Some edits: 1) “Reaquire targets and stay out of sight…” 2) I believe the typical insult was “What is your major malfunction,” a la Full Metal Jacket (even though the movie didn’t come out until 1987, but this is Ficlets!). If you’re having space issues, drop something else instead of the major. That is required! I’m loving this series.
Haha, nice. You should probably put a comma after “Presidency”, though, as the way it’s written makes it look like Bush Sr.’s presidency was saved by a piece of twine. :-)
You have an interesting setup here for a future adventure. However, the kiss at the end seemed forced to me, as there really isn’t any history between Ker and Dreanna to speak of. Also, you’ll want to put “an” in front of “unnamed nebula” instead of “a”.
Good stuff. The only problem I had was with the word “destable”. Did you mean destable, as in unstable? Or was “detestable” the word you were going for?
When I wrote it the first time, I meant to communicate that he was ordering them numerically. I’ve changed it to “sorting” to more accurately reflect what I meant. Thanks for picking up on that.
This poem is better structurally than a lot of the ones I’ve seen on Ficlets. It’s still a little rough in parts in terms of rhythm. If you’re really interested and want to work on improving the flow of this, I suggest reading up on the various types of poetic meter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meter_(poetry)
Wow, I liked this one a lot. Some great visual imagery. Also, in your comment, “Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in one tense and then decided to rewrite it…” Even if you didn’t do that on purpose, it’s hilarious!
You have an intriguing story going on here. I’m interested to see where it goes. A couple of edits: 1) ”...believed nothing would happen…” 2) ”...unaware of his presence.” 3) ”...proceeded through the university’s grand garden.”
I’d have to say that this one read pretty awkwardly for me. I found the rapid switching back and forth between narrative style and meter to be confusing and felt it interrupted the flow as I was reading. Interesting experiment, though.
Pretty interesting continuation. Let’s see if I can beat John to the editing. You need to fix ”...nothing but a bad dream…” and “How do you tell someone they died?” Great stuff. Keep it up!
I really enjoyed your imagery in this one. I think this one, as John said, stands out for sure in terms of the quality. I have just one thing to point out: this is the second time you’ve used the phrase ”...she could barely comprehend, more or less accept…” and what I think you’re trying to say is ”...she could barely comprehend, much less accept…” If you do actually mean the former, then ignore this. I’m just not familiar with that particular turn of phrase.
I’m starting this series from the beginning. I like this introduction very much. Gordo seems like he could become a very conflicted character, and I’m interested to see what you do with him. One typo, though. I think it should be ”...bespoke a presence…”
An interesting beginning you have here. I particularly like the imagery toward the end with the stone textures and the diminishing barrier between worlds.
Wow, I liked this a lot. Your descriptions are beautiful, and I absolutely love the revelation of his past in how he takes the photos. That was brilliant. My only minor criticism is a bit of grammar, but it may just be my ignorance on the subject and terms of photography. Shouldn’t it be ”...checked that he was seated comfortably…” as opposed to using “sat”?
Overall, I like this a lot. I’d probably stay away from adding the letter S to the verbs in Gordo’s speech, though, as that’s been beaten to death by Gollum in LotR. I think the stutter/break in the speech (if that’s what it is and not just a way of writing a drawn out vowel sound) is more unique. Also, I’m not sure if you meant dammed instead of damned. Dammed works, in that it fits blocking her words from getting anywhere, but damned has a darker connotation, in that her prayers will never reach heaven.
Not bad. I have one suggestion, though. You use the same root word (comply) twice in close succession: “The manager complied…” and again with ”...saw he was in compliance…” soon after. I think it would read more smoothly if you change one. For instance, change the first one to “The manager cooperated with…” or maybe change the last one to ”...saw he had obeyed…” Whenever I have trouble coming up with a similar word to one I’ve already used recently, I go to thesaurus.com. That site is a lifesaver!
Wow, I like where you took this, and I love your descriptions. I find myself concurring with your “extended meteorological metaphors” tag, but I must disagree with the “poor writing” one. Good stuff.
”...I rang the ‘get out on the deck or get thrown overboard’ bell.”
Hahaha, that’s awesome. I thought it was interesting, although the description at the beginning prior to the stowaway’s discovery is a little awkward and could be smoothed out. However, I think it’s quite good for someone in the fifth grade. I still have some of my writings from that age, and they aren’t as good as this. Keep it up!
Interesting premise. I’d be interested to see the angle the story takes from here.
If you don’t mind a little constructive criticism: Try not to mix tenses. The first two sentences are in past tense while the rest is in present tense. Keeping it the same will help with flow.
Yeah, that was pretty much my life in high school. So glad those days are long gone. Might want to fix that one sentence to “I rolled my eyes,” but looks good otherwise!
I really enjoyed this. I think you captured the salesman perfectly: you only describe him by a few actions he takes and his smile, but I swear I could almost see this guy. Killer ending line, too.
I’m a software engineer, coding away my days at a desk in the suburbs of Washington, DC. I have a beautiful wife and two insane cats who attempt to assassinate me on a regular basis (the cats, not my wife). It keeps me on my toes.
I’ve dabbled in fiction ever since high school and have started a few novels only to stop less than a quarter of the way through for lack of time and/or inspiration. Ficlets is the perfect outlet for those little bursts of creativity I get. And no one gets mad at you when you don’t finish!
If you’d like to do a series with me, I’m always up for it. Just send me a note.
Personal Series:
The Mark: http://ficlets.com/stories/32137 An assassin is tasked with another job, but this one turns out to be more than he bargained for.
To Rebuild A Man: http://ficlets.com/stories/26645 What if the government didn’t have to kill terrorists? What if they could just make them forget? What if the government decided to misuse this power? And what if it happened to you?
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