Fic Talk > I Challenge You....
Engarde!!!! The Reading Duel challenge
carterkid:
The story is great Kristal my only minor nitpicky that I noticed is the characters can get confusing,Like when AJ/Howie fight about the fish.
RokofAges75:
I'm reading "My Answer is You" by Rachel (colorguard_div a). I've read the first six chapters so far. It's a Brian story, so I'm enjoying that.
There are a lot of things about it that make me think of old-school fanfics, the kind of stories I loved to read back in the day when I first got addicted to fanfic - the fact that it's set in Kentucky, at Brian's parents' house; Brian and Nick being close friends who play basketball together; the lack of real life wives/girlfriends. It's the kind of story that could have been written at any time and could take place in any time; there aren't those details that limit it to a certain era.
I kind of like that instead of being a story about two people falling in love, it's a story about two people who were in love, but had a falling out. Because it takes place after the fact, there is a lot of back story that comes into play, and I like how it's revealed slowly... it's frustrating to me at times, because I want to know the whole story, but it also has me asking a lot of questions and wanting to read on to find out the answers.
From a writing standpoint, the story is well-written and easy to read because it uses a lot of dialogue and short, simple sentences. It's clear and descriptive enough without being overly wordy, and the clipped sentences add to the feeling of tension that has dominated the chapters I've read so far.
The only thing that I find gets in the way of the flow of the story for me as I'm reading is the point of view. I wish it was either solely first person, meaning Josie is the narrator, and the reader only has insight to her thoughts and things she would know, or all in third person, so that both Josie's and Brian's thoughts can be revealed, but neither one of them is telling the story. I just find it distracting that Josie's telling the story, and then all of a sudden there's a paragraph or a scene showing Brian's or his parents' thoughts, when Josie couldn't know what's really on their minds. That's just me, though; Jodi Picoult does that in her books, too, and it bugs me just as much, even though I like her writing otherwise.
I've been leaving reaction reviews at the end of every chapter, so I'll read and review a few more chapters tomorrow and be back with more of my overall thoughts.
FrickingKaos:
Okay so I just read chapters 6 to 11 and have finished reading Games. I loved the overall storyline and concept was very interesting... however I found myself feeling lost by lack of background information and that more description could have added more to the story. I have left feedback on every chapter but to me the ending came a bit quickly and I found myself unsatisfied. I did enjoy reading it a lot!
colorguard_diva:
Julie,
Thanks for the good words about the story and the feedback.
I get what you are saying about the point of view in the story. I know that is an issue for me in a few of my stories. I think it's because I want people to get both Josie and Brian's perspective on the situation.
I picked Kentucky as the setting because I wanted Josie and Brian to be "home". Kentucky is their place. The friendship started in there and I wanted to begin their new life there.
I can't wait to hear what else you have to say.
colorguard_diva:
I'm really loving this challenge. I think it is great to get constructive criticism about your story and writing. It's great to see what someone truly thinks about it, because a lot of times we don't really get those in reviews.
Julie pointed out something in my story that she wasn't fond of (point of view) and it made realize that yeah, it's something I want to work on for a future story. Having her point it out got me thinking. Sometimes we get into ruts with our writing and do the same thing over and over. We want to change it. but we don't because when we start a new story we just write. Now I want to make a bigger effort to write in first person for a whole story or third person. So, I'm excited that Julie helped me to remember that I want to write in a different point of view, so that all my stories aren' t the same.
I also like that I get to explain the why's of my writing. I am big into finding out why. I love to learn how movies were made, why a song was written. I need that personal connection. I get to do that and I love it. It helps me to understand myself as a writer.
Smiles for all of you :) :D ;D 8-) :crazy: :P
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