《Essie's Critiques》Trained | Emsy143
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Ever heard of the Captain of the Cheer squad and the Quarterback falling in love?
My name is Madison Miller and I am head Cheerleader and most popular girl in Uni (I am NOT one of those snotty girls from books). There was one thing I didn't want to do this year... Fall in love. Why? Because my last relationship ended on bad terms, which may or may not be the cause of me hating most Football players.
His name is Walker Jackson, and he's the best Quarterback the Uni has ever seen. Oh, I can't forget the fact that he's the most popular guy in Uni. He took away my pain. Helped me see the light in the world again. He became my forever.
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It definitely gives me the right idea for what your story is about, which is good because it'll attract the right readers. You can always add some filters to the photo or dabble with the different types of fonts that appeal to you. There are also some really talented people on Wattpad who will make your covers for free. However, your cover is still perfectly fine without changing anything.
It fits into the theme of your story with the cheerleader and football thing going on. It tells me exactly what I need to know for your book, so you did a good job on that! I've only read the first five chapters, but I haven't really come across a principal reason that makes me go, that's why the author chose that title for this story. So if it isn't there already, making a connection to the story and your title to make it more relevant will make your readers have a lightbulb moment, and also makes the title more understandable.
I always recommend your blurb only being a few sentences. You want your blurb to be mysterious and compelling, not to summarize your entire story or dump background information on your main characters. So if your story is about a heartbroken girl who gets noticed by the quarterback of the football team, then that's all that's needed for your blurb. I suggest you take away a few unnecessary details—and instead sprinkle that excess information throughout the story for your readers to find. Even making your blurb as short as: "He scattered the pieces of my heart on the floor. But what I didn't know was that they would be picked up, one by one, by the person who would make me whole again." is fine. Short, simple, and compelling. I've read your writing, and I know you are definitely capable of this.
I'm not going to lie. Your hook is beautiful. It starts with only one word, but you added your own style and your own voice into Maddie's character, and turned it into a reflection of herself. By reading the hook, I learned that she was clearly going through some kind of mental struggle. It's a wonderful way to keep your readers reading, to get them to question what made her this way. It also has a personal touch that everyone can relate to, which makes it even better. It's hard to find the perfect start to your story, but you executed it perfectly.
Unfortunately, while your hook is enrapturing and beautiful, it's also grammatically incorrect. Don't worry, these are common mistakes that happen all the time, and are very easy to correct. First, let's talk tense. From what I've read of your story so far, it's mostly written in past tense. However, you tend to slip up a few times and write in present tense. This is extremely common for everyone, myself included. If you're writing Maddie's thoughts, then it can be in present tense, as long as it's italicized. However, if not, then make sure to convert it to tense.
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Along with that, there has been unnecessary capitalization in your story, and also words that need to be capitalized. When you write about Maddie's parents, saying "my dad is great," is correct because you're putting the word "my" in front of "dad." However, saying "dad is great" is incorrect because "dad" becomes more than just a dad. He's the dad. You're referring to a specific dad, not just any dad, and therefore it should be capitalized. I hope that makes sense. Keep in mind that words should only be capitalized if they are a specific person or place.
I've also noticed the lack of adverbs you've used in your story. This is a good thing. An adverb is an adjective used to describe a verb (an action). Too many people say, "He ran quickly to the train station," which isn't a very strong sentence. To have a greater impact on your reader, you'd want to replace the adverb and verb with something stronger, such as, "He sprinted to the train station." You did a superb job at keeping your adverbs in check. I just wanted to point that out to you so you can keep that in your head for when you next write.
From reading your first five chapters, I can definitely see that you have paid attention to your spelling. There are hardly any errors at all. However, upon closer look, there are still a few spelling mistakes to be corrected. Instead of pointing them all out to you, I suggest using some kind of editing site, such as Grammarly or ProWritingAid. While Grammarly is good at catching the grammar and spelling errors, ProWritingAid is my go to whenever I write. Not only does it catch any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, it will also introduce new diction and styling suggestions. If you don't already, keep a copy of your story on a word document or google doc. Not only will this make it easier to spot any mistakes, but you'll still have a copy of your story if something goes wrong on Wattpad. Then, you can easily just copy and paste your story to ProWritingAid (or Grammarly, or any other site) and be notified of some changes you might want to make.
While your plot is headed strong in the right direction with a definite storyline, there are a few issues I'd like to mention. On Wattpad, there are millions of books that start out with (almost) exactly the same plot as yours. It's either an overused trope or a cliche. This is not your fault. However, I recommend putting a little twist to your story. Give something to your readers to think about. Maybe your male lead has family problems. Maybe your female lead was in some sort of freak accident years before. Something to differentiate your book from others, that will make readers choose your story. If you work on it a little more and polish it, your plot will outshine all the other cheerleader and quarterback cliches, I promise.
