Question:
Is this good enough, so far?
hot-dog
2010-12-31 10:04:20 UTC
It's a beginning for a story. Its genre is Fantasy. Make constructive criticisms please :) Thank you.

She could not stop crying. Day and night, a bucket would be filled due to her tears that she produced; by this time, she believed that gallons of water was produced that it was enough for a whole town to drink.

The reason for the raindrops of tears, however, was not that important as her mother had thought: Jackie, her cat, had gotten lost since Friday. There were no paw prints left for her to follow or any evidence left behind. Although Anna tried to search for the missing animal the following day, she still arrived in her house without a cat in her arms.

But, there was this one time she had a feeling that she was, finally, going to find her cat; instead she found herself lost somewhere: no area of the place that was not covered in green. Everywhere her head turned, something green would be covered.

A house stood out to her. But, it was not any of the ordinary houses, it was also covered in green and on the roof were crows and pigeons whose eyes were amber. Upon seeing these, she thought she was having hallucinations, as she was feeling tired; consequently, she pinched the skin of her arm. But, it did not do any good other than making herself suffer in pain. The house was made out of Mahogany and the window was gleaming, which was eccentric due to the fact that there were many birds sitting on the roof.

Ignoring that she was seeing things, she entered the front yard of the house and searched for her cat; still, no sign of meowing could be detected by her hearing. Anna then decided to knock on the door, like any houses that seemed unusual to her. Nobody answered. The second attempt, however, did the trick.

‘Who’s there?’ demanded the voice.

The voice sounded irritated and outraged.

Anna did not know how to respond to the voice, so, she said, ‘Hi.’

The Mahogany door flung open and an old lady appeared.

‘What do you want?’

‘I just want to—' before she could finish her reply, the lady interrupted, ‘Sorry, can’t help you.’
Five answers:
Ilya
2010-12-31 10:35:16 UTC
You have a good, defined voice in writing, and some of the sins I've spotted aren't unforgivable or uncorrectable. I know you're young -- I used to write like this. A lot of the difficulty is in the language; writing is about choosing specific words to convey your idea and presenting your ideas as efficiently as possible. The people who tell you, "Be careful what you share," well, I don't think anyone would want to steal this, and things go by on Yahoo! Answers faster than you can imagine.



"Day and night, she cried [produced is clunky -- producing is unemotional, a factory produces, and you're using it to describe a very emotional event, try again] -- gallons, she thought.



[Her mother should make a statement -- have a conversation revealing that it's not important to the mother. "Why you cryin', Boo?" Something that shows through your characters, instead of you, the author, stepping in and telling. It's a rule of writing: show, don't tell.] The reason for the raindrops of tears, however, was not that important as her mother had thought: Jackie, her cat, had gotten lost since Friday [had been gone since Friday ... what is today in this world?]. There were [passive voice: were, find a way to re-state it] no paw prints left for her to follow or any evidence left behind. Although Anna tried to search for the missing animal the following day [she either searched, or she didn't -- she didn't "try to search"], she still arrived in her house without a cat in her arms.



[Once, she felt she would finally find her cat -- more active] But, there was this one time she had a feeling that she was, finally, going to find her cat; instead she found herself lost somewhere: no area of the place that was not covered in green [everything bathed/covered in green -- state things positively, or else you waste words]. Everywhere her head turned, something green would be covered. [This is a restatement of what you just said.]



A house stood out to her. But, it was not any of the ordinary houses, it was also covered in green and on the roof were crows and pigeons whose eyes were amber [take your time here, but don't waste words: Among the cottages, a hard peck snatched her attention; a crow pecked at the roof of a house looming over her, draped in dark green like shadows, and in the shadows, another peck, another scrape. Her eyes darted between noises as her heart hammered. A crow glared at her with an amber eye, reflective like water.]. Upon seeing these, she thought she was having hallucinations, as she was feeling tired; consequently [consequently is a nice, big word, but it doesn't fit here], she pinched the skin of her arm. But, it did not do any good other than making herself suffer in pain [suffer is a bit much for a pinch, suffer implies length of pain, like a long time]. The house was made out of Mahogany and the window was gleaming [was made and was gleaming saps the strength out of your writing], which was eccentric [eccentric doesn't work here -- odd, out-of-place ...] due to the fact that there were many birds sitting on the roof.



