Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Review: A Battle of Life and Death


Author: WangZiShinWoo


Requested through APink Request Shop! ♥

Title: 5/5
-       Interesting and unique title.

Poster/Background/Design: 4/5
-       The quality of the poster was standardized, which is good(:
-       However, the font of the words on the poster didn’t suit the mood of the story. The font gives an impression of violence and bloodshed, but your story did not have such a serious tone.
-       On another note, the main colour, red, suited the theme well.

Description/Foreword: 8/10
-       The description was clear.
-       You revealed a little too much, and the ending becomes quite predictable.
-       The foreword was good as you showed the characters and also provided pictures. However, it’ll be much better if you categorised these under description instead. The foreword could be used to communicate with your readers. For example, you could tell them where your inspiration came from.

Characters: 10/15
-       Characters’ emotions, thoughts and feelings for others were expressed.
-       Try to describe more instead of only telling the readers.
-       The characters’ backgrounds were also shown.
-       However, I recommend that you cut down on your characters as it would cause your characterization to be mostly on a surface level and it’ll lack depth.
-       Also, try to make them seem more like royalty. Donghae needs to be tougher if you want to portray him as a Prince and a leader. He can’t be the childish and fun Super Junior’s Donghae (perhaps you could make him show that side only when he’s with Jessica?).

Plot: 21/30
-       The plot was good, and I’m sure there’ll be much melodrama later on.
-       It was interesting as few would choose to write about that era. After all, technology and hand phones are awesome~ Good job for being able to write an engaging story! ^^
-       One thing to note: try to avoid predictable plots. Add a twist in the story if possible. After all, you’re only halfway through your story so you still can spend time thinking of something to add to bring out your storyline.
-       I can’t comment much as you haven’t finished writing, but you’re on the right track. All the best! ^^

Flow/Pace: 3/5
-       The flow was relatively smooth, but I had to re-read some parts before I could fully comprehend what was going on. Try to smooth out your flashbacks, etc.
-       The pace was fine. You can try to speed up exciting parts of the story such as when the characters are fighting.

Writing Style: 6/10
-       You are able to form scenes and show it to the readers instead of merely telling.
-       However, you can try to show the characters’ emotions more instead of telling.
-       The characters’ points of view were developed.
-       Work on your flow so that readers can follow your train of thoughts and I’m sure you’ll do much better. You have the potential to write.

Originality/Creativity: 4/5
-       It was both original and creative, except for the quite predictable ending. You may decide to add a twist later on, though, so I can’t really grade this part.

Punctuation/Spelling/Tenses/Grammar/Vocabulary: 11/15
-       There were some typographical, punctuation and grammatical errors.
-       Your tenses were fine.
-       You could expand your vocabulary. Learn more dialogue tags – it’ll help.
-       You had no problems in your spelling.

Bonus: 1 mark
-       It’s a different storyline from typical fan-fictions, and you chose an interesting era(:

Marks Achieved: 73/100
Grade: C+

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Corrections

Chapter 1:

-       Sentence: " Your Highness, Jessica. We can't be listening in on his majesty." whispered Jessica's personal maid that sticked with Jessica all the time.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) No spacing after open inverted commas (quotation marks) – this applies to the rest of your story as well. (2) Incorrect word and tense.
-       Correction: …personal maid that attended to Jessica all the time. [If you were to attend to someone all the time, you would have to follow the person around so the phrase ‘attend to’ can be used in this case.]

-       Sentence: Her maid said nervously and scared.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) The word ‘scared’ is grammatically incorrect in this sentence, and it’s quite redundant. (2) It’ll be better if you described more instead of merely telling the readers.
-       Correction: Her maid said nervously.

Chapter 2:

-       Sentence: Maybe the prince is purposely blaming us so that he will start a war between both our country.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) If you intended for Jessica to be immature, you managed to make her seem that way, which is good. If not, try to change the way she speaks and thinks. Her current tone is that of a naïve princess. (2) Plural.
-       Correction: …both our countries.

-       Sentence: *swish*swish*
-       Why it’s wrong: Avoid such expressions. Use descriptions instead of typing the “sound” out. Such things and emoticons are strongly discouraged as it would show your lack of vocabulary and your inability to write descriptions.
-       Correction: Omit such things totally and describe.

Chapter 3:

-       Sentence: …we must use this girl as bait for the King's head!
-       Why it’s wrong: You can’t use her as bait for the King’s head. You bait an enemy into a trap, or you use something as bait to trap the enemy.
-       Correction: …we must use this girl to bait the enemy and get the King’s head!

-       Sentence: " OPPA!!" " Hahahahaha~ Now you!" said Donghae as he stood in front of me holding out his sword.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) Spacing and paragraphing. (2) Avoid using ‘hahaha’s and tildes.
Correction: “OPPA!!” [new paragraph] “Now you!” Donghae laughed sinisterly…

Chapter 4:

-       Sentence: Heechul said as he grabbed his sisters arm and left along with the Nanny running after.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) Missing punctuation. (2) Running after…?
-       Correction: Heechul said as he grabbed his sister’s arm. They strode off quickly with the Nanny trailing closely behind them.

Chapter 5:

-       Sentences:
   " The Prince and Princess of Berthalania it is my pleasure to be here standing in front of you both."
   " I hope we can get along..."
   " I am Lee Donghae, Prince of Veneasia and heir to the crown."
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) Spacing. (2) Don’t separate the lines if they’re spoken by the same person. (3) If you’re speaking to someone, you don’t say “The {someone’s name}”. (4) Missing punctuation.
-       Correction: “Prince and Princess of Berthalania, it’s my pleasure to be here standing in front of you both. I hope we can get along.” He paused. “I am Lee Donghae, the Prince of Veneasia and heir to the crown.”

-       Sentence: " The Prince of Veneasia intruding into the enemy land is very brave." Heechul said to him.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) Spacing. (2) Why would he say ‘the enemy land’ when he is actually in fact referring to the ground he’s currently standing on? (3) Incorrect phrasing of sentence. (4) You have used ‘said’ too frequently in this story. Try using other dialogue tags.
-       Correction: "It is brave of you, Prince of Veneasia, to dare to sneak into enemy land." Heechul’s eyes twinkled with {insert expression you want to portray}.

-       Sentence: Donghae said holding onto Jessica's arm and pecking a kiss on her palm.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) You have a tendency of joining sentences. It’s good and bad. In this case, it has made your sentence phrasing incorrect. (2) The word ‘onto’ is incorrectly used. (3) Change ‘said’. (4) You don’t peck a kiss. The word ‘peck’ already means ‘kiss’.
-       Correction: Donghae {insert dialogue tag}, holding on to Jessica’s hand as he pecked her palm.

Chapter 6:

-       Sentence: Jessica quickly swerved around and saw Donghae standing by the door slowly walking towards her.
-       Why it’s wrong: (1) Joining of sentences. Lengthy sentences tend to have more errors. (2) Tenses.
-       Correction: Jessica swerved around to see Donghae walking slowly into the room towards her.

-       Sentence: Jessica looked at Donghae in shock, Donghae grabbed Jessica's arm and pushed her onto his bed and got on top of her.
-       Why it’s wrong: Joining of sentences.
-       Correction: Jessica looked at Donghae in shock. Donghae merely grabbed Jessica's arm and pushed her onto his bed, getting on top of her.

Side Note:

You have creative ideas and are talented in capturing the readers’ attention. Improvements are of course necessary, but you are already doing well. Keep up the good work! ^^

♥ cheonsa

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