July 7th, 2009 at 06:17pm
STORY/REVIEW GAME.
I like the summary. It’s quick, simple and straight to the point. The italic part seems to clue a reader in, such as me, and it almost gives away the story. But not quite.
CHAPTER ONE.
I like the way you opened up the chapter. One sentence and it’s very powerful. It’s quick and pulls me right in. As I read further, the imagery you use is amazing; the detail you supply is good and I love how you use it. But as I go farther, you mention him playing guitar then the next he is a police officer. So are we mentioning two different men? Or . . . or maybe I’m just not paying attention hard enough.
Okay, so is this boy is dead? Door shut and you can see him? So I’m assuming it’s a spirit watching the man. Now I like your style of writing, because it keeps questions, like a person like me, and it keeps the mind active while reading to figure out the puzzle. I like that. But . . . then, I figure you could explain who those two are or three are a little bit better.
Mother fucking is two words, not one. ‘Blow’ is a little cliché. It’s over used, and I see it a lot in these types of beating stories. I don’t like that. Another thing is that from the italic on the summary I knew this was gonna happen. It was going to be another story about a someone getting beaten by a drunk. The plot line is very unoriginal and I believe you could’ve done better. Maybe you could’ve made the police officer [now that you mention the characters fully] seem and be not drunk and make him beat his son for the fuck of it. Or because of stress, or some type of mental and emotional abuse and he takes it out on his son by beating him. Physical abuse.
Bolded parts are annoying; I don’t like it in stories often. It bugs me.
Okay so now the one telling the story is a narrator or a spirit that has passed on. Unoriginal. I’ve found it in stories before to substitute with a beating. As I read further, towards the end—how can the narrator/spirit guy bring the son into a hug? So . . . I would think the son is lunatic. But either way, I would kind of introduce the narrator/spirit a little.
Although it was a bit cliché, it still served it's purpose without being overly done, and your descriptions put it over the top.
If I picked out everything I liked about it, it would take all day, so let's just leave it at this:
Good job.