http://scp-sandbox-3.wikidot.com/uladox
Hello, I'd greatly appreciate any and all feedback and critique on my first tale. It's in the tab "Tale: Just Out of Site" on the sandbox page. Even if the issue is personal taste, I'd still like to hear about it!
SPaG notes:
he joined the foundation
Make sure to capitalize "Foundation" — it's a proper noun.
"What do you think they keep in this site?", Jim interrupted again.
You don't need that comma.
Writing:
I was really confused by some parts of this. Why do you do things like:
nice J U I C Y expensive
Is this supposed to be comedy? Is there a joke I'm not getting? I was legitimately quite thrown by these things. I don't know why they're there.
I adverted my gaze away from the vast wasteland flowing beneath me to the helmet where this utterance originated.
Sentences like this sound kind of jumbled. The word "utterance," for instance, while technically used correctly, feels tonally very out of place, like you're in school trying to write a sentence with new vocab words.
Yeah. I dunno. Some of your choices seemed a little… bizarre, and unjustified.
Plot/Concept:
I didn't get much from this. It's just some Foundation personnel who visit a place and talk for a bit. There's no real feeling of story or change within in — I don't know what I'm supposed to be getting from this.
I didn't really get who our narrator was, or why I should care about him/her and the conversation. I didn't feel like there were any significant conclusions drawn by the story or characters. In fact, I didn't even get much of a sense of any of the characters. The whole thing was just people randomly saying things, with a Foundation backdrop.
I don't have much to say other wise. I keep getting the sense there's something I'm missing.
Thank you for reviewing my Tale!
I should have focused more on adding plot or character, when I was writing I got too preoccupied with the setting. If you have any tips for writing characters or plot I would greatly appreciate them!
I'll try to explain some of the things I did do that are a little bizarre:
nice J U I C Y expensive
This is meant to be a tease toward the narrator for how the pilot is going to use his poker winnings, buying an expensive steak.
I adverted my gaze away from the vast wasteland flowing beneath me to the helmet where this utterance originated.
The different tone is because speaker is still upset about losing the poker game, but isn't outwardly showing it.
Since the tale itself doesn't do a good job expressing and justifying these things, I definitely know these are some weak points I need to work on.
I think I'll scrap this tale since it isn't that interesting and try writing a new one with all this in consideration, especially with a greater focus on plot. Also, as a beginner writer for the site, it might be a better idea for me to write something where the Foundation isn't just a backdrop, but plays heavily into the story. If you have any opinions or advice on this or on writing in general, please tell me!
This is meant to be a tease toward the narrator for how the pilot is going to use his poker winnings, buying an expensive steak.
My issue isn't with the tone you're using, but with the bizarre spacing, capitalization, etc. I do understand that the tone is supposed to be related to the character, and of course I get that he's teasing the narrator. But, immediately, seeing bizarre, nonstandard things like this be used makes the reader ask "why" — and when you don't justify the gimmick, it seems like you're trying to make the story artificially more interesting because typing them out normally would just make it boring.
If you have any opinions or advice on this or on writing in general, please tell me!
Well, if you're ever struggling with an idea for a tale, I'd advise you to do two things:
- Write an outline of events. Share that outline on the Ideas and Brainstorming forum. That way, you can either see any immediate flaws, or see what people think of the story structure before you write it.
- Ask yourself "does anything change in this story? Are any meaningful conclusions reached?" If the answer is "not really," chances are you need to rethink it.
Thanks, I have always heard writing an outline is a good idea, I think it would help if I tried it myself. Also asking "does anything change in this story?" sounds like solid advice.