Let's talk about character arcs. You didn't spend a whole paragraph talking about Maddie's hair and clothes and amazing body like other writers would have done. Thank you. It's better to sprinkle the details in, like I've mentioned before. Thankfully, I didn't really have to tell you this, because you didn't dump this kind of information to me. Keep in mind for future works when writing your characters, many of your readers will turn away as soon as they see something like "Serena had the most amazing blue eyes with luscious blond hair and a slim body to die for and not to mention her style in clothing because today she's wearing a hot pink dress with..."...you get the idea. It breaks the flow of the story. I also know the urge to make your main character extremely attractive and perfect without any flaws, physically and mentally. However, if that's the case, then there's no character arc. You need to give your characters some flaws in the beginning so that they can develop and become better people throughout the story. Maybe the male lead is afraid of being alone. Maybe the female lead is unaware of the privileges that she has in life. I didn't really see any flaws from your characters, so try to ease some of them in. Readers want characters who can relate.
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Along with that, remember that the real world isn't black and white. The bad guy might have a good motive to kill someone. The good guy might secretly be dealing with dark thoughts. Make your readers invest in your characters. Maybe Jaxon is an asshole, but he could be hurting inside. Little things like that will enhance your writing and your story.
After reading your five chapters, I became pretty familiarized with your voice and writing style. You don't write extremely long paragraphs. They're short and to the point. I think that's great. It doesn't cause any confusion for your readers. However, remember that you are writing a story. It's like a form of art. You want to make it beautiful in your own way. Don't be afraid to add any descriptive imagery or sensory detail. You want to suck the readers in with your writing style, to make them fall in love with your characters, and essentially, you. Because you are your characters.
So, now that the grading/feedback is over, let's turn the focus to each individual chapter.
***
Again, remember to stay in past tense. You slip up several times in this chapter.
In the beginning, there was a lot of reflection going on for your readers to relate to. You pulled something straight from your heart, and it definitely made me want to read more. Good job.
Keep in mind that using all caps for a sentence can be replaced with italics and still be emphasized to your readers without looking unprofessional.
Avoid using a lot of exclamation points. It can make your writing look unprofessional and your characters unusually perky.
5. "You've eaten all the ice cream in this house!" She yelled. Despite what it looks like, this is one sentence, not two. Therefore, "she" does not need to be capitalized. It should be "You've eaten all the ice cream in this house!" she yelled. Contrary to that, if you describe an action after dialogue, then it is two separate sentences. Example: "You've eaten all the ice cream in this house!" She glared furiously at me. These are two separate sentences, so "she" is capitalized. Make sense? (This applies to your other chapters as well.)
Add a little background information after "He probably went to Jaxon's apartment to... beat him up." It took me a while to understand that Jaxon was her ex-boyfriend. You could add on with something such as, of course, Dad would be furious, especially after the way Jaxon broke up with me.
Check the second sentence of chapter two; there is a misspelling.
Don't be afraid to use the word "said." It is an invisible word, so no matter how many times you use it, your readers will skip right over it. It's also a better alternative than using descriptive words such as yelled, cried, grumbled, save for a few exceptions.
In your seventh paragraph, the word "gawked" is unnecessarily capitalized.
Introduce Maddie's friends. Keeping track of Maddie's friends was a little confusing. Provide something that will make me remember each individual friend. Maybe Zira is a confident person able to speak her mind, and Hannah is quiet, but sneaky and good at eavesdropping. These are my own examples, so you can use your own to add some personality to your background characters.
Describe Nick. Is he tall, or short? Is his hair straight or curly? As long as you don't go overboard with your description, your readers will want to know more.
Write about Maddie's surroundings. I know she's in a bar, but what is it like? Low lights and soft music? Pounding pop music and laughing couples? Paint the scenery to pull your readers in.
Maddie's encounter with Walker was a little too normal. This is a story, so anything can be dramatized. Maybe time stopped for a moment when they met eyes. Maybe Maddie had a flashback of encountering Walker earlier in the school year. Their encounter should be memorable, swoon worthy.
It was a little hard to tell between Walker and Jaxon in the beginning of this chapter. Maddie has already said Jaxon's name in her head, if not out loud, so there's no need to define Jaxon as him anymore. Either that or try to make Walker stand out from Jaxon. Talk about their differences. How is Walker better than that asshole?
Again, during the messages, you can experiment. Play around with Maddie's feelings. How did she feel when she learned of what Jaxon was doing? How did this affect her?
There are a few spelling errors, and a few times you forgot to put a space between your words. Try to go back and fix any mistakes you see.
So Maddie's upset. Try to describe more than her tears. Maybe her heart was cracking in her chest, and her fingers trembled. Her vision might have gone blurry from the tears. Make your reader cry.
The backstory with Walter is very sweet and emotional. You did a great job at portraying his sadness and how Maddie felt about him. My heart melted.
So now you've shown that her friends are fiercely loyal and protective. But it should be more than just their words. Maybe it's the look of determination in their eyes, or their protective stance. Show, don't tell.
