Forever seems like Never - Comments

  • Shtrudel

    Shtrudel (100)

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    I'm done reading the first chapter and I may read some more, but I'm already having some difficulty. I understand the protagonist/narrator is 17 and most guys are immature at that age, but that should, when conveyed in a story, not be made too obvious in his speech patterin within the narrative as this is rather hard on the reader:
    First off, his English is bad. “We looking” and “Doing good” are grammatically wrong and sound like they are straight from the ghetto. As for the sentence “Doing good” appears in, you also did not make a time switch. It should be “Were doing well/good” as their member is now out and the band needs a replacement. The same goes for “the only other people who hang out here was A & J”, where it should be “were”, not “was”. Some slang is okay, but within the narrative it's controversial and often annoying when it tries too hard to remind the reader of the age/social standing/education/gender/... of the narrator.
    Also his narrative sentences sound like direct speech. He forms his phrases in a way it may be natural when speaking, but narrative should mainly focus on presenting content and information in an interesting way which I'm afraid fails here, at least in my opinion. Some of his phrases could be split up and maybe rephrased. Sometimes, like in “Jake is amazing he always defends us”, a comma or better even, a semicolon, should go after amazing, for example. Many of your sentences could use a comma.
    Then some things are not mistakes, but simply a matter of practice I guess. For example, “said” and “asked” are obvious statements after periods and question marks, so using something else would make the reading more interesting and, by giving nuance to the words – said, stated, demanded, blurted, spluttered, stammered, whispered, shouted – the characters become rounded as a person's speech pattern is more than just words, it's the individual and unique use of the voice that counts for at least as much.
    Also, while there is some tolerance for it, usually starting at 13, numbers should be spelled out, for example six instead of 6.
    Finally, I would place a comma between said/asked, and the adjective for how words were spoken, like “I said, laughing”. If no comma, then it should be “I said laughingly”.

    So while I can't tell if I like the story yet, I think you may want to work on your technique a bit. As for the story itself, it's hard to tell as I'm only one chapter into it.
    April 17th, 2012 at 05:30am
  • guysinmyhead

    guysinmyhead (100)

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    I did a quick rewrite of what the chapter that I didn't have saved was (like a general outline because I essentially didn't remember either) then just continued with what came next
    April 16th, 2012 at 12:04pm
  • DeathDefyingHatter

    DeathDefyingHatter (100)

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    OMG I LOVE THIS I THINK NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD BE *cough* *cough* sex *cough* *cough*

    Wait what?
    April 2nd, 2012 at 04:37pm
  • Justlovetohate

    Justlovetohate (100)

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    this is really cute
    March 30th, 2012 at 06:55am
  • i'm gonez

    i'm gonez (100)

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    This is good so far. Update soon!
    March 30th, 2012 at 03:05am
  • Barbielovesyou

    Barbielovesyou (100)

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    FIRST COMMENT!! YAY!

    Oh boy...what's Ashley going to say? -teeth chatters- I'm scared...LOL

    :P LOL!! I love this story, hope you can update it soon!!
    March 28th, 2012 at 08:54am