Ignoring that she was seeing things [she's always seeing things if she isn't blind], she entered the front yard of the house and searched for her cat; still, no sign of meowing could be detected [could be detected -- big and clunky: She searched with eyes and ear, but neither found a cat.] by her hearing. Anna then decided to knock on the door [if she were to just walk up and knock, then she's "decided to" do so, and you could show that with action without wasted words], like any houses that seemed unusual to her. Nobody answered. The second attempt, however, did the trick.



‘Who’s there?’ demanded the voice. [Never describe dialogue in such terms -- a voice said, never demanded, exulted, any of that. The words used in the dialogue should suggest the tone.]



The voice sounded irritated and outraged. [This is good for after, "a voice said.']



Anna did not know how to respond to the voice, so, she said, ‘Hi.’ [Just having her say, "Hi," is awkward without explaining it.]



The Mahogany door flung open and an old lady appeared.



‘What do you want?’



‘I just want to—' [New paragraph, as the en-dash implies interruption.]



before she could finish her reply, the lady interrupted, [cut this]



‘Sorry, can’t help you.’



I hope that didn't seem mean, but that's hw you do it to sharpen and strengthen your prose.
gmr_2122
2010-12-31 20:07:30 UTC
* Nobody fills a bucket with their tears. If that's supposed to be a simile, it's horrible.

* "Due to her tears that she produced" - if they're HERS, of COURSE she produced them.

* "Raindrops of tears" - what!? That makes absolutely no sense! I thought she filled a bucket! What are you trying to say about the tears through that simile?

* Was not AS important as her mother had thought

* She's filling buckets with tears and spends only a day looking for the missing cat?

* The colon and semicolon were used incorrectly

* You dodn't mention why she had a feeling that she would find her cat. You can't just skip that

* "no area of the place that was not covered in green" is not even a sentence

* "something green would be covered" - I think you meant that things were covered in green

* "A house stood out to her" - you mean it stood out in her eyes?

* I still don't get what was all covered in green. Is she in a forest? A green place doesn't just appear in front of your eyes.

* "It was not any of the ordinary houses" - I think you mean that it was like no ordinary house

* You need a period after "ordinary houses" and a comma between that sentence and the one before it

* "Hallucinating" is the word you're looking for

* Why would crows and pigeons seem like a hallucination? They're common, aren't they?

* Put a period between "feeling tired" and "consequently"

* Mahogany doesn't need a capital letter if it's in the middle of the sentence

* Mahogany is not green. Mention that it was painted green

* Eccentric usually refers to behavior

* The fact that the window was gleaming is absolutely unrelated to the presence of the pigeons and crows

* "Ignoring that she was seeing things" doesn't make sense, is weak, and contradicts the fact that she pinched herself before and didn't come to the conclusion that she was hallucinating

* If the house is so different, to be considered a hallucination, she wouldn't just go in. Make her remember her cat or something

* "no sign of meowing could be detected by her hearing" - just say that it was completely silent. That sounds so robotic

* "the voice" - what is THE voice? "an irritated and outraged voice demanded"

* "Anna did not know how to respond" period.

* "an old lady appeared" - ouch. weak.

* Mention that she slammed the door on her face, after saying that she couldn't help her. Also, if she's so irritated and outraged, I don't think she would apologize



Very weak, best if you just don't continue this
Christine
2010-12-31 18:08:41 UTC
ya.....haha i like it......you sound like a good author....be careful with what you share though
anonymous
2010-12-31 18:06:59 UTC
Buckets of tears? I don't know, you seem to be overdoing it. And crying that much over a cat? I would put the book down on page one. It didn't catch my attention. Sorry.
anonymous
2010-12-31 18:06:06 UTC
Sounds good to me. I wouldn't share your stuff though.


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