When writing a number, it should typically be spelled out unless it's larger than ten.
The beginning of the chapter was off to a good start. The description of the wind with the windows down was very beautiful.
Again, numbers should be written out, or it can take away from the story and break the flow of your writing. "One, I am not your mom. And two, you know how long we have left."
"God, I hope the other car is having a better journey than us." This should be in past tense, or if it's Maddie's thinking, italicized.
So it was the worst thirty minutes of her life in the car. But how did Walter tease her physically and emotionally? Your readers want to know.
Again, try to refrain from using all caps. Instead, italicize to emphasize your point.
Great ending of the chapter. It makes me want to read more.
***
Wow, this was really long. I genuinely had no idea I'd write this much. I hope you weren't bored while reading this! Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to offer feedback on your story! I'm a very picky reader, but there were a lot of nice elements in your story that I did enjoy immensely! If you think this review is too harsh, please message me privately and I will take down whatever offended you. Make sure to keep on writing and finish this story, because it is worth writing.
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- In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
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The Veldt Empire has fallen to pieces after the Age of Judgement, and its people have been trying to reclaim their land from the monstrous beasts and hostile environments with steel, lead and fire ever since. However, the armies of the empire is spread thin and beasts would often slip into the liberated territories, terrorizing its settlers. Luckily for them, so long as they have silver or gold to pay, Pyrik will kill their menace for the right price. She is a Jaeger, a mercenary who travels across the empire hunting monsters. She is proficient with an axe and blunderbuss, frighteningly so, and a power resides within her, wrestling for control. It wants to totally consume her whole, and she seeks to find the answers to the nature of her power before it does. The cover is illustrated by Alex Chow. NOTE: the chapters after "Update" are a prequel story! START AT "GOOD AS WEEDS" FOR VOLUME 2! A NEW CHAPTER WILL BE RELEASED EVERY WEEK ON WEDNESDAY BETWEEN 5PM TO 6PM.
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As Gods began their new project, making a new Entertaiment just as they let their last project free of control because it's getting boring as they became more powerful. And they go back to a planet in a universe called earth, most idea of their entertaiment come from here and the player too.So the gods began searching the most interesting one from popular show , movie, anime , comic, manga ,etc. While in earth live a young man called Michael Lu in a country named indonesia full of coruption and poverty.He griefed always beacuse he can't get what he tought he want. But unfortunately even tough he probably could get what he want he will be soon became entertaiment to gods, lest unknow to him. The gods finaly find something interesting idea based on popular anime show called pokemon. The idea is to integrate powers of pokemon in the show into someone they chose using system simliar to their previous few project and they wonder how long will this project will keep them entertained. DISCLAIMER: I don't own pokemon neither the system I am just a beginer writer with non-english as native langauge and school to worry about. So i probably will update once a week or once a month. Thank you for reading
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At 19, life has given Aislinn Nox many things, most of them she never wanted. Like dead parents at the age of six. Scars.A slaughtered pack.Nightmares. To be forced to live with humans. Thirteen years of hell. A new name.An old legacy. All of them are hers, all of them have broken her, but none of that will matter when she finally gets the one thing she desires: revenge.For five years she has been planning her revenge for the brutal murder of her parents, and the vicious slaughter of her entire pack. And for five years, it has been all that she has lived for.And nowhere, in those neat little plans did she included a pack, friends, a mate she could never deserve, or remembering everything and everyone she lost. But life is cruel. And rarely do we get what we want. ..Kaiden Salvatori is the first born son of Alpha Sergio Salvatori, who thought he had life all figured out. He was easily learning the ropes of the family business, taking over his roles both in the pack as Alpha, as well in the corporate world as a powerful CEO. It was all simple and predictable, boring even.But that all changes in a single night when he happens to stumble across a she-wolf being hunted on his territory, discovering that not only is she a rogue herself but that she also happens to be his mate...In that one fateful encounter everything changes. Lies will be uncovered. Truths revealed. Enemies exposed.When secrets and betrayals come, both Kaiden and Aislinn will be forced to choose; what are they willing to give up, and what they are prepared to fight for. Fate has destined them for each other, but sometimes even that just isn't enough.©The Lost One (2015)
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What will happen when one of the most fearful drug dealer crosses path with a female that isn't afraid of any nigga nor bitch roaming this earth.
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217 of us boarded flight MJ02720 of us survived the crashnow there's only 11 of us.We aren't alone on this islandBut we are,Wrecked --------------------------------------------- Part one of the Wrecked Duology 217 people, 217 different reasons people are onboard flight MJ27. Some are brought there by fear, running for their lives, others by love and hope for a better future. What will happen when these people are brought together and forced to survive. Dru Alexanders has something that doesn't belong to her, something people would do anything to get their hands on. Even take down a plane full of innocent people. There's no going back, and after they are left wrecked on a desert island Dru has to make up for everything she caused. But Jesse Blake isn't going to make that easier for her. * Cover by the beautifully talented sinistersushi *
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