character starts to speak, it's a new paragraph.

The wrong way to do dialog:
'What is it?' Jessie asked. 'It's a pink elephant!' Noah cried. Jessie tilted her head to the right. 'No way...You're just pulling my leg.'

It should be something like:
'What is it?' Jessie asked.
'It's a pink elephant!' Noah cried.
Jessie tilted her head to the right. 'No way...You're just pulling my leg.'

-Review
Overall, it's not bad. The length is alright. But it's a little boring right now. You need to work on description and coherency. So far, Anelia doesn't seem like a real character. There's no personality to her. It's just the beginning so maybe you're going to reveal more of her personality later on.

The length is decent for a first chapter, good job with that. It's great that this isn't a zebra fic.

If you change over about 40 or 50 percent of the passive voice to active, that should be a great improvement. Beyond that, there aren't really any painful grammar or spelling errors. So, kudos for that as well.

Keep up the good work